Dec. 10, 2007 - How Many? ¿Cuántos hay?
Quick field trip announcement: I have not been able to keep up with posting weekly field trips. I'll plan a special field trip for Christmas, and then go to posting one or two per month after the new year. Deal? ¿Trato hecho?
On to our regularly scheduled entry....
Counting to ten in Spanish is pretty universally known in the US. But once you know those numbers/los numeros, what good do they do you if you can't form a sentence to say how many of something there are? It's easier than you think!
Let me introduce you to one of the Spanish language's most handy and easy verbs: haber. It is used to say "there are", as in: "There are 20 people in that Volkswagen", or "There are 50 pink flamingos on my lawn."
The two most common forms are the following:
- hay (pronounced like the English word "eye" - we're not talking about horse food here!) - meaning "there are" in the present tense.
- había - "there were", past tense, such as Había una vez una princesa hermosa.../Once upon a time there was a beautiful princess....
- Hay diez conejos - There are ten rabbits.
- Hay nueve dulces - There are nine pieces of candy.
- Hay ocho ratones - There are eight mice.
- Hay siete balones - There are seven balls.
- Hay seis globos - There are six balloons.
- Hay cinco peces - There are five fish.
- Hay cuatro grillos - There are four crickets.
- Hay tres estrellas - There are three stars.
- Hay dos pajaros - There are two birds.
- Hay una abeja - There is one bee.
Another fun idea... practice saying your phone number in Spanish! (Cero means zero):
ocho-cuatro-seis-siete-cinco-cero-tres
Get counting!
