The Puzzle The purpose of this activity is to make you prove your ability to tackle the language on your own, figuring out by yourself some fundamental things about the language. Working the puzzle will help you see that learning is a fascinating and delightful experience. In the process of working through these word strings, you will learn quite a bit about how works, and you will discover how to form many new sentences. In this activity you will: Identify word breaks in. La Quinceañera In the United States, turning 16 has traditionally been a special time in a girl s life. We refer to this time as Sweet 16, when a girl becomes a young lady and is able to get her driver s license. In Hispanic countries this occasion is know as quinceañera (note the root word quince) and takes place on a girl s 15th birthday with a special Mass and party that signifies that the girl is becoming a young lady. Traditionally, when a girl turned 15, she would be called Señorita (Miss) and was able to marry. The quinceañera party includes gifts and a new dress for the young lady. Parents often spend a great deal of money on these special occasions and invite all the family and friends to attend. Puzzle Part 1 Word Breaks 1 Below, you will find sentences in normal, but with no spaces in between the words. Your first task is to figure out where the word breaks are. Do this by comparing the phrases and their translation. Don t worry about pronunciation. Mark with pencil or pen the word breaks that you guess. Then do the following: Compare the right vs. wrong columns. Study the examples and explanations in the help section. Fill in the blanks. Listen to a reading of the puzzle sentences. 1. PabloyMaría Pablo and Maria 2. Pabloesunmuchacho. Pablo is a boy. 3. Maríaesunamuchacha. Maria is a girl. 4. Pablotienedoshermanas. Pablo has two sisters. 5. Maríatienetreshermanos. Maria has three brothers. 6. PabloeselhermanodeMaría. Pablo is Maria s brother. 7. MaríaeslahermanadePablo. Maria is Pablo s sister. 8. EllaesunadelashermanasdePablo. She is one of Pablo s sisters.
(cont.) 9. LamadreyelpadredePabloyMaría. The mother and the father of Pablo and Maria. 10. LashermanasyloshermanosdePablo. The sisters and the brothers of Pablo. Compare Right with Wrong Compare the translations with their equivalent. Notice some common mistakes. Circle and correct all the mistakes in the phrases in the wrong column. Right Wrong one sister / one brother una hermana / un hermano un hermana / una hermano the brothers / the sisters los hermanos / las hermanas las hermanos / los hermanas Pablo is the brother. Pablo es el hermano. Pablo es la hermano. Maria is the sister. María es la hermana. María es el hermana. one of the sisters una de las hermanas una de los hermanas Personal Space in Hispanic Cultures The personal space is much smaller in a Hispanic country, and often you will have someone talk to you nose to nose. They may even touch your lapel or sleeve as they talk to you. Puzzle 1 Help Section 1. In, we use the word the in all cases. In, however, there are different ways of saying the : the brother the sister the brothers the sisters el hermano la hermana los hermanos las hermanas. Similarly, a brother, a sister, is un hermano, una hermana in 2. has several ways to show possession: the father of the girl = the girl s father. lacks the s option, having only the one way: el padre de la muchacha.
Translation 1 Fill in the translation equivalents. Write one word per line. Translation 1. a father 2. the father 3. a mother 4. the mother 5. a brother 6. the brother 7. the brothers 8. a boy 9. the boy 10. a girl 11. the girl 12. he has 13. she has 14. one of (the sisters) 15. a sister 16. the sister 17. the sisters 18. Pablo s / of Pablo 19. Maria s / of Maria Puzzle Part 2 Word Breaks 2 patterns. Continue as before, marking the word breaks and figuring out the 1. Estemuchachoesalto muyalto. This boy is tall very tall. 2. Elotronoestanalto. The other is not so tall.
(cont.) 3. Esteesrico;eltienemuchodinero. This one is rich; he has much money. 4. Elotronoesrico;elnotienedinero. The other one is not rich; he has no money. 5. Estahermananoesrica. This sister is not rich. 6. Peroellaesmuybonita. But she is very pretty. 7. Esa (laotrahermana) noestanbonita. That one (the other sister) is not so pretty. 8. Peroellatienemásencanto. But she has more charm. Puzzle 2 Help Section 1. Many adjectives have four forms: rich = rico, rica, ricos, ricas tall = alto, alta, altos, altas Many adjectives (like tall, rich ) have four forms in to match a single form in : the vowel o, as in rico and alto, indicates masculine; a, as in rica and alta, indicates feminine. Adjectives are pluralized just like the nouns they describe. The ending of an adjective depends on the gender (masculine or feminine) and number (singular or plural) of the noun that the adjective goes with. adjectives agree with or reflect the gender and number of the noun they go with. For example, if the noun is masculine and singular, like hermano, the adjective will be masculine and singular. This also applies to masculine plural and feminine singular and plural. The tall boy. The tall girl. The tall boys. The tall girls. El muchacho alto. La muchacha alta. Los muchachos altos Las muchachas altas. Which of the forms is selected depends on the gender (masculine or feminine) and number (singular or plural) of the noun that the adjective goes with. Stated in traditional terms, adjectives agree with or reflect the gender and number of the noun they modify.
