28
22 - 28 April 2011
Spanish lessons by
Jane Cronin
A weekly ‘cut out and keep’ feature helping you to learn basic Spanish for everyday needs
Lesson 154
Reflexives and “past continuous” answers LAST WEEK’S article had a few knotty questions, so here are the answers and some comments to go with them. Firstly, you had to translate two sentences made up of reflexive verbs into English, as follows: Todas las mañanas me despierto, me levanto, me ducho y me visto. Every morning I wake up, I get up, I have a shower and I get dressed. Todas las noches me lavo los dientes, me quito la ropa, me pongo el pijama, me acuesto. Every night I clean my teeth, take off my clothes, put on my pajamas and go to bed. Your next job was to translate two similar sentences into Spanish, the difference being that these sentences refer to “he” (third person singular) and “they” (third person plural): Every morning John wakes up, he gets up, he has a shower and he gets dressed. Todas las mañanas John (or Juan) se despierta, se levanta, se ducha y se viste. Every night the children clean their teeth, put on their pyjamas and go to bed. Todas las noches los niños se lavan los dientes, se ponen los pijamas y se acuestan. (5 points for each sentences – 20 in total) Here is some more of the same, but putting them into various different, reallife contexts. Don’t forget that there are several possible ways of translating each phrase. 1. “¿Está tu jefe?” “No, se ha ido al banco.” No, he has gone to the bank. Is your boss there? 2. “Eso no es para usted” “Perdone, no me di cuenta”. That is not for you. I’m sorry, I didn’t realise 3. “Me he recuperado de todo” “Me alegro mucho” I am completely better. I’m very glad. 4. “¿Dónde os vais a quedar? “Seguramente nos quedaremos en un hotel” Where are you going to stay? We’ll definitely stay in a hotel. 5. “¿Cómo se llama ese hombre?” “No me acuerdo” What’s that man’s name? I don’t remember. 6. “¿Quieres casarte conmigo?” “Me lo voy a pensar”. I’m going to think about it. Do you want to marry me? (4 points for each dialogue – 24 points altogether) Here are some “orders” which use reflexive verbs in the familiar, singular (tú)
form. 1. Go away! VETE 2. Get up! LEVÁNTATE 3. Put on your shoes. PONTE LOS ZAPATOS 4. Sit down! SIÉNTATE 5. Be quiet! CÁLLATE 6. Turn around! DATE LA VUELTA 7. Take off your coat QUÍTATE EL ABRIGO 8. Calm down! CÁLMATE / TRANQUILÍZATE (2 points each – 16 points in total) “Cuando yo era niña jugaba todos los días en el parque con mis amigas. Tenía un perro y me gustaba mucho andar con él a la playa. Mi madre cocinaba al mediodía y yo siempre volvía a casa para comer. La verdad es que nunca comía muy bien y mi madre se enfadaba mucho conmigo. No veía mucha televisión porque había pocos programas para niños y además pasaba mucho tiempo en la calle. Mi padre trabajaba hasta tarde y cuando volvía a casa por la noche me sentaba con él para contarle mis cosas. Mientras tanto mi madre recogía la cocina y preparaba todo para el día siguiente. Siempre iba a la cama a la misma hora y leía un libro debajo de las mantas antes de dormir. Mi hermana dormía en el mismo dormitorio pero normalmente no la oía entrar porque ya estaba durmiendo profundamente.” When I was a little girl I played every day in the park with my friends. I had a dog and I used to like walking with him (it) to the beach. My mother used to cook at midday and I always returned home for lunch. The truth is that I never ate every well and my mother used to get very angry with me. I didn’t watch much television because there weren’t many programmes for children and in any case I spent a lot of time out in the street. My father used to work until late and when he returned home at night I would sit with him and tell him about my things. Meanwhile my mother would tidy up the kitchen and prepare everything for the next day. I always went to bed at the same time and I would read a book underneath the blankets before going to sleep. My sister slept in the same bedroom but I didn’t usually hear her come in because I was already fast asleep. (20 points máximum) The total this week is 80 points, so if you really want to find the percentage, you will have to divide by four and multiply by five!