Advanced, Task 25

Simplified and native speakers:

• Simplified example
• Joel C.
• Rossana T.
• César E.
• María M.
• María F.

Click red links to download .m4v files for use in iPod:

• Simplified example
• Joel C.
• Rossana T.
• César E.
• María M.
• María F.

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Key vocabulary for this task

Example phrases for this task

Grammar points for this task



		Simplified Example "La casa donde viví cuando era niña era muy bonita..."



		Joel C. México, D.F. "La casa donde yo habité de pequeño era una casa en realidad grande..."

		Rossana T. Perú, Lima "La casa donde yo viví en mi infancia es una casa muy bonita..."

		César E. Perú, Ancash "Yo nací en la provincia de Yungay, departamento de Ancash..."

		María M. Bolivia, Oruro "El lugar donde crecí es algo muy hermoso..."

		María F. España, Valladolid "Bueno yo soy de España y por el trabajo de mi padre nos hemos mudado..."

adolescencia (f)		adolescence
alfombra (f)		carpet
armario (m)		closet
balcón (m)		deck, balcony
baño (m)		bathroom
cocina (f)		kitchen
comedor (m)		dining room
escaleras (f)		staircase
estudio (m)		den
estufa (f)		stove
garaje (m)		garage
habitación (f)/recámara (f)		bedroom

horno (m)		oven
muebles (m)		furniture
niñez (f)		childhood
patio (m)		yard
piscina (f)/alberca (f)		swimming pool
piso (m)		floor
refrigerador (m)		refrigerator
sala (f)		living room
sótano (m)		basement
techo (m)		roof, ceiling
ventana (m)		window

Mi mamá aún vive en la casa donde yo crecí.	My mom still lives in the house where I grew up.
Teníamos muchos árboles que yo siempre trepaba.	We had a lot of trees that I would always climb.
Una vez se me rompió una rama de un árbol que había trepado y casi me caí.	Once a branch of a tree that I'd climbed broke on me and I nearly fell.
Me gusta regresar a la casa de mis padres para ver mis amigos de la niñez.	I like to go back to my parent's house to see my childhood friends.
Siempre jugabamos fútbol en el patio del vecino. Usabamos dos árboles como la portería.	We always played soccer in the neighbor's yard. We would use two trees as the goal.
Afortunadamente, había un bosque al lado de la casa donde podíamos jugar.	Fortunately, there was a forest next to the house were we could play.
La casa donde yo me crié tenía cuatro habitaciones: una para mis padres y una para cada hijo.	The house where I grew up had three bedrooms: one for my parents and one for each child.
Mi papá construyó un columpio para nosotros.	My dad built a swing set for us.
Había una tienda en la esquina donde comprabamos dulces.	There was a store on the corner where we would buy candy.
Mis hermanas y yo pasabamos horas jugando en el sótano.	My sisters and I would spend hours playing in the basement.

Haber

One of the many uses of the word se in Spanish is in a "no fault" construction. Just as the name indicates, this construction is used for unexpected occurrences and does not place the blame on anyone. These sentences include se, an indirect object pronoun which refers to the person(s) involved (usually as an innocent victim) and the verb which is in the third person and agrees with the recipient. For example:

Hay dos carros rojos en la entrada. There are two red cars in the driveway.

Hay un señor vendiendo tortillas afuera. There is a man selling tortillas outside.

The past tense uses one form as well:

Había muchos problemas con la casa. There were many problems with the house.

Había un problema muy grave. There was a serious problem.

The present subjunctive form of haber is haya.

Espero que no haya mucha gente en el partido. I hope there aren't many people at the game.

Quiero que haya muchas bebidas en la fiesta. I want there to be a lot of drinks at the party.

The past subjunctive form of haber is hubiera:

Yo esperaba que no hubiera tanta gente en el partido. I was hoping that there wouldn't be so many people at the game.

Yo quería que hubiera muchas bebidas en la fiesta. I want there to be a lot of drinks at the party.