... Spanish Survival Course (Lesson 2 of 4) ...
by Infocostarica Staff

O.K., so now you can handle the basic pronunciation and the greetings. Now it's time for you to start getting acquainted with the necessity phrases, or things that you need to know when you need something: 

I want: Quiero 
Give me: deme 
Do you have?: Tiene? 
Room: cuarto 
One bed: una cama 
Double bed: cama matrimonial 
The time: la hora 
Where is: Dónde está? 
How do I get to: Por dónde se va 
Left: izquierda 
Right: derecha 
Straight: derecho/ recto 
Bus stop: parada de bus 
I want a ticket: quiero un boleto 
Rental car: carro de alquiler 
Is there a...: Hay un... 
Near: cerca 
Hotel: hotel (no "h"sound) 
Restaurant: restaurant 
Bathroom: baño

How about trying those new phrases and words out. How do you say: 

1. I want a room 
2. Give me a room with one bed. 
3. Do you have a room with a double bed? 
4. Where is the bathroom? 
5. Where is the bus stop? 
6. Is there a restaurant near? 
7. How do I get to the hotel? 
8. How do I get to the bus stop?

The necessity phrases are used in situations that are related to getting around a place and to using the facilities that are common in the tourist industry. There are also some words that are essential for getting around:

Numbers: 
1 uno 
2 dos 
3 tres 
4 cuatro 
5 cinco 
6 seis 
7 siete 
8 ocho 
9 nueve 
10 diez 
11 once 
12 doce 
13 trece 
14 catorce 
15 quince 
16 dieciseis 
17 diecisiete 
18 dieciocho 
19 diecinueve 
20 veinte 
21 veintiuno 
30 treinta 
40 cuarenta 
50 cincuenta 
60 sesenta 
70 setenta 
80 ochenta 
90 noventa 
100 cien 
200 doscientos 
300 trescientos 
400 cuatroscientos 
1000 mil 
2000 dos mil 
100000 cien mil 
1000000 un millón 

Days of the week and months: 

Monday:lunes 
Tuesday:martes 
Wednesday:miércoles 
Thursday:jueves 
Friday:viernes 
Saturday:sábado 
Sunday: domingo 
January: enero 
February:febrero 
March:marzo 
April:abril 
May:mayo 
June:junio 
July:julio 
August:agosto 
September:setiembre 
October:octubre 
November:noviembre 
December:diciembre 
May fourteenth: Catorce de mayo

It's now time to try and incorporate this new knowledge to the one that you acquired in the past course. Try saying all of these phrases: 

1. Good morning. Where is the bus stop? 
2. Hello. Today is Thursday. 
3. How much is this? One thousand! 
4. I want twelve, please. 
5. Today is May thirteenth 
6. I want this. 
7. I want room number forty. 
8. I want twenty one tickets. 
9. There are twenty bathrooms. 
10. Good afternoon.Give me 1000 colones, please. 
11. You're welcome 
12. How do I get to the restaurant? 
13. Do you have a room with one bed? 
14. Do you have twenty five colones? 
15. This is a good room 
16. This is a bad rental-car

There are numerous activities that can help you memorize numbers. For example, a friend can pretend to be a cashier and tell you in Spanish how much a purchase is. He can read the amount in Spanish and you can give him the amount of money that he called out. Since dates include numbers as well as days and months, you can figure out the date in Spanish on the daily newspaper. If you think that activities like these are silly or boring, you can always try out conventional methods of memorization, like repeating the words out loud or taping them (which I personally find boring!). Keep in mind that when you use the Spanish Pronouncing Robot, you can save the audio files to your disk, so try to save them with the names of the words they contain, which is an alternative to taping the words. 

However you choose to learn these phrases and words, it's important that you do before you get to Costa Rica or any other Spanish-speaking country. Just think about how important it is to know how to get to the bathroom. Or to know the difference between paying three hundred colones and three thousand colones...

To go to the third lesson  (Lesson 3) of the Survival Spanish Course click here.