Page 498 - diccionario

496 SPANISH GRAMMAR / GRAMÁTICA ESPAÑOLA
l It always represents [l], a clear alveolar lateral that is rarely heard in English, except in lrish and Scottish dialects. It is never velar as in
English bell, full. Examples: lado, ala, el, al, sol.
n It represents /n/, which has variants according to the following consonants. lt stands for [n] in all cases except before /b/, /p/, /m/, where
it represents (m], and before /k/, /g/, /x/, (similar to the final consonant of sing). Examples of [n]: no, nada, mano, aman; of [m]: en vez de, en
Barcelona, un peso; of : anca, banco, en que, tengo, naranja.
ACCENTS & DIALECTS
There are many dialectic variations in Castilian Spanish, mainly affecting the spoken language. In areas like Catalonia, Galicia and the Basque
country, spoken Spanish has been heavily influenced by the other languages spoken there.
The other major dialectic variation occurs in the Canary Islands and the south of Spain, in Andalucia, Extremadura and Murcia. These regions have
their own unique dialects, based on Castilian but sharing several common variations from it:
* not distinguishing between s,c and z ( a usage known as el seseo), all of which are pronounced as ´s´
servesa (beer) instead of cerveza
* substituying the ll sound with a ´y´ sound ( a usage known as el yeismo)
caye (street) instead of calle
* not distinguishing between r and l
arto (tall) instead of alto
* emphasizing the h- at the beginning of a word so that it more closely resembles a j
jarta (fed up) instead of harta
* not pronouncing the final –s
la tre (three o´clock) instead of las tres
OCTOPUS IN THE GARAGE
speak of the devil you can´t make a silk purse out of a sow´s ear she/he is a good person to feel out of place Echar margaritas a los cerdos Éramos pocos y parió la abuela Es más largo que un día sin pan Donde comen dos comen tres Hablando del Papa de Roma por la puerta se asoma
-speaking of the Pope of Rome, here he is coming through the door!
Aunque la mona se vista de seda, mona se queda
-a nun can wear silk, but she´s still a nun
Es un trozo de pan
-she/he is a piece of bread
Encontrarse como un pulpo en un garaje
-to be like an octopus in a garage
-to feed daisies to the pigs
(said when you do something for someone but feel that they don’t deserve it)
-there were a few of us and then granny gave birth
(said when you already have a lot of problems, and then all of a sudden you have another one)
- longer than a day without bread
(said when something is particularly tedious and dragging on and on)
-where two can eat, three can
(said to someone who is feeling shy about joining in a meal after an impromptu invite)
GRAMMAR
This chapter is designed to give you an idea of how Spanish phrases are put together, providing you with the basic rules to help you to
construct your own sentences.
WORD ORDER
Generally, the word order of the sentences is similar to English word order (subject-verb-object).
Ana is drinking beer. Ana bebe cerveza.