Catriona: Hola, buenas tardes. ¿Qué tal Héctor?

Héctor: ¿Qué onda? ¿Cómo está todo el mundo? Welcome to another episode of A Zero to A Hero! I'm doing fine, what about you, Catriona?

Catriona: I am very well, I am actually planning a trip to Madrid, so I think it's about time I put my Spanish properly to the test.

Héctor: Oh, nice! Do you have somewhere to stay?

Catriona: I've been looking around for different options for what is in the city taking some notes and having a look.

Héctor: OK. I think this suits our topic nicely.

Catriona: Oh, good so you've got something in mind already for today. That's good. 

Héctor: Yes, I thought we had gone through lots of conjugations and a little bit of pronunciation, so maybe it's a good idea to learn some more vocabulary while exploring an easy grammar topic.

Catriona: Excelent. I’m keen on learning new vocab and I love easy grammar topics! What are we learning today?

Héctor: We are learning the equivalents in Spanish for “there is” and “there are” and some vocabulary words related to places in a city, and maybe in the meantime you can tell me about that little trip you're going on.

Catriona: Sounds like a good idea and “there is” and “there are” are always super useful phrases. Let’s dive in.

Catriona: So, Héctor, what is the Spanish equivalent for “there is” and “there are”?

Héctor: It’s very simple and we can use an easy mnemonic device to remember it.

Catriona: Mnemonics, listeners, are memory devices that we can use in order to remember and retrieve information.

Héctor: It’s very easy, we only need one form: “hay”.

Catriona: “Hay”. Just like that? Like “yo” in English. “I”.

Héctor: Yes, just like that…

Catriona: That’s easy to remember! But you write it differently, don’t you?

Héctor: Yes, try to use what we learned last week and tell me how you would write it.

Catriona: “Hay”, sounds like one of these silent “h” scenarios to me Héctor, so I'm going to guess h-a-y.

Héctor: Yes, very good. 

Catriona: So, can you give an example using “hay”?

Héctor: Sure. “En la Ciudad de México hay un restaurante británico”.

Catriona: “En la Ciudad de México hay un restaurante británico”. So in Mexico City there is a British restaurant.

Héctor: That's correct.

Catriona: Filled with deep fried goods. I'm sure.

Héctor: Most likely yes.

Catriona: So, I can use “hay” and then “un” or “una” to describe what I can find in a city, town, village…

Héctor: Yes, and if you rise your intonation at the end, you can use the same structure to ask questions. For example: “¿Hay algún restaurante mexicano en Glasgow?”

Catriona: “¿Hay algún restaurante mexicano en Glasgow?”, so you're asking me if there are any mexican restaurants in Glasgow.

Héctor: That's correct. “Algún” means “any”.

Catriona: Sí, hay un restaurante mexicano en Glasgow. 

Héctor: OK, so let me also give you an example with “una” could be: “Hay una plaza en el centro de Madrid”.

Catriona: “Hay una plaza en el centro de Madrid”. So “plaza” is a square, right?

Héctor: Yes, that's correct.

Catriona: And if there’s more than one of a kind, you can use numbers and plurals.

Héctor: OK, can you try one?

Catriona: Hay dos cafés cerca del metro.

Héctor: Very good. “Cafés” is the plural of “café”. You can also use “cafetería”, which is also close to the English word.

Catriona: “La cafetería”. OK, and how do I say “How many” in Spanish?

Héctor: “¿Cuántas?” if it’s a feminine noun or “¿cuántos?”, if it’s masculine.

Catriona: OK. So, “¿cuántas?” or “¿cuántos?”.

Héctor: Very good. “¿Cuántos aeropuertos hay en Marid?”

Catriona:  “¿Cuántos aeropuertos hay en Marid?” So I'm assuming that “aeropuertos” are “airports”…

Héctor: Yes, they are.

Catriona: And “aeropuerto” is masculine because you said “cuántos” and not “cuántas”.

Héctor: Well done, so? “¿Cuántos aeropuertos hay en Madrid?”

Catriona: En Madrid hay 2 aeropuertos.

Héctor: ¡Muy bien!

