Do you recognize that question? Do you use it frequently? If your answer is “yes”, congratulations!! You surely know lots of nouns by now.
This question or expression is very useful for people who are starting to learn a new language, in this case, English. Why? Because it allows the students to learn new nouns, phrases or expressions in the target language.
Let’s imagine…
Today is Violeta’s 8th English class, and she is having a conversation with another student. Violeta needs to know the English words for “zapatos amarillos” and “vestido”, because she wants to describe her outfit:
Violeta: Teacher! How do you say “vestido” in English?
Teacher: “Vestido” in English is “dress“.
Violeta: Ahh… And how do you say “zapatos amarillos“?
Teacher: “Zapatos amarillos” in English is “yellow shoes“.
Violeta: Thank you, teacher!
As you can see, Violeta used the expression “How do you say…” to ask for the English words of singular and plural nouns.
But, is this expression only used by new students? The answer is no. As a person who has English as a second language myself, and as experienced as I am as an English teacher, I still use this expression to ask for new vocabulary that I don’t know, whether I ask to a colleague or to myself and go look it up in a Thessaurus 🙂
So I encourage you to use this expression without fear of being judged for not knowing a word or a phrase. Remember, no one knows it all and asking is part of learning 😉
If you want to know more about singular and plural nouns and other useful phrases, stay tuned!
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