Aprender ingles gratis con La Mansion del Ingles. Un podcast para mejorar la gramatica, el vocabulario y la pronunciacion del inglés. Una leccion del ingles con ejemplos y ejercicios.
Learn English free with podcasts from La Mansion del Ingles. Improve your grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation. This English lesson contains examples and exercises.

Podcast Transcription

Hi and welcome to another Mansión Inglés podcast from mansioningles.com, recorded for June 2010.

Thank you for all your support on Facebook. We hope you like the competitions and the Skype calls. ¡Bienvenido!Gracias a todos vosotros ya tenemos más que 4,000 fans en nuestra página de Facebook. Espero que os gusten los concursos que hacemos y las llamadas de Skype. A mi me pasa muy bien hablando con vosotros.

Let’s continue with the list of irregular verbs. Vamos a continuar con la lista de verbos irregulares.

¿Qué es el verbo comer en inglés? To eat Escucha y repite: eat – ate – eaten. What did you eat for lunch? Have you eaten yet? ¿Ya has comido?

Next is the verb caer – to fall repeat fall – fell – fallen. Again – otra vez: fall – fell – fallen

El verbo sentir en ingles is to feel – Repeat: feel –felt – felt

luchar is to fight – F-I-G-H-T – fight – fought – fought We had the same vowel sound last month. Hemos tenido 2 verbos el mes pasado con el mismo sonido vocal /au/ repeat: /au/ buy – bought / catch – caught / fight – fought. A great film with Brad Pitt is Fightclub – El club de la lucha. Have you seen it?

encontrar is to find – repeat: find – found – found. The vowel sound is /ow/ - found – found. I’m so happy I found you. I’m so happy I found La Mansión del Inglés!

Volar means to fly repeat: fly – flew - flown. Again: fly – flew – flown. I flew to Paris. Have you ever flown business class?

El verbo olvidar is to forget – repeat – forget – forgot – forgotten otra vez - forget – forgot – forgotten

El verb perdonar is to forgive repeat – forgive – forgave – forgiven. Another wonderful film by Clint Eastwood. Sin Perdon – Unforgiven.

Helar o congelar is to freeze – If it’s very cold you say. “It’s freezing!” repeat “It’s freezing!” freeze – froze – frozen. Comida congelada is frozen food. I froze the pizza yesterday. It’s in the freezer. The freezer – el congelador

And finally the verb obtener. En inglés to get. Uno de los verbos más comunes en ingles. Listen/escucha get – got – got. Repeat: get – got – got. Easy! - I got drunk last night. Did you get any milk? I’ve got a new car. I got it last month. How much money have you got? You may hear get – got – gotten. A veces se dice gotten. Es más usado en el inglés Americano.

Ahora escucha de nuevo y intenta decir el segundo y tercero forma del verbo antes que lo digo yo. Ready? ¿Listo?

eat                         ate - eaten

fall                         fell - fallen

feel                        felt - felt

fight                       fought - fought

find                        found - found

fly                         flew - flown

forget                     forgot - forgotten

forgive                             forgave - forgiven

freeze                    froze - frozen

get                         got - got / gotten

The next exercise in the newsletter (el proximo ejecicio en el cuaderno) practised the difference between past simple and past continuous. Listen and repeat the sentences to practise pronunciation. Escucha y repite:

I saw your mum yesterday. yesterday. - mum yesterday. - your mum yesterday. - I saw your mum yesterday.

It wasn’t raining when we got to the city centre. -  city centre  - the city centre. - got to - got to the city centre. - when we got to the city centre. - It wasn’t raining - It wasn’t raining when we got to the city centre.

I met your brother when I was walking the dog. - walking the dog. - when I was - when I was walking - when I was walking the dog - your brother - I met your brother - I met your brother when I was walking the dog. I met your brother when I was walking the dog.

He didn’t go to the beach with me yesterday. - with me yesterday. - go to the beach - go to - go to the beach - He didn’t - He didn’t go to the beach - He didn’t go to the beach with me yesterday.

Was Pepito wearing his new sunglasses when you saw him? - Saw him -when you saw him? - his new sunglasses - wearing his new sunglasses - Was Pepito wearing his new sunglasses when you saw him? Was Pepito wearing his new sunglasses when you saw him?

Last year I ran in the New York marathon. marathon - the New York marathon. - I ran in the New York marathon. - Last year I ran in the New York marathon. - Last year I ran in the New York marathon.

