CHAPTER 9
Who are you?
 ¿Quién eres?

¿Cómo?—
Say What?

If you live in a small town that people in other countries have never heard of, you might like to say Vivo cerca de (I live near) and then the nearest city.

Where Do You Live?—¿Dónde vives?

When you travel or meet people, one of the first things you will probably talk about is where you live.

To ask where someone lives, say ¿Dónde vives?

The answer begins with Vivo en (I live in), followed by a city, state, province, or country.

English	Spanish
Where do you live?	¿Dónde vives?
I live in Detroit.	Vivo en Detroit.
I live in California.	Vivo en California.
I live in Canada.	Vivo en Canadá.
I live near Los Angeles.	Vivo cerca de Los Angeles.
I live near Chicago.	Vivo cerca de Chicago.

To ask where someone is from (which might not be the same as where he or she lives now), ask ¿De dónde eres? And then you can answer Soy de (I’m from) or Nací en (I was born in).

English	Spanish
Where are you from?	¿De dónde eres?
I'm from Houston.	Soy de Houston.
I'm from Ontario.	Soy de Ontario.
I was born in Portland.	Nací en Portland.
I was born in New York.	Nací en Nueva York.

You might also want to say that you used to live somewhere:

English	Spanish
I used to live in San Francisco.	Antes viví en San Francisco.
I used to live in Florida.	Antes viví en Florida.

And finally, if you want to keep in touch with someone, you’ll need to give them your address or phone number.

English	Spanish
My address is	Mi dirección es
My email address is	Mi dirección electrónica es
My phone number is	Mi número de teléfono es

Countries—Países

Knowing the Spanish words for different countries will be useful in many ways: for talking about where you are from and where you are traveling to, as well as understanding where the people you meet are from.

Many places have the same name in Spanish and English:

• Argentina

• Asia

• Australia

• Chile

• China

• Colombia

• Costa Rica

• Ecuador

• India

• Puerto Rico

• Portugal

Here are a couple of sample sentences to guide you:

English	Spanish
I want to go to Australia.	Quiero ir a Australia.
I went to Costa Rica last year.	Fui a Costa Rica el año pasado.

Consejo
IMPORTANT TIP

To say “My email address is myname@network.com,” for example, you would say Mi dirección electrónica es myname arroba network punto com.

Gramática —
Additional Grammar

Like all other vocabulary, the Spanish words for countries have gender. If the word ends in a, it’s feminine: la Colombia, la Francia. Otherwise, it’s masculine: el Portugal, el México. Now, you will not use pronouns when talking about the country by itself. So to say “France is a very nice country,” you would omit the pronoun and just say Francia es un país muy bello. You would use the pronouns when you are talking about certain characteristics of the country; for example, to say “A common food in ancient Mexico was corn,” you would say El maíz era una comida común en el México antiguo.

Consejo
IMPORTANT TIP

Just as United States of America has the abbreviation U.S.A., los Estados Unidos is abbreviated to los EE.UU.

But for others, the words are different in Spanish and English.

English	Spanish
Africa	África
Brazil	Brasil
Canada	Canadá
Egypt	Egipto
England	Inglaterra
Europe	Europa
France	Francia
Germany	Alemania
Italy	Italia
Japan	Japón
Mexico	México
Poland	Polonia
Russia	Rusia
Spain	España
Switzerland	Suiza
United States	Estados Unidos

Nationality—Nacionalidad

Another way to talk about where you’re from is to talk about your nationality. For example, if you are from America, you are American. Here are some other nationalities in the world:

English	Spanish
African	africano
American (United States)	estadounidense
American (North or South)	americano
Argentine	argentino
Asian	asiático
Australian	australiano
Brazilian	brasileño
Canadian	canadiense
Chilean	chileno
Chinese	chino
Colombian	colombiano
Costa Rican	costarricense
Ecuadoran	ecuatoriano
Egyptian	egipcio
English	inglés
European	europeo
French	francés
German	alemán
Indian	indio
Italian	italiano
Japanese	japonés
Mexican	mexicano
Polish	polaco
Portuguese	portugués
Puerto Rican	puertorriqueño
Russian	ruso
Spanish	español
Swiss	suizo

English	Spanish
I am American.	Soy estadounidense.
My mom is a Spaniard.	Mi madre es española.

Languages—Idiomas

There are hundreds of languages in the world. Here are the Spanish names for the ones you might need to talk about.

English	Spanish
Arabic	el árabe
Catalan	el catalán
Chinese	el chino
Dutch	el neerlandés
English	el inglés
French	el francés
German	el alemán
Italian	el italiano
Japonese	el japonés
Korean	el coreano
Persian	el persa
Polish	el polaco
Portuguese	el portugués
Russian	el ruso
Spanish	el español
Vietnamese	el vietnamita

¡CUIDADO!

Mistake to Avoid

In Spanish, all languages are masculine and are not capitalized. The same is true for nationalities. For example: the Spanish language would be el idioma español, and He is a Spaniard would be Él es español.

¿Cómo?—
Say What?

The Spanish spoken in Spain is known as Castilian Spanish. It is different from the Spanish spoken in Latin America, just as the English spoken in the United States is different from English in England.

English	Spanish
I speak English and Spanish.	Hablo inglés y español.
I don't speak German.	No hablo alemán.

Do you know anyone who speaks a second language? Perhaps one of your parents learned another language in college, or you have a friend from a different country. For some more writing practice, write down some sentences explaining who of your friends and family speaks another language. Remember that the words for different languages are lowercased when written in Spanish. Here are a couple of examples:

English	Spanish
My mother speaks Italian.	Mi madre habla italiano.
My friend speaks French.	Mi amigo habla francés.

Now try writing your own sentences in the spaces below:

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________