Catriona: In English I can use “a lot of” with “there is” and “there are”. So, “there is a lot of traffic in the city center” and “there are a lot's of people who work in my office”. What's  the equivalent of that in Spanish?

Héctor: That’s a great question. The equivalent would be “mucho”.

Catriona: “Mucho”. So literally like “much”?

Héctor: Yes, but it can take the form of “mucho” when you’re referring to a masculine noun that you cannot really count. For example, as you said, “el tráfico”, “En la Ciudad de México hay mucho tráfico”.

Catriona: “En la Ciudad de México hay mucho tráfico”. In Mexico City there is a lot of traffic. 

Héctor: Yes, so we can also say the same about Madrid. 
“Hay mucho tráfico en Madrid”.

Catriona: “Hay mucho tráfico en Madrid”. Perfect, and I'm guessing that “mucha” is when you have a feminine noun that's not countable. 

Héctor: Exactly, such as “la gente”. “¿Hay mucha gente en Madrid?”

Catriona: “¿Hay mucha gente en Madrid?”. So, you're asking if there are a lot of people in Madrid. “Sí, hay mucha gente en Madrid”.

Héctor: Very good. 

Catriona: So I'm guessing for things that we can count we would use “muchas” for feminine nouns and “muchos” for masculine nouns , true?

Héctor: Yes, that's true.

Catriona: So then you could say “Hay muchos…” ¿cómo se dice “museums”?

Héctor: Museos.

Catriona: Museos. Hay muchos museos en Madrid.

Héctor: Exactly. And you can use “muchas” with feminine nouns.
“Hay muchas casas en Madrid”.

Catriona: Perfect.

Héctor: ¿Qué más hay en Madrid?

Catriona: ¿Qué significa “qué más”?

Héctor: “Qué más” significa “what else”.

Catriona: Ah, OK. “Hay, ¿cómo se dice “monuments”

Héctor: Monumentos.

Catriona: Hay monumentos y ¿“gardens”?

Héctor: Jardines.

Catriona: Hay jardines y ¿cómo se dice “markets”?

Héctor: Mercados

Catriona: Mercados.

Héctor: It sounds like a nice city.

Catriona: It does, doesn’t it? Well, that's good since I'm going! Now, we have practiced a few different situations where we can use “hay”. So you can use it just to mean “there is, there are”, by itself or followed by “uno, una”, but you can also add “a lot”, “mucho” or “mucha”, depending on a masculine or femenine noun. So that has already given me quite a lot more added to my vocabulary, that I can talk about for my trip.

Héctor: Very good, I bet that you’re going to use these words and sentences a lot when you’re travelling.

Catriona: I think I will but there is definitely one more that I would definitely need for my trip.

Héctor: Is it time for El Tesauro?

Catriona: I think it is.

Catriona: In many episodes we have talked about life in different places.

Héctor: En México, la gente come tacos. 

Catriona: En Escocia la gente come pescado y papas fritas. En Escocia bebemos whisky.

Héctor: En España comemos tortilla de patatas y tapas. 

Héctor: Yes, “en” is a very useful preposition. You can use it with countries and cities as well.

Catriona: But what happens if I'm already in the city?

Héctor: If you want to ask for something generic like a coffee shop or a bank, you use the phrase: “¿dónde hay una cafetería?” or “¿dónde hay un banco?”

Catriona: ¿Dónde hay una cafetería? ¿Dónde hay un banco?

Héctor: Exactly. If you want to know where something is, you can use the phrase: “¿dónde está… ?”

Catriona:  ¿Dónde está… ?

Héctor: Exactly and if you’re looking for a specific place, a specific museum or park, for example, here you would use “el” or “la”.

Catriona: So I could ask: “¿Dónde está el Museo Del Prado?”

Héctor: Yes, that's correct.

Catriona: OK so I'm asking where the Prado Museum is. 

Héctor: Yes, very good. 
“El Museo del Prado está en la calle Paseo del Prado”.

Catriona: El Museo Del Prado está la calle Paseo del Prado. So “calle” means “street”, correct?

Héctor: Yes, “calle”… “La calle”.

Catriona: So, “en” is also used with streets…

Héctor: Yes, that's correct. Así es.
 “El Museo Del Prado está entre el parque y la estación de trenes”. 