I wasn’t watching TV when you rang, I was having dinner. - having dinner. - I was having dinner - when you rang - when you rang, I was having dinner. - I wasn’t - I wasn’t watching - I wasn’t watching TV when you rang, I wasn’t watching TV when you rang, I was having dinner.

I wasn’t watching TV when you rang, I was having dinner.

In the intermediate section this month we practised some vocabulary connected with cars and driving. For example gearstick – palanca de cambio and seatbelt – cinturón de seguridad. Gearstick and seatbelt are compound nouns. A compound noun (un nombre compuesto) is when two nouns combine to form a single noun. Like bedroom or bookcase or seafood - marisco. The first noun acts like an adjective and gives information about the second noun. In Spanish you say the door of the car – la puerta del coche. In English we say cardoor. In Spanish you say the champion of tennis – el campionato de tennis  - in English tennis champion. In Spanish you say a card of credit – una tarjecta de credito, in English we say credit card. Compound nouns are sometimes written as one word, sometimes as two separate words and sometimes with a hyphen – guíon.

OK, I’ll say the Spanish noun or expression and you say the compound noun before I do. Remember all the words are connected to cars and driving. Ready?

volante - steering wheel

bolsa de aire - airbag

freno de mano - handbrake

parabrisas – windscreen (in British English), windshield (in American English)

palanca de cambio - gearstick

cinturón de seguridad – seatbelt

faros – headlights

aparcamiento - carpark (in British English), parking lot (in American English)

asiento de coche – carseat

teléfono de automóvil – carphone

túnel de lavado – Carwash

 Here are some more car words and expressions.

motor – engine

ruedas – wheels

maletero - boot (boot – in British English) / trunk (in American English)

neumático – tyre – a car has four tyres and a spare tyre. Where is the spare tyre usually kept? In the boot (or in the trunk).

One on the first things you do when you get into a car is you turn on the engine – arrancar el coche

You do up or put on your seatbelt and you take off the handbrake. Some cars are automatic. They have an automatic gearbox, especially American cars. European cars tend to have manual gearboxes, so you have to change gears using the gearstick and the clutch – el embrague. We say to put the car in gear.

When you are low on petrol (or gas as the Americans say) you fill up with petrol. That was one of the first Spanish expressions I learned here in Spain. “llenalo por favour” Fill it up, please.

When it gets dark you turn on the headlights, and when you park the car, you turn the headlights off.

Frenar is to brake and if you want to go faster you accelerate. To accelerate – acelerar.

You usually accelerate when you overtake - to overtake – adelantar (I think in México they say rebasar)

to indicate means indicar, señalizar poner el intermitente. That’s something that Spanish drivers don’t do very often here in Valencia. I often have to guess which way the car in front of me is going to turn.

Aparcar (or in Latin America parquear) is to park, and a bend in the road is una curva and to swerve is dar un viraje brusco. To swerve to the right – virar bruscamente a la derecha.

to pick (someone) up in your car is buscar, recoger: I'll pick you up at the airport - te iré a recoger al aeropuerto. What’s the opposite of pick someone up? to drop off - dejar: I'll drop you off at your house - te dejaré en casa. Repeat: I’ll pick you up – I’ll pick you up at your hotel. Can you pick me up at the airport? Where does the coach drop us off? Can you drop me off at the nearest restaurant?

Llevar a alguien en coche is to give somebody a lift – Repeat: I'll give you a lift. Can you give me a lift to the airport?

Listen and repeat: Did you come by car? - Let’s go for a drive - Did you bring the car? - Yes, I drove here.  - Drive – drove – driven. When was the last time you drove? Please slow down – Would you mind slowing down? Could you drive more slowly?

Speed up – go faster - Put your foot down – ¡Más rápido!

In the advanced part of the newsletter we practised talking about habits. Listen and repeat the sentences.

A good friend is someone who keeps phoning you even when there’s no real news.  

A bore is someone who is always talking about their boring hobbies.

A bore is someone who tends not to notice when other people aren’t interested.

When I was 11, my best friend and I used to walk home from school together.

When I was 11, my best friend would always take my side if there was a problem.

My least favourite teacher at school always criticised me in front of the other students. 

My least favourite teacher at school tended to treat the girls better than the boys.

My least favourite teacher at school kept losing his temper with the class.

In the Business English section there were some useful expressions for telephone English. Listen and repeat the expressions and say your name when you hear the tone.

Good morning, (tone) speaking. Who's calling, please?

