STEP SEVEN
¿Le gusta el elefante azul? ¿hay tigres en ASIA?
If you want to find out if someone likes something,
you could ask him or her:
¿Le gusta el elefante azul?
(Do you like the blue elephant?)
Sí, me gusta el elefante azul.
(Yes, I like the blue elephant.)
No, no me gusta el elefante azul.
(No, I don’t like the blue elephant.)
¿Le gusta el cocodrilo verde?
(Do you like the green crocodile?)
Sí, me gusta el cocodrilo verde.
(Yes, I like the green crocodile.)
No, no me gusta el cocodrilo verde.
(No, I don’t like the green crocodile.)
If the thing you like is plural, the sentences will be a little different:
¿Le gustan los elefantes azules?
(Do you like [the] blue elephants?)*
Sí, me gustan los elefantes azules.
(Yes, I like [the] blue elephants.)
No, no me gustan los elefantes azules.
(No, I don’t like [the] blue elephants.)
*Note: If the speaker is talking about elephants in general, the English translation would not include the word “the.”
¿Le gustan los cocodrilos verdes?
(Do you like [the] green crocodiles?)
Sí, me gustan los cocodrilos verdes.
(Yes, I like [the] green crocodiles.)
No, no me gustan los cocodrilos verdes.
(No, I don’t like [the] green crocodiles.)
If you want to find out if someone else likes something, you could ask:
¿Le gusta el elefante azul?
(Does she/he like the blue elephant?)
Sí, le gusta el elefante azul.
(Yes, she/he likes the blue elephant.)
No, no le gusta el elefante azul.
(No, she/he doesn’t like the blue elephant.)
¿Le gustan los cocodrilos verdes?
(Does she/he like [the] green crocodiles?)
Sí, le gustan los cocodrilos verdes.
Yes, she/he likes [the] green crocodiles.)
No, no le gustan los cocodrilos verdes.
(No, she/he doesn’t like [the] green crocodiles.)
Do you notice that these questions all start with the word “le”? “¿Le gusta(n)?” can mean either “Do you like?,” “Does he like?” or “Does she like?”.
Here is a list of names of common animals in Spanish. (The corresponding definite article — “the” — is written in parentheses before each word . . . el is used for masculine nouns and la is used for feminine ones.)
A handy word to learn now is “hay.” It means “there is” and “there are.”
¿Hay tigres en Asia? ¿Hay un perro en la casa? ¿Hay una llama en el parque?
(Are there tigers in Asia? Is there a dog in the house? Is there a llama in the park?)
This next list has the names of common colors. (You may have noticed that these adjectives are placed after the nouns that they modify . . . e.g., elefante rosado, cocodrilo verde.)
PRÁCTICA DE PRONUNCIACIÓN
b, v
The consonants in this section — “b” and “v” — are pronounced exactly the same way!
b and v
bello, bola, barco, barba, béisbol, Bogotá, bilingüe, bizcocho, verde, vamos, vértigo, Venezuela, voz, votamos, invierno, valle
If a “b” or “v” is found between vowels, however, the sound is different. You start to say the “b” sound as in “buffalo,” but you don’t close your lips all the way. You’ll have to practice this one a bit. You can try placing a thin pencil lengthwise between your lips to prevent them from closing during the sound.
abuelo, cubo, sabemos, labio, nubes, caminaban, cabido, nueve, ave, lívido, uvas, tuvimos, llave, caverna, Oviedo