Lección 5: Las vacaciones - Vocabulario y Estructura

A comprehensive vocabulary review of Lección 5 covering vacation and hotel terminology, weather, seasons, pronunciation of b and v, conditions and emotions, ser vs. estar, the present progressive, and direct object pronouns.

la habitación individual, doble

Single, double room.

la planta baja

Ground floor.

el pasaje (de ida y vuelta)

(Round-trip) ticket.

el/la inspector(a) de aduanas

Customs inspector.

el/la huésped

Guest (in a hotel).

hacer las maletas

To pack (one's suitcases).

el equipaje

Luggage.

el paisaje

Landscape.

la tabla de (wind)surf

Surfboard/sailboard.

camión / guagua

Regional lexical variations for autobús (bus) used in Mexico (camión) and the Caribbean (guagua).

coche / carro

Regional lexical variations for automóvil (car) used in Spain (coche) and Latin America (carro).

el invierno

Winter; consists of the months diciembre, enero, and febrero.

la primavera

Spring; consists of the months marzo, abril, and mayo.

el verano

Summer; consists of the months junio, julio, and agosto.

el otoño

Autumn/fall; consists of the months septiembre, octubre, and noviembre.

hace fresco

Weather expression meaning 'it's cool.'

está nublado

Weather expression meaning 'it's cloudy.'

nieva / está nevando

Weather expressions meaning 'it's snowing' (from the stem-changing verb nevar [e:ie]).

llueve / está lloviendo

Weather expressions meaning 'it's raining' (from the stem-changing verb llover [o:ue]).

Spanish hard b

The pronunciation of b and v produced by tightly closing the lips and stopping the flow of air, occurring at the start of a word/phrase or after m or n.

Spanish soft b

The pronunciation of b and v produced by keeping the lips slightly open with friction between both lips, occurring after vowels or consonants other than m or n.

estar de buen/mal humor

Expressions with estar used to describe emotional conditions, meaning 'to be in a good/bad mood.'

avergonzado/a

Adjective meaning 'embarrassed.'

enamorado/a (de)

Adjective phrase meaning 'in love (with).'

equivocado/a

Adjective meaning 'wrong.'

present progressive

A construction consisting of the present tense of estar and a present participle, used mainly to emphasize that an action is in progress at the time of speaking.

-yendo

The present participle ending used when the stem of an -er or -ir verb ends in a vowel (e.g., leyendo, oyendo, trayendo).

yendo, pudiendo, viniendo

Irregular present participles of the verbs ir, poder, and venir.

Uses of ser

Used for nationality/origin, profession, inherent characteristics, generalizations, possession, material composition, time/date, and where or when an event takes place.

Uses of estar

Used for location or spatial relationships, health, physical states and conditions, emotional states, certain weather expressions, and ongoing actions in progressive tenses.

ser listo vs. estar listo

Ser listo means 'to be smart'; estar listo means 'to be ready.'

ser aburrido vs. estar aburrido

Ser aburrido means 'to be boring'; estar aburrido means 'to be bored.'

ser verde vs. estar verde

Ser verde means 'to be green'; estar verde means 'to be not ripe.'

ser vivo vs. estar vivo

Ser vivo means 'to be clever'; estar vivo means 'to be alive.'

ser seguro vs. estar seguro

Ser seguro means 'to be confident' (person) or 'to be safe' (object); estar seguro means 'to be sure.'

personal a

The word a required before a direct object noun in Spanish when that direct object is a person or a pet.

direct object pronouns

Words that replace direct object nouns to avoid repetition: me, te, lo, la, nos, os, los, las.

primer, primero/a and tercer, tercero/a

Ordinal numbers meaning 'first' and 'third'; their shortened forms primer and tercer are used before a masculine singular noun.

ahora mismo

Adverbial expression meaning 'right now.'

todavía

Adverb meaning 'yet' or 'still.'