Good afternoon, (tone)  speaking. How can I help you?

This is (tone) speaking.

Hello, this is (tone)

Could I speak to _______ please?

I'd like to speak to _______, please.

Could you put me through to _______ , please?

I'm afraid he isn't in at the moment.

I'm sorry, she’s in a meeting at the moment.

I'm afraid he’s on another line at the moment.

Just a moment, please.

Could you hold the line, please?

Hold the line, please.

I'm sorry, I don't understand. Could you repeat that, please?

I'm sorry, I can't hear you very well. Could you speak up a little, please?

Could you spell that, please?

One moment, please. I'll see if she’s available.

I'll put you through.

I'll connect you.

I'm connecting you now.

Can I take a message?

Would you like to leave a message?

Can I give him a message?

I'll tell her that you called

I'll ask him to call you as soon as possible

Well, that’s it for this month. Thanks for listening. Remember to visit our online shop where you can find our business English cd, our First Certificate cd for the Cambridge FCE exam, our audio cds and many more. Just go to the mansioningles.com webpage and click on the cds on the right side of the home page. You can also follow us on Twitter, just search for MansionTwit, and don’t forget to join our growing community off more than 4,000 students and teachers on our Facebook fan page.

See you next time!

The music in this month’s podcast was by Revolution Void, the album was The Politics of Desire and the track was Outer Orbit. Also by Adult Only, the track was Overlove. And also by Azhrak, the track was Below the Arctic Circle. Creative Commons licence from Jamendo.com

Aprender ingles gratis con La Mansion del Ingles. Un podcast para mejorar la gramatica, el vocabulario y la pronunciacion del inglés. Una leccion del ingles con ejemplos y ejercicios.
Learn English free with podcasts from La Mansion del Ingles. Improve your grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation. This English lesson contains examples and exercises.

Podcast Transcription

Hi and welcome to another Mansión Inglés podcast from mansioningles.com, recorded for May 2010.

Thank you for all your support on Facebook. We really enjoy reading your comments. It’s a lot of fun for me to have students from so many different countries. Gracias por sus amables palabras sobre el cuaderno del mes pasado. Especialmente en nuestra página de Facebook. Si quieres seguirnos y participar en la página, busca La Mansión del Inglés desde tu cuenta de Facebook.

Let’s continue with the list of irregular verbs that we started last month. Vamos a continuar con la lista de verbos irregulares en inglés que hemos empezado el mas pasado.

¿Qué es el verbo comprar en inglés? To buy Escucha y repite: buy – bought – bought

Next is the verb to catch repeat catch –caught– caught escucha el sonido vocal /au/ caught - caught

El verbo venir en ingles is  to come - come – came – come

costar is to cost the verb to cost doesn’t change in the past or past participle. La forma no cambia escucha: cost – cost – cost

Morder is to bite – bite - bit – bitten

Otro verbo que no cambia es el verbo cortar – to cut repeat: cut – cut – cut. cortar y pegar = cut and paste.

El verbo elegir is to choose – repeat – choose – chose – chosen –again – otra vez -  choose – chose – chosen

Hacer is to do repeat – do or does I do, you do, they do, we do – he does, she does, it does. Repeat: do/does – did - done

Soñar is to dream – There are two possible forms for the past and participle of dream. Hay dos formas posibles  – dream - dreamt DREAMT dreamt or dreamed DREAMED dreamed– dreamt or dreamed Repeat: dream – dreamt – dreamt or dream – dreamed - dreamed

Do you know the verb beber en inglés? ¿Sabes como decir el verbo beber en inglés? It’s to drink repeat: to drink – drink – drank - drunk.

And finally the verb conducir. En inglés to drive. Listen/escucha drive – drove – driven. Repeat: drive – drove - driven

Ahora escucha de nuevo y intenta decir el segundo y tercero forma del verbo antes que lo digo yo.

buy -                bought - bought        

catch -             caught - caught        

come -              came - come             

cost -               cost - cost               

cut -                 cut - cut                  

choose -            chose - chosen         

do -                  did - done                

dream -             dreamt - dreamt        

drink -               drank - drunk            

drive -               drove – driven

Now let’s talk about some verbs we can use to talk about the body and things you do with your body. 

To cough in Spanish is toser. The spelling is really strange: COUGH cough. Yeah I know – English spelling is crazy. It’s mad. No tiene sentido – it makes no sense. Anyway, the pronunciation is cough. It’s also a noun – a cough. I’ve got a bad cough. Repeat. I’ve got a bad cough. People who smoke a lot may have a smoker’s cough. Repeat a smoker’s cough. Have you got a smoker’s cough?

