Chapter 11 - Places

Learning Objectives:

• Name the places in town.

• Ask for a general and specific place using the verbs "haber", "quedar", and "estar".

• List the forms for both singular and plural articles.

• Recognize when the indefinite or definite articles should be used to ask about general or specific locations.

• Use location vocabulary to pinpoint where a place can be found.

Listen to Voki conversation #1 and #2.

Conversation #1

Conversation #2

Grammar Notes - Conversations #1 and #2 - Non-specific places

In these conversations, the speaker wants to go to a drugstore and supermarket -- any drugstore or any supermarket that is nearby. This is why he is using the question ¿Dónde hay... ? followed by the place (a supermarket, a drugstore). Notice that the speaker uses an indefinite article before the noun.

Unlike the English indefinite articles (a / an), which are used for any singular count noun, Spanish has several forms for this article.

Indefinite articles in Spanish

Un + singular, masculine noun

Una + singular, feminine noun

Unos + plural, masculine noun

Unas + plural, feminine noun

Verb: Hay - There is/are. This verb is used to ask and answer questions about non-specific places.

Notice that same verb (hay) is used in the answer, and that the speaker uses "uno" or "una" depending on whether the noun is feminine or masculine.

For the feminine noun "farmacia," the answer to the question about the location starts with "Hay una" followed by the distance and the street name.

In the other response, for the question about the supermarket's location, the phrase "Hay uno" is at the start of the sentence. Notice that "uno" is used when there is no noun (in this case, supermercado) in the answer. If there is a noun in the response, Spanish speakers would use "un" before the masculine noun.

Examples:

Hay uno en la calle Rose. (Notice the word supermercado is not in this answer).

Hay un supermercado en la calle Rose. (Notice the noun supermercado is included, so the article goes before it).