Today es el primer día de mis vacaciones.  Es lunes – Monday.  Mi marido está en el gimnasio /him-na-sio/.

Husband is an easy word to remember – marido sounds like married.  There are 2 dos ways to say wife: mujer /moo-hair/ means wife or woman; esposa sounds like spouse.  It is funny too, because esposas with an –s means both wives, and handcuffs!

I sit en el bar with mi amiga Maxi, and we chat.­ The flight was without complicaciones.  We got straight to the car hire place, and el coche es fantástico.  ¡Funciona, not like last year!

Coche /co-chay/

Coche means car, and has evolved from the word coach.

Continuo by asking Maxi about herself.­ What is new en tu vida?­ Well, me and Jaime are getting divorciado!

Jaime

This looks like Jamie, but sounds quite diferente.  J is a /h/ sonido, so Jaime sounds like you are saying Hi May!

Maxi sees that I am shocked y continua:­ No es un problema.  We were starting to have problemas, arguments, and we have decidido to divorciar while we are still amigos.

Continuo and continua

Continuo /con-ti-noo-o/ significa  I continue.  Continua /con-ti-noo-a/ significa she continues.

I can see mi marido, Lee, coming towards us with Elise.­ “Lee, Maxi y Jaime have decidido to get divorciado.­”

Lee sees that Maxi isn’t upset.­ “I’m sorry to hear that Maxi.  How do you say ‘I’m very sorry’ en español?­”

“Lo siento mucho.” ­

“Lows yento moocho to hear that!”

Lo siento mucho.  Lee has copiado el sonido de esta frase prácticamente perfectamente.  Literalmente it means ‘I feel it a lot.’
­ Maxi laughs.­ “No es un problema.  Realmente.  We are amigos, and todo está bien.  Do you want una copa de vino?­”

“I thought you’d never ask,” replica Lee.

Te toca – Your turn.

Actividades para ti

Grab a scrap of papel, and scribble down some español personalizado.

Remember the strange pronunciación:

• Mujer is /moo-hair/ (woman or wife)
• Coche is /co-chay/ (car)

1. Say who is your favourite woman en la television:

Eg. Mi mujer favorita es Nigella Lawson.

2. Say the name of a friend’s wife:

Eg. La esposa de John es Julie.

3. Write down the kind of car you like:

Eg. Mi coche favorito es un Volvo V70, but the old tipo.

4. Write down when you would say “I’m very sorry”

Eg. I would say Lo siento mucho if I knocked someone’s drink over.

Learning tip.

Cuatro, 4 ideas is too much for la memoria.

You can conectar the words to help your memoria.

Eg. La esposa de John is a small mujer.  She once drove a Jaguar F-Type, mi coche favorito, straight through my shed!  She said “Lo siento mucho.”

When you have created your conexión, try to visualizar /vi-soo-a-li-sar/ la situación that you have imaginado /i-ma-hi-na-do/.

The imagen mental will realmente help your memoria.

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