To breathe- BREATHE -  is respirar. Repeat: to breathe. I can’t breathe in here. The noun is breath – BREATH (sin la E). She’s got bad breath.

To yawn is bostezar. If you’re tired and bored during this podcast, you’ll probably be yawning. – to yawn.

Atchooo! - Estornudar – is to sneeze. If you have a cold you’ll probably be sneezing. We can say to catch a cold. Repeat: to catch a cold. What’s the past form of catch?.....caught. Very good! I caught a cold last week. Actually, that’s true. When I went on holiday at Easter I caught a cold. I caught a cold in Navarra.

To sigh – SIGH - suspirar – It’s also a noun. He gave a deep sigh when he saw her.

To snore is – roncar – SNORE. My dad snores really loudly.

OK, I’ll say the Spanish verb and you say the translation before I do. Ready?

toser  - to cough

respirar  - to breathe

bostezar  - to yawn

estornudar – to sneeze

suspirar  - to sigh

roncar - to snore

The following verbs are often used when we talk about food and eating.

Masticar in English is to chew. Chew your food well. Chicle in English is chewing gum.

eructar in English is to burp. In some countries it’s polite to burp after eating. It shows appreciation. Not in the UK though. It’s considered rude (mal educado). That doesn’t stop my sister. She’s always burping.

How do we say tragar in English? - to swallow – Drink water when you swallow the pill. A pill is una pastilla

lamer in English is to lick. Lick ice cream, lick your lips – tus labios. Whenever I see a good chocolate cake I lick my lips.

morder in English is to bite. I’m not going to bite you. No te voy a morder.

chupar in English is to suck. Here’s a joke that you can tell your English teacher (if you have one). “I had a friend who drowned in a bowl of muesli. A strong current sucked him in.” Ask your teacher to explain that one.

Let’s see what you remember. I’ll say the Spanish verb and you say the translation before I do. OK, here we go.

morder - to bite

chupar – to suck

tragar – to swallow

masticar – to chew

lamer – to lick 

eructar – to burp 

Ok, let’s look at some verbs now that are used in connection with the eyes and the face.

parpadear means  to blink. I blinked in the sunlight when I came out of the cinema.

guiñar el ojo – to wink. I winked at a girl in a bar yesterday, but she ignored me. The story of my life. Do you remember suspirar  - to sigh. I have no luck with girls. Maybe I should stop winking at them.

Ruborizarse in English is to blush. I’m very shy (timido). I blush easily. Girls put blusher on their face to make their cheeks (sus mejillas) red. Blusher is make-up (maquillaje)

sonreír abiertamente is to grin - GRIN. She was so happy to see me that she was grinning from ear to ear.

fruncir means to frown. I frowned when I realised we were going to be late again. Why are you frowning? What’s wrong?

Once again, I’m going to say the Spanish verb and I want you to say the English verb before I do. Ready?

parpadear – to blink

guiñar el ojo – to wink

ruborizarse – to blush

sonreír abiertamente – to grin

fruncir – to frown

And I apologise for my bad Spanish pronunciation.

In the business English section this month, there was an exercise to practise prepositions. Prepositions are difficult in English because they are often different from Spanish, so it doesn’t always help to translate.

Listen and repeat the sentences. All of the sentences start with the expression “I’m afraid…” . I’m afraid means Me temo or “I’m sorry, but….”

I'm afraid the manager’s at lunch.

I'm afraid Mr. Smith is in New York all this week.

I'm afraid she's on the other line.

I'm afraid Ms Walker is out of the office at the moment. Can I take a message?

I’m afraid he won’t be able to phone you back until this afternoon.

I'm afraid Ms Samuels is on holiday until next Wednesday.

I'm afraid Mr. Jameson is in a meeting at the moment.

I'm afraid you've been put through to the wrong department.

I'm afraid he's on a business trip until Thursday.

I'm afraid Mrs. Reeves is at our Head Office today.

Well, that’s it for this month. Thanks for listening. Remember to visit our online shop where you can find our business English cd, our First Certificate cd for the Cambridge FCE exam, our audio cds and many more. Just go to the mansioningles.com webpage and click on the cds on the right side of the home page. You can also follow us on Twitter, just search for MansionTwit, and don’t forget to join our growing community on our Facebook fan page.

See you next time!