Hola hola hola and welcome back to the Spanish Conversation Podcast, where I want to hear you speak! Or I want to imaginar your lovely voz speaking to your device. Misma cosa. The topic for the day is familia, y como responder a preguntas sobre tus familiares, or relatives. Hoy we are turning up the heat, con diez preguntas! whoa! They range from cringey and personal to general and easy, so buckle up! Take as much tiempo as you need with each step of the podcast, from jotting vocab, to repeating the questions and learning their translations, to responding during the silencio to the randomly ordered preguntas. Ojalá by now you have a system that works for you for each episodio to extract lo más beneficio que puedas. Vaya, I’ll take your silencio as a [removed] and launch into the vocabulario ahora: 1. Casado / a = married 2. los hijos = children 3. cuánto / cuántos = how much, how many 4. vivo = alive 5. casarse = to get married 6. los sobrinos = nieces and nephews 7. jubilado(s) = retired 8. los hermanos = siblings Okay Imagínate that you are getting to know a Spanish speaker, and they start asking about your relatives and home life. Note that these questions may feel a bit uncomfortable but are quite common in Latin culture. Let’s work on some responses. here are the questions I am going to ask you today and their translations: 1. ¿Dónde vive tu familia? – Where does your family live? remember family is singular, so you can respond with [removed] or [removed], if speaking about location. Remember to use things like país, pueblo, or ciudad if the place they live is lesser known. 2. ¿Estás casada/o? – Are you married? Awkward, I know. But if they don’t see a ring or even if they do, the person may inquire about your marital status. We use estar here, ironically enough, for the concept of marriage. Make sure to adjust casado to your gender. 3. ¿Tienen hijos? ¿Cuántos? – Do you all have kids? How many? A safe bet could be to say, [removed], for no, not right now, and hope for the best that they don’t follow up if you don’t want to talk about it. If you do have kiddos, be prepared to say nosotros tenemos or yo tengo, and then the hijo / hija in question’s age would be a good bet using tener. 4. ¿Cuándo tendrán hijos? – When will you have kids? Ahh here it is, the follow-on question to your no answer above. You could say [removed] we don’t have plans right now, or just a simple [removed] might do it. If you are comfortable sharing a timeframe, feel free to list some months or years, or after a milestone, such as [removed] for when I graduate law school. 5. ¿Cuándo se casarán / Cuándo se casaron? When will you get married / when did you get married? For future plans to marry, use the future tense such as [removed] or if already married, try for the preterit which is [removed]. Or see my response below for a “not planning on it” type of answer. 6. ¿Están vivos tus abuelos? ¿Cómo están? – Are your grandparents alive? (if so) How are they? For yes, a [removed] for they are all alive would be good, or a [removed] for unfortunately I don’t have grandparents any more. 7. ¿Tienes sobrinos? – Do you have nieces / nephews? Make sure to adjust the sobrino or sobrina to gender, or use sobrinos for multiple mixed gender, and make sure your numbers are on point to count them out. 8. ¿A qué se dedica tu esposo? / ¿A qué se dedican tus padres? – What does your husband do for work, what do your parents do for work? Here we use ser for the profession, such as [removed] or [removed] for my parents are entrepreneurs. 9. ¿Están tus padres jubilados? – Are your parents retired? Here we are using estar with a participle of jubilado, which comes from the verb jubilarse, a reflexive. You could say for instance, [removed] for last year they retired in preterit. 10. ¿Tienes hermanos? – Do you have siblings? We can use hermano mayor for older brother, and hermana menor for younger sister, etc. Again you may get the chance to use your numbers for their age, and remember that age is represented with tener, as in [removed]. Okay, phew! Take one more second to gather your notes, thoughts, or to take a deep breath. Next up are the questions in random order. Make sure you hit pause when you need to if you don’t have enough time to reply. ¿Están vivos tus abuelos? ¿Cómo están? Pause Mi respuesta: Sí, los abuelos del lado de mi mamá están vivos. Viven en Pennsylvania y están en buena salud. (buena salud is good health). ¿Tienes hermanos? Pause Mi respuesta: Sí, una hermana menor, ella vive veinte minutos de mi casa en Colorado con su pareja, bebé, dos gatos y un perro. (Menor is younger. Who does she live with?) ¿Dónde vive tu familia? Pause Mi respuesta: Mis padres y mi hermana viven en Colorado como yo, en partes diferentes del estado. Todos estamos como una media hora de los otros. (como yo is like me, so where do I live?) ¿Estás casada? Pause Mi respuesta: No, no estoy casada, pero tengo una pareja desde el último año se llama John quien amo mucho. (note: pareja means partner, used in place of novio for boyfriend or esposo for husband.) ¿Cuándo se casarán? Pause Mi respuesta: Bueno, es un tema complicado para muchas parejas hoy en día. Todavía estamos discutiéndolo, pero parece que no tenemos ganas de casarnos ahora aunque somos dedicados a la relación. (Note the diplomatic no response here, good for answering without getting too personal). ¿A qué se dedican sus padres? Pause Mi respuesta: Mis padres tienen una compañía pequeña en la industria de embalaje en Colorado por los últimos veinticinco años (hint: did you catch how long my parents have had their business? and sus vs tus?) ¿Tienen hijos? ¿Cuántos? Pause Mi respuesta: No, no tenemos hijos, pero tengo una sobrina preciosa se llama Cici, y ser tía es muy divertida. (note: Tia is aunt). ¿Cuándo tendrán hijos? Pause Mi respuesta: Sin estar demasiado detallada, nosotros no tenemos ganas de ser padres. Nos encanta ser tío y tía y tenemos muchos planes de viajar y trabajar mucho que no ahora incluyen niños. (note: again, a contrarían opinion, presented with tener ganas de which means to have the desire to. Also note the nos encanta ser tío y tía is we love being an uncle and aunt). ¿Tienes sobrinos? Pause Mi respuesta: Sí, desde febrero del año pasado soy tía por la primera vez de la hija de mi hermana. Ella es una bebé muy linda y divertida, y me encanta cuidarla y comprarle regalos. (Note: The la and le at the end of cuidar and comprar are for her, meaning my niece DOP + IOP). ¿Están tus padres jubilados? Pause Mi respuesta: No, todavía trabajan los dos en la compañía que mencioné antes. Pero, solo trabajan unas horas de casa cada semana, así que les llamo [removed]. (Note: half retired is medio jubilados, due to my description of their light work schedule earlier in my answer). Pues, look at that! You are crushing through these Intermediate episodes and building conversational strength through this practice. Your list of vocabulary and templates for questions are growing by the episode and I am proud of your progress, regardless of whether its meeting your expectations or not. Learning a language is a long road, so I am hoping these episodes are helping you enjoy the ride. If you want some help along the way, my website offers tutoring, another podcast, books and courses, at www.gringaconsulting.com No matter what though, I am thankful you spent some tiempo conmigo hoy. Gracias, ¡hasta la próxima!