Catriona: Entre el parque y la estación de trenes, “entre” means “between”…

Héctor: Yes, it does.

Catriona: Got it!

Héctor: El museo está al lado de un jardín.

Catriona: Y ¿qué significa “al lado de”?

Héctor: “Al lado de” means “next to”.

Catriona: OK. “El museo está a lado de un jardín”. The museum is next to a garden. 

Héctor: Yes and now I have one more chunk for you “frente a”.

Catriona: “Frente a”, ¿qué significa “frente a”?

Héctor: “Frente a” significa “in front of”. “El museo está frente a un monumento”.

Catriona: “El museo está frente a un monumento”. So the museum is in front of the monument. 

Héctor: That's correct. Very good. So what have we learned today, Catriona?

Catriona: We have learned quite a lot of directional phrases, I guess. So, I can say something is “frente a”, something is in front of, “a lado de”, next to, or between should be “entre”.

Héctor: Good summary, now, are you ready for today’s challenge?

Catriona: I hope so, maybe I can talk about some other places that I know well.

Héctor: That sounds like fun.

Héctor: So for today's challenge the first part of your challenge Catriona is to describe your hometown using “hay”.

Catriona: OK. I will give it my best shot.
Bueno, Glasgow es una gran ciudad con muchos habitantes. Hay también una universidad entonces hay muchos estudiantes. La universidad está en el oeste de la ciudad frente a un jardín. Hay mucho tráfico en Glasgow y estacionar el auto es difícil. Hay también muchos restaurantes. Es genial.

Héctor: Yes, restaurants are always great.

Catriona: Definitely.

Héctor: So now we are going to do our roleplay and I want you to imagine that you're already in Madrid and you have to ask for a generic place.

Catriona: OK a generic place. I'll take myself back to my textbook days at school where everyone asks for the library.

Héctor: OK.

Catriona: So, I guess I bump into you on the street where I am asking for directions.

Héctor: Precisely.

Catriona: Buenos días.

Héctor: Buenos días.

Catriona: Disculpe, ¿dónde hay una biblioteca?

Héctor: La biblioteca está en la calle Zapata frente a un jardín.

Catriona: Ah, frente a un jardín. Gracias.

Héctor: De nada.

Héctor: For the last part of the challenge you're going to ask for one specific place.

Catriona: OK, for my specific place I'll bring us back to Berlin.

Héctor: OK. Great!

Catriona: Buenas tardes.

Héctor: Buenas tardes.

Catriona: Disculpe, ¿dónde está la Catedral de Berlín?

Héctor: La Catedral de Berlín está en el centro, cerca de la isla de los museos.

Catriona: Gracias, muchas gracias.

Héctor: De nada.

Héctor: Very good! Congratulations, Catriona.

Catriona: Thank you very much. I will never be lost in Spanish again.  

Héctor: Never again. So I know that asking for instructions in the street can be quite challenging, specially if you're not familiar with local expressions. So whenever you're in these type of situation it is important that you try to listen the lesser amount of information from the other person. Specially when you're a beginner try to elicit maybe just a “sí” or a “no” from the other person, so that they don't go on rambling and making you more confused than you already are.

Catriona: That's true so keep my questions more specific, direct to the point, I'll probably receive an specific and direct to the point response. 

Héctor: Yes, yes and don't be afraid to ask people to repeat the information or maybe even to say it more slowly.

Catriona: Exactly and Héctor just one tiny last, last minute Tesauro point. How would I ask people to speak more slowly?

Héctor: ¿Podría hablar más lento por favor?

Catriona: “¿Podría hablar más lento por favor?” And how would I ask: can you repeat that?

Héctor: ¿Podría repetir por favor?

Catriona: ¿Podría repetir por favor?

Héctor: Yeah, that's, you're fully equiped for your travel to Madrid.

Catriona: I think I am. 

Héctor: I like it. So I guess that would be all for today dear listeners. Thanks for your emails and every suggestions helps us make this podcast better. 

Catriona: Remember that you can contact us via email at podcasting@babbel.com.

Héctor: And don't forget to leave us review!

Catriona: Thank you for listening!

Héctor: ¡Nos escuchamos pronto!

Catriona: ¡Hasta luego!