Useful Phrases & Pronunciation I

1.1 Basic Sentences — Useful Phrases

This first unit introduces essential greetings, polite expressions, introductions, and farewells. Learn these phrases by heart — they form the foundation for everything that follows.

Greetings

English	Spanish
Good morning.	Buenos días.
Good morning, sir.	Buenos días, señor.
Good afternoon, ma’am.	Buenas tardes, señora.
Good evening, miss.	Buenas noches, señorita.

How Are You?

English	Spanish
How are you?	¿Cómo está usted?
I’m fine, thanks. How are you?	Estoy bien, gracias. ¿Y usted?
Very well, thanks.	Muy bien, gracias.
Hi! How goes it?	¡Hola! ¿Qué tal?
How are you getting along?	¿Cómo le va?
Fine, thanks.	Bien, gracias.

Polite Expressions

English	Spanish
Excuse me. (to pass by)	Con permiso.
Certainly. / Of course.	Cómo no.
Excuse me. (apology)	Dispénseme.
I’m very sorry.	Lo siento mucho.
That’s okay.	Está bien.
Thanks a lot.	Muchas gracias.
You’re welcome.	De nada.
Don’t mention it.	No hay de qué.

Introductions

English	Spanish
I’d like to introduce you to Mr. Molina.	Quiero presentarle al señor Molina.
I’d like to introduce you to Mrs. Molina.	Quiero presentarle a la señora de Molina.
Glad to meet you.	Mucho gusto.
Same here, thanks.	Igualmente, gracias.
Delighted to meet you. (to a woman)	Encantado de conocerla.
Glad to meet you. (to a man)	Mucho gusto de conocerlo.

Farewells

English	Spanish
Goodbye.	Adiós.
See you tomorrow.	Hasta mañana.
So long. / See you later.	Hasta luego.

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1.10 Notes on the Basic Sentences

(1) ¡Hola! ¿Qué tal? is a greeting generally used with a person whom you already know more than casually, and who occupies a status approximately equivalent to yours.

(2) Con permiso is used to excuse yourself when, for example, you are on an elevator and need to squeeze between other people to get out, or when you want to excuse yourself from a group you are talking with. It is not ordinarily interchangeable with dispénseme.

(3) Dispénseme is used as an apology for a minor breach of etiquette, or to interrupt a conversation to ask about something.

(4) Note that muchas (“many”) is simply the feminine plural of mucho (“much”), the same word that appears in mucho gusto. The -s is the plural marker, while the -a before it is the feminine marker.

(5) No hay de qué is used when someone thanks you for a small favor; it is about the same as De nada.

(6) Encantado de conocerla is regularly used only when you (a man) are introduced to a woman. If you are introduced to another man, say Mucho gusto de conocerlo, or simply Mucho gusto. In Spain, -le is used instead of -lo.

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1.2 Drills on Pronunciation

Unit 1’s pronunciation drills focus on three areas where English speakers make the most common errors in Spanish. These drills are designed to be practiced with the audio tapes and a native speaker.

1.21 Vowel Contrasts in Weak-Stressed Syllables

The problem: English speakers tend to reduce all unstressed vowels to a single neutral sound (the “schuh” vowel, as in the underlined vowels of president, bottom, warden — all pronounced the same in English). In Spanish, every vowel keeps its distinct quality regardless of stress.

The exercises present minimal pairs — words that differ only in a single vowel under weak stress:

• /a/ and /e/ in contrast (e.g., sapa vs. sape)
• /a/ and /i/ in contrast (e.g., libar vs. libir)
• /a/ and /o/ in contrast (e.g., santa vs. santo)
• /a/ and /u/ in contrast (e.g., pajar vs. pujar)
• /e/ and /i/ in contrast (e.g., penar vs. pinar)
• /e/ and /o/ in contrast (e.g., pase vs. paso)
• /e/ and /u/ in contrast (e.g., temor vs. tumor)
• /i/ and /o/ in contrast (e.g., timo vs. tomo)
• /i/ and /u/ in contrast (e.g., pintada vs. puntada)
• /o/ and /u/ in contrast (e.g., sotana vs. sutana)

Practice repeating these after the speaker until you can make each contrast clearly. The full minimal pair lists are in the Student Text PDF.

1.22 The Spanish Stress System

The problem: Spanish has only two levels of stress (strong and weak), while English has four (primary, secondary, tertiary, and weak). English speakers tend to put too much stress on some syllables and not enough on others.

Key concept: The four English stresses correspond to only two in Spanish:

English	Spanish
Primary stress / Secondary stress	→ Strong stress
Tertiary stress / Weak stress	→ Weak stress

Minimal stress pairs demonstrate that stress placement changes meaning dramatically:

Word	Meaning	Word	Meaning
ésta	”this”	está	”is”
peso	”monetary unit”	pesó	”he weighed”
libro	”book”	libró	”he freed”
ara	”altar”	ará	”he will do”

Rhythm: Spanish syllables are all approximately equal in length, creating a “machine-gun” rhythm. English makes louder syllables longer, creating an uneven rhythm. This difference makes Spanish seem faster than it really is.

The exercises drill stress patterns on words of increasing length (2–8+ syllables). Practice with the audio until you use only two stress levels, not four.

1.23 The Intonation System of Spanish

The problem: English intonation patterns will carry over into your Spanish and sound distinctly foreign.

Spanish uses three pitch levels (low, middle, high) plus a slight rise or fall at the end of an utterance. The exercises contrast correct Spanish intonation with the errors English speakers typically make.

Common English interference patterns include:

• Rising too high at the end of greetings (as in English “Good morning, Bill!”)
• Using English question intonation on Spanish questions
• Applying English farewell intonation to Adiós or Hasta luego

The exercises present 15 statements and 15 questions for practice, drilling the correct Spanish pitch contours.

Note: The full pronunciation exercises — including all minimal pair lists, stress pattern drills, and intonation exercises — are designed to be done orally with the audio recordings. Open the Student Text PDF alongside the audio tapes for the complete drills.