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Coffee Break French

Season 3 – Lesson 01 – Coffee Break French

Welcome to the first lesson of Coffee Break French Season 3! In this episode listeners will meet American student Katie, Australian entrepreneur Veronica, and Alf who is a retired teacher from England. Our three characters are studying French at a language school in Nice, and in each episode you’ll hear an extract from their diaries,

Coffee Break Spanish

Season 2 – Lesson 24 – Coffee Break Spanish

Lesson 24 introduces a new tense: the perfect tense. This tense is used to talk about what you ‘have done’ and is very simple to use. Please note that lesson 24 of Season 2 was originally known as lesson 224 of Coffee Break Spanish. We have renumbered the lessons of each season as lessons 1-40

Coffee Break Spanish

Season 2 – Lesson 23 – Coffee Break Spanish

Over lessons 21-23 we’ve been looking at por and para. In lesson 23 it’s time to look at the various uses of por, including a number of situations when por doesn’t mean “for”. Please note that lesson 23 of Season 2 was originally known as lesson 223 of Coffee Break Spanish. We have renumbered the lessons

Coffee Break Spanish

Season 2 – Lesson 22 – Coffee Break Spanish

In lesson 22 we’re continuing to discuss por and para: this time we’re focusing on the use of para when expressing purpose, e.g. “this gift is for you” – este regalo es para ti. We’ll also learn the verb regalar, and talk briefly about the personal a. Please note that lesson 22 of Season 2

Coffee Break Spanish

Season 2 – Lesson 21 – Coffee Break Spanish

Lessons 21-23 will look at the thorny issue of por and para: by the end of these three lessons you’ll be confident in knowing exactly when to use which word! In lesson 61 we’ll introduce both words and consider various situations when the words can both be translated as “for”. Please note that lesson 21

Coffee Break Spanish

Season 2 – Lesson 20 – Coffee Break Spanish

In this week’s episode we reach episode 20 and Mark will be testing Kara on everything she’s learned so far about verbs and adjectives in the past few lessons of the course. Please note that lesson 20 of Season 2 was originally known as lesson 220 of Coffee Break Spanish. We have renumbered the lessons

Coffee Break Spanish

Season 2 – Lesson 19 – Coffee Break Spanish

This week we’re continuing to look at the imperfect tense. We’ll go through the conjugation of -ar, -er and -ir verbs and talk about how the imperfect tense is used to describe things in the past. Please note that lesson 19 of Season 2 was originally known as lesson 219 of Coffee Break Spanish. We

Coffee Break Spanish

Season 2 – Lesson 18 – Coffee Break Spanish

In this week’s lesson we introduce the imperfect tense and consider in what situations this tense is used. We’ll also learn the conjugation of -ar verbs in the imperfect tense. Please note that lesson 18 of Season 2 was originally known as lesson 218 of Coffee Break Spanish. We have renumbered the lessons of each

Coffee Break Spanish

Season 2 – Lesson 17 – Coffee Break Spanish

It’s time to put into practice what you’ve been learning about the preterite tense. In this week’s episode Mark challenges Kara to an identity quiz using lots of preterite tenses to describe the lives of the mystery personalities. Please note that lesson 17 of Season 2 was originally known as lesson 217 of Coffee Break

Coffee Break Spanish

Season 2 – Lesson 16 – Coffee Break Spanish

More preterite tenses this week: it’s now time to look at reflexive verbs and verbs which have spelling changes (‘radical-changing verbs’) in the preterite tense. Please note that lesson 16 of Season 2 was originally known as lesson 216 of Coffee Break Spanish. We have renumbered the lessons of each season as lessons 1-40 to

Coffee Break Spanish

Season 2 – Lesson 15 – Coffee Break Spanish

We’ll be continuing our study of the preterite tense in this week’s lesson and it’s time to take a look at some irregular verbs: hacer, ir, ver and dar in the preterite, so that you can talk about what you did, where you went, what you saw and more in the past. Please note that

Coffee Break Spanish

Season 2 – Lesson 14 – Coffee Break Spanish

This week’s episode of Coffee Break Spanish looks further at the preterite tense which is used to relate events in the past. Listeners should be aware that this episode was originally released in February 2008 and therefore mentions Valentine’s Day. We hope this doesn’t spoil your enjoyment of the episode! Please note that lesson 14

Coffee Break Spanish

Season 2 – Lesson 13 – Coffee Break Spanish

In episode 13 of Coffee Break Spanish we introduce the preterite tense which is used to talk about things in the past. Please note that lesson 13 of Season 2 was originally known as lesson 213 of Coffee Break Spanish. We have renumbered the lessons of each season as lessons 1-40 to make things more

Coffee Break Spanish

Season 2 – Lesson 12 – Coffee Break Spanish

In episode 12 of Coffee Break Spanish Season 2 we’ll review all the verbs which we’ve been learning over the past few months. Please note that lesson 12 of Season 2 was originally known as lesson 212 of Coffee Break Spanish. We have renumbered the lessons of each season as lessons 1-40 to make things

Coffee Break French

Season 2 – Lesson 40 – Coffee Break French

We’ve arrived at the final episode in our series of Coffee Break French. In lesson 40, we reach the end of the meal in which our friends Christina, David, Sophie and Jean-Jaques have been getting to know each other. As usual, we cover a range of topics and constructions in this conversation and everything is

Coffee Break Spanish

Season 2 – Lesson 11 – Coffee Break Spanish

In episode 11 of Coffee Break Spanish we learn how to say what you’re going to do in the future. In Spanish you use the verb ir combined with a and an infinitive. The lesson explains all you need to know and provides useful examples! This episode was originally released in January 2008, so it focuses

Coffee Break French

Season 2 – Lesson 39 – Coffee Break French

After an enjoyable meal our two couples are about to enjoy a coffee and un petit digeo. The conversation continues between David, Christina, Sophie and Jean-Jacques in this penultimate episode of the series. Expressions covered include ça te dirait de faire quelque chose, aussitôt que, and further examples of the future and conditional tenses. Please

Coffee Break French

Season 2 – Lesson 38 – Coffee Break French

In the 38th episode of the course, we continue our radio play featuring David and Christina who are having dinner with their new friends Sophie and Jean-Jacques. This lesson introduces the pluperfect tense and also looks at a few examples of avoir expressions, including avoir l’habitude, avoir besoin de quelque chose and avoir de la

Coffee Break Spanish

Season 2 – Lesson 10 – Coffee Break Spanish

In episode 10 of Coffee Break Spanish Season 2 we’re putting what we’ve learned in recent weeks about descriptions to the test with an identity game. Please note that lesson 10 of Season 2 was originally known as lesson 210 of Coffee Break Spanish. We have renumbered the lessons of each season as lessons 1-40

Coffee Break Spanish

Season 2 – Lesson 09 – Coffee Break Spanish

This week on Coffee Break Spanish Season 2 we’re taking a further look at adjectives and we’ll be doing more practice using adjectives and making them agree with the word they describe. We’ll also take a look at describing people, including talking about hair and eyes. Please note that lesson 09 of Season 2 was