If you have Spanish-speaking employees in your restaurant, show them how important they are to you and your operation by making an effort to communicate with them in their own language. You may not want or be able to become fluent, but it’s not hard to learn some words and phrases. Part of your employee training program should include learning some Spanish, and vice versa. Let’s practice a few “feelings” using estoy (I am). Keep in mind that masculine (m) nouns usually end in o, feminine (f) ones in a. The gender of adjectives must agree with the nouns they modify. This applies when speaking of both things and people. If the adjective doesn’t end in o or a, the ending doesn’t change whether the speaker is male or female.
¿Cómo se siente? [ko-mo say see-in-tay] How do you feel?
Estoy (I am)…
| You Say | Pronunciation | I Say |
| Aburrido | [ah-boo-rree-do] | bored (m) |
| Aburrida | [ah-boo-rree-da] | bored (f) |
| Nervioso | [nehr-bee-oh-so] | nervous (m) |
| Nerviosa | [nehr-bee-oh-sa] | nervous (f) |
| Triste | [tree-steh] | sad |
| Feliz | [feh-lees] | happy |
| Contento | [kon-ten-do] | happy (m) |
| Contenta | [kon-ten-ta] | happy (m) |
| Ocupado | [oh-koo-pah-do] | busy (m) |
| Ocupada | [oh-koo-pah-da] | busy (f) |
| Preocupado | [preh-oh-koo-pah-do] | worried (m) |
| Preocupada | [preh-oh-koo-pah-da] | worried (f) |
| Mejor | [Meh-hoar] | better |
| Peor | [pay-or] | worse |
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