Season 2 – Lesson 32 – Coffee Break Spanish

Lesson 32 continues the story of Andrew and María-José and their blossoming friendship! María-José has been on vacation in France. The main topic of discussion in this lesson is the weather, using a variety of tenses. Once again, you’ll develop your knowledge and listening skills by listening to this conversation where language is used in context. Please note that lesson 32 of Season 2 was originally known as lesson 232 of Coffee Break Spanish. We have renumbered the lessons of each season as lessons 1-40 to make things more simple for our listeners.

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7 thoughts on “Season 2 – Lesson 32 – Coffee Break Spanish”

  1. Excellent lesson!. Regarding the use of ser and estar within this lesson. I thought that when something was a permanent characteristic (e.g. your gender or your career) that one uses ser and that estar is used for non permanent characteristics. Therefore I was surprised to hear the lady in the lesson say that “Granada esta cerca de las montagnas” when saying that Granada is close to the mountains. I had assumed that because this is a permanent characteristic or feature of Granada i.e. it will always be close to the monutains, that you would say “Granada es cerca de las montagnas”. I would appreciate any clarification back on this.

    Gracias!
    Fran

    Reply
  2. Hi Fran – I’m no expert, but as far as I’m aware, estar is used for locations. E.g, Madrid esta en España.

    Folks/Mark – feel free to correct me if I’m wrong!

    Reply
  3. I, too, remember Mark talking about “Madrid está en España”. He said estar is used for temporary conditions and for locations. So even though Madrid is permanently situated in Spain, it’s the location that matters. He said it doesn’t matter if it’s a permanent location or a temporary location, if it has to do with location estar is used. And I guess this is different from where an event is taking place. In that case ser is used. “La fiesta es (taking place) en el parque que está (is located) cerca de mi casa.” So much to remember…ay yi yi!

    Reply
  4. It’s always great to see members of the community helping each other! Mike and Flo, you’re exactly right: in your ser/estar decision, the first question you can ask is “is it a location?” If the answer to this is “yes”, don’t go any further: just use estar. If it’s not a location then you can start to think about the temporary or permanent characteristics etc.

    Reply
  5. However, ser is used for non permanent locations: parties, meetings,etc. Donde es la fiesta? is correct not Donde esta la fiesta? Only if the fiesta is at the same location every week or every night would estar be used.
    Ser and estar are far more complex than a yes or no digital pairing.

    Reply
  6. I just discovered your show on iTunes and I’ve listened to lessons 68-72. What a lot of fun! I’m from the US and I just LOVE your Scottish accents. You’re very entertaining and I’ve learned a lot. Thanks!

    Anxiously awayatin’ the nixt lisson!
    Ed

    Reply

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