Introducing yourself in more detail: origin, countries and nationalities in Spanish

Introducing yourself in more detail

From A1 you already know Me llamo ... (My name is ...), Soy de ... (I am from ...) and Tengo ... años. (I am ... years old.). For your surname (el apellido🔊) there is a verb of its own: apellidarse🔊 (to have the surname). It works like llamarse🔊: Me apellido Ramírez. (My surname is Ramírez.) – ¿Cómo te apellidas? (What is your surname?)

In Spain and Latin America most people have two surnames: first the father's, then the mother's, for example Diego Ramírez Torres. In everyday life people often use only the first surname.

With presentarse🔊 (to introduce yourself) you introduce yourself: Me presento: soy Diego. (Let me introduce myself: I'm Diego.) With presentar🔊 (to introduce) you introduce another person: Te presento a mi amiga Sofía. (Let me introduce my friend Sofía to you.) Put a🔊 before the person.

Place of birth, date of birth and dialling code

On forms and when you registerregisterA variety of language chosen to suit a situation, audience, or level of formality. for something, you often need these details: el lugar de nacimiento🔊 (place of birth) and la fecha de nacimiento🔊 (date of birth). Mi lugar de nacimiento es Cali. (My place of birth is Cali.) Mi fecha de nacimiento es el 14 de mayo de 1996. (My date of birth is 14 May 1996.) You build the date as at A1: el + day + de🔊 + month + de🔊 + year.

For a phone number from another country you need el prefijo🔊 (the dialling code): El prefijo de Colombia es el 57. (The dialling code for Colombia is 57.) In Latin America you will also hear el código de país for this, or el código de área for the code of a city.

Countries and regions

Important countries are México🔊 (Mexico), Cuba🔊, Colombia🔊, Venezuela🔊, Ecuador🔊, Perú🔊 (Peru), Bolivia🔊, Chile🔊, Argentina🔊 and Uruguay🔊 – plus España🔊 (Spain) and Alemania🔊 (Germany). Note the accents in México🔊 and Perú🔊. Country names are usually used without an articlearticleA short word placed before a noun that shows its gender and number, such as el or la.: Soy de Chile. For Peru you will sometimes also hear el Perú.

Larger regions have names of their own: Latinoamérica🔊 (Latin America, also América Latina), Centroamérica🔊 (Central America) and Sudamérica🔊 (South America). In some countries, for example in Colombia, people also say Suramérica. Colombia, Perú y Chile están en Sudamérica. (Colombia, Peru and Chile are in South America.)

Nationalities

Nationalities are adjectives and, unlike in English, are written with a small letter in Spanish: cubano🔊 (Cuban), colombiano🔊 (Colombian), venezolano🔊 (Venezuelan), ecuatoriano🔊 (Ecuadorian), peruano🔊 (Peruvian), boliviano🔊 (Bolivian), chileno🔊 (Chilean), argentino🔊 (Argentinian), uruguayo🔊 (Uruguayan) and latinoamericano🔊 (Latin American).

Like other adjectives, they agree with the person: Pedro es cubano. – Carmen es cubana. – Mis amigos son chilenos. From A1 you already know español🔊/española and alemán🔊/alemana: alemana loses the accent. Careful: argentina (small letter) is the nationality, Argentina🔊 (capital letter) is the country.

Origin, nationality or place of residence?

These three statements sound similar but say different things: Soy de Chile. (origin: I am from Chile.) – Soy chilena. (nationality: I am Chilean.) – Vivo en Argentina. (place of residence: I live in Argentina.) So a person can come from one country and live in another.

El extranjero has two meanings. As a person it is the foreigner; a woman is la extranjera: En Ecuador, Lukas es un extranjero. (In Ecuador, Lukas is a foreigner.) As a place, el extranjero🔊 means abroad, usually in the phrase en el extranjero🔊: Mi hermana vive en el extranjero. (My sister lives abroad.)

Questions with quiénes, cuándo and cuánto

You ask about one person with quién🔊 and about several people with quiénes. The verb is then pluralpluralThe grammatical form used for more than one person or thing. too: ¿Quién es de Cuba? (Who is from Cuba?) – ¿Quiénes son tus compañeros de curso? (Who are your classmates?)

You ask about a point in time with cuándo🔊 (when): ¿Cuándo es tu cumpleaños? (When is your birthday?)

You ask about a price or an amount with cuánto🔊 directly before the verb. In this form it does not change: ¿Cuánto cuesta el curso? (How much does the course cost?) If a nounnounA word that names a person, thing, place, or idea, such as house or sun. follows, however, it agrees with it, as in ¿Cuántos años tienes?🔊 at A1: ¿Cuántas personas hay en el curso? (How many people are there in the course?)

All question words have an accent in a question: quiénes, cuándo🔊, cuánto🔊.