LESSON NOTES

Newbie S2 #1
How should I cut your hair?

CONTENTS
2 Formal Spanish
2 English
2 Informal Spanish
3 English
3 Vocabulary
4 Sample Sentences
4 Grammar
5 Cultural Insight

# 1
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 FORMAL SPANISH

1. CLAUDIA: A ver, ¿cómo le corto el pelo?

2. ALEJANDRO: Bueno, puede ser corto, ya que estamos en verano.

3. CLAUDIA: Ah, entiendo, quiere que lo corte al ras.

4. ALEJANDRO: ¡Ay, no! No quiero un corte al ras, sino un recorte no más.

5. CLAUDIA: Muy bien. Entonces solamente voy a cortarle las puntas.

6. ALEJANDRO: De acuerdo.

ENGLISH

1. CLAUDIA: Let us see, how should I cut your hair?

2. ALEJANDRO: Well, it can be short, since we are in summer.

3. CLAUDIA: Oh, I understand, you want me to take it all the way down.

4. ALEJANDRO: Oh no! I do not want a buzz cut, but just a trim.

5. CLAUDIA: OK. So then, I am just going to clean it up.

6. ALEJANDRO: That is right.

INFORMAL SPANISH

CONT'D OVER

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1. CLAUDIA: A ver, ¿cómo te corto el pelo?

2. ALEJANDRO: Bueno, puede ser corto, ya que estamos en verano.

3. CLAUDIA: Ah, entiendo, quieres que lo corte al ras.

4. ALEJANDRO: ¡Ay, no! No quiero un corte al ras, sino un recorte no más.

5. CLAUDIA: Muy bien. Entonces solamente voy a cortarte las puntas.

6. ALEJANDRO: De acuerdo.

ENGLISH

1. CLAUDIA: Let's see, how should I cut your hair?

2. ALEJANDRO: Well, it can be short, since we're in summer.

3. CLAUDIA: Oh, I understand, you want me to take it all the way down.

4. ALEJANDRO: Oh no! I don't want a buzz cut, but just a trim.

5. CLAUDIA: OK. So then, I'm just going to clean it up.

6. ALEJANDRO: That's right.

VOCABULARY

S panish English C lass Ge nde r

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 adversative
sino but, but rather conjunction

cortar to cut verb

pelo hair noun masculine

recorte trim noun masculine

ras level, brim noun masculine

punta tip, point noun feminine

SAMPLE SENTENCES

No quiero un corte al ras, sino un Hace mucho tiempo que ella no se

recorte. corta el pelo.

"I don't want a buzz cut, but just a "It's been a long time since she's cut
trim." her hair."

El pelo de Susana es muy sedoso. No quiero un corte al ras, sino un

recorte.
"Susana's hair is very silky."
"I don't want a buzz cut, but just a
trim."

No quiero un corte al ras. Te voy a cortar las puntas no más.

"I don't want a buzz cut." "I'm just going to cut the ends."

GRAMMAR

In this first installment of Newbie Series Season 2, we are going back to basics. Let's examine
how we use the adverb "no" to form negative expressions.

We see this in the lesson conversation:

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"No quiero un corte al ras, sino un recorte no más."
(I don't want a buzz cut, but just a trim.)

Notice that the word "no" goes before the noun or verb that it's negating.
"no quiero" (I don't want).

*We do not say "quiero no".

If the subject pronoun is explicit, then the adverb “no” goes between the subject pronoun and
the verb:

"yo NO quiero..."
(I don’t want...)

Let’s look at some examples of both negative and positive statements to clarify the distinction:

POSITIVE
"Yo quiero ir al cine."
(I want to go to the movies.)
NEGATIVE
"Yo no quiero ir al cine."
(I don't want to go to the movies.)

POSITIVE
"Tú quieres comer ahora."
(You want to eat now.)
NEGATIVE
"Tú no quieres comer ahora."
(You don't want to eat now.)

CULTURAL INSIGHT

Something as simple as getting your hair cut could potentially be hazardous to your look! So,
in today's lesson, we learned how to make sure that you don't get a buzz cut, if you don't really
want one. But, what kinds of looks are in? In Latin America, many guys keep their hair rather
short, though, this is not always the case. Short hair for men is the conservative road. So, if
you've been invited to meet someone's family and you want to play it safe, you might take it
down and keep it clean. Long hair, however, is also in style, though, it should be said that if
you keep you hair long, people are likely to think that you're either an artist or a rebel, since

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long hair goes against the grain. As for dying your hair an unnatural color, you may think
twice. This practice has not caught on nearly as much in Latin America as it has in other
countries, like the US. Especially if you're trying to fit in, dying your hair a nice neon green
might not be your best best.

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