2. Negative words always precede the verb; they never follow as in. Pablo is not rich. Pablo no es rico. Compare Right with Wrong Compare the translations with their equivalent. Circle and correct all the mistakes in the phrases in the wrong column. Right Wrong this boy este muchacho esta muchacho this girl esta muchacha este muchacha this tall girl esta muchacha alta esta muchacha alto The brother is rich. El hermano es rico. El hermano es rica. The sister is not so rich. La hermana no es tan rica. La hermana no es tan rico. The boy is not tall. El muchacho no es alto. La hermana es no alto. Translation 2 identified. Translate the following. Leave space between words you have Translation 1. this girl 2. She is tall and rich 3. He is tall and rich. 4. Pablo s money 5. that boy 6. He is not very rich. 7. She is not so tall. 8. He has much money. Puzzle Part 3 Word Breaks 3 patterns. Continue as before, marking the word breaks and figuring out the
1. Estaserpiente. Esapaloma. This snake. That dove. 2. Estasserpientesyesaspalomas. These snakes and those doves. 3. Unaserpiente. Laserpiente. Laotraserpiente. A snake. The snake. The other snake. 4. Unasserpientes. Lasotrasserpientes. Some snakes. The other snakes. 5. Laspalomas. Unasotraspalomas. The doves. Some other doves. 6. Unasserpientesduermenmucho. Some snakes sleep a lot. 7. Unasserpientesnoduermen. Some snakes don t sleep. 8. Estapalomaduerme;esaserpientecome. This dove sleeps; that snake eats. 9. Estaspalomasduermen;esasserpientesco men. These doves sleep; those snakes eat. 10. Cuandolasotraspalomasduermen When the other doves sleep 11. Unaserpientelasataca. A snake attacks them. 12. Silaserpienteduerme,laspalomaslaataca n. If the snake sleeps, the doves attack it. 13. Perosilapalomamuerelaserpientevive. But if the dove dies the snake lives. 14. Laserpientecomelapaloma. The snake eats the dove. 15. Perolaspalomasnocomenlaserpiente. But the doves don t eat the snake. 16. Laspalomaslaatacanperonolacomen. The doves attack it but they don t eat it. 17. Laspalomaslasatacanperonolascomen. The doves attack them but they don t eat them. Compare Right with Wrong Compare the translations with their equivalent. Circle and correct all the mistakes in the phrases in the wrong column. Right Wrong these snakes estas serpientes esta serpientes the snakes las serpientes la serpientes some snakes unas serpientes una serpientes
(cont.) Right Wrong The dove eats. La paloma come. La paloma comen. The doves eat. Las palomas comen. Las palomas come. The snake hears the dove. Puzzle 3 Help Section La serpiente oye la paloma. 1. Ordering of subject, verb, and object. The normal order of sentence parts in is the same as in : However, to say the snake hears them (where the object is a pronoun), the sentence order changes to: 2. Verb forms change with singular and with plural subject. La serpiente la paloma oye. The snake hears it. La serpiente la oye. La serpiente oye la. Subject Verb Object The snake hears the doves. La serpiente oye las palomas. Subject Object Verb The snake them hears. La serpiente las oye. Singular The snake eats. La serpiente come. Plural The snakes eat. Las serpientes comen. 3. Negative words go before the verb and before the object. Singular This snake attacks doves. That snake doesn t attack doves. This snake attacks them. That snake doesn t attack them. Plural Esta serpiente ataca palomas. Esa serpiente no ataca palomas. Esta serpiente las ataca. Esa serpiente no las ataca.
Verb Practice Give the verb form that goes with the subject. Subject It sleeps Verb duerme 1. It eats 2. It hears 3. It attacks It doesn t sleep 4. It doesn t eat 5. It doesn t hear 6. It doesn t attack They sleep 7. They eat 8. They hear 9. They attack They don t sleep 10. They don t eat 11. They don t hear 12. They don t attack It eats it 13. It hears it 14. It attacks it It doesn t eat it 15. It doesn t hear it 16. It doesn t attack it no duerme duermen no duermen la come no la come
Are you getting a feel for word divisions? Challenge yourself by listening to some television or radio. Don t try to understand the words. Just see if you can tell where the word breaks are.