Las Mañanitas
Introduction
🎉 Welcome to this lesson on celebrating birthdays in Mexico. The "Happy Birthday to You" song can also be sung in Spanish (🎶Feliz cumpleaños a ti), though it's much more common in Mexico to sing Las Mañanitas to the birthday person on their special day. You can learn more about the tradition around this song by checking out these resources:
- Las Mañanitas a Nuestra Virgen de Guadalupe Celebrates Her Birthday via NY Latin Culture Magazine.
- Las Mañanitas – Birthday Song via USC Digital Folklore Archives.
If you want to fit in at Mexican birthday celebrations, you'll need to memorize at least the first few verses to be able to sing along. It's also worth knowing that people may have a favorite version of Las Mañanitas, so on birthdays, it would be a nice touch to play the right one for them!
Instructions
This activity features one of many versions of Las Mañanitas. Play the video, then work through the lyrics. Use context clues to translate the text as much as possible. Then identify all of the verbs used within in all of their forms.
Whenever you're ready, click the Reveal button to display the text with all of the verbs highlighted.
Some tips to get you started:
- Remember that there are just three verb types: AR, ER, and IR verbs.
- Verb use in this text is varied. The text contains both infinitive (to __) and conjugated (I __) verbs. Present, past and future tenses are covered, as are more complex grammatical structures.
- If you enounter a word that reminds you of a verb but you don't recognize the ending, don't worry about it. You'll conjugate more and more tenses as you go! As you build up your skills, it's also good for you to notice instances of the new tenses you'll eventually be conjugating.
Las Mañanitas - Video de música
Source: JN Music Group