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69

 Español

Spanish
 

Lección Veinticuatro (24)

  
  No lo había pensado (1)

I had not considered it.

     
1

No me ha dicho usted todavía, doña Amelia,
donde está la calle del General Pardiñas.
¿ Estará cerca de la Puerta del Sol?

You haven't yet told me, doña Am. where is Gen. P. Street.
It will be near the Door of the Sun?

2 ¿Cómo conoce usted la Puerta del Sol,
si nunca ha estado en Madrid?		 How do you know the Door of the S.,
if you've never been in Madrid?
3 Pues todo el mundo sabe que la Puerta del Sol es el centro de la ciudad (2) ; But everybody knows that the D. of the S. is the centre of the town?
4 cuantas veces he leído en los periódicos :
« Manifestaciones en la Puerta del Sol. »		 How many times I have read in the papers :
" Demonstrations on [in] the D. of the S."
5 ¿En los periódicos franceses?
Se habla mucho de España en el extranjero?		 In the French papers?
(Do they) speak much of Spain abroad?
6 Claro; hay noticias diarias de lo que ocurre en Madrid y en toda España (3). Of course : there is daily news of what goes on in Madrid and in all Spain.
7 Me alegro. Pensaba que las cosas de España no interesaban ya a nadie.
Somos un país sin industria, sin riquezas... vivimos a la buena de Dios (4).		 I am glad [rejoice] (of it). I thought that the affairs of Spain interested [at] nobody any more.
We are a country without industry, without riches; we live thanks to the grace [at the good] of God.
8 Pero ¿qué me dice usted, doña Amelia?
Abundan los españoles millonarios en las estaciones internacionales de lujo;
Cataluña tiene industrias muy prósperas;
en otras partes de España hay minas de cobre, de plomo, de carbón.		 But what do you tell me there, doña Am.?
Spanish millionaires abound in luxurious international resorts:
Catalonia has very prosperous industries;
in other parts of Spain there are copper, lead, coal mines.
9 Además, toda Europa come frutas españolas (5) :
naranjas de Valencia, uvas de Málaga, plátanos de Canarias.
Y las legumbres que se exportan, el aceite, los vinos...		 Moreover, all Europe eats Spanish fruit;
oranges from Valencia, grapes from Malaga, bananas of the Canary Islands.
And the vegetables that are exported : oil, wines... -
10 Es verdad; no lo había pensado, dice doña Amelia con una sonrisa feliz. That's true, I had not thought about it, said doña Am. with a happy smile.
  EJERCICIOS EXERCISE :
1 ¿Qué dice usted? What do you say?
2 Digo, y siempre he dicho, que tenemos en España todo lo que necesitamos para vivir bien.

I say and I have always said that we have in Spain all that we need to live well.

3 Esto no es un motivo para no salir nunca de España. It is not a reason never to go out of Spain.
4 ¿Para qué salir de España?
Tenemos el mar y las montanas, el calor y el frío. 		What go out of Spain for?
- We have the sea and the mountains, heat and cold.
5 Pero ¡hombre! ¿no le interesa a usted ver el mundo,
saber como se vive en el extranjero? 		But, look here! Does it not interest you [your Honour] to see the world,
to know how (people) live abroad?
6 ¿Qué me importa a mí como viven los extranjeros?
Estoy bien aquí, y eso me basta. 		What does it matter to me how foreigners live?
I am well here and this suffices me.
7 Es usted una excepción,
pues a los españoles les gusta mucho viajar.
Es usted la excepción que confirma la regla.		 You are an exception, for the Spaniards like [it pleases the Sp.] to travel very much.
You are the exception which confirms the rule.
  NOTES.
1 Pensar en... : to think of...
Pensar una cosa : to consider, ponder over a question.
He pensado en ello : I have thought of it.
Lo he pensado : I have considered the question.
No habia pensado en ello : I had not considered that.
For ello, see less. 28, par. 3.
2

Pues : for, so, well, or but.
- The Door is the centre of the town : La Puerta es el centro de la ciudad;
but: The D. is in the centre of the town : La Puerta esta en el centro de la ciudad (indic. of place).
3

Diario : daily. Ocurrir : to happen, occur.
Lo que ocurre = lo que pasa.
4 For ya, see less. 20, n. 3.
- A la buena de Dios, a very current phrase : from hand to mouth, in a haphazard manner.
5

Adjectives of nationality ending in a consonant have a feminine in a, just as if the masculine was in o.
Sentence 8 : notice prósperas also in a, because prosperous is próspero.
Adjectives ending in a consonant don't vary in the feminine, but take es in the plural, either masculine or feminine.
Un trabajo fácil : an easy work.
Trabajos fáciles : easy works.
Una cosa fácil : an easy thing.
Cosas fáciles : easy things.
   
 

Don't be frightened if our lessons become thicker and the language more idiomatic.
We are still in the phase of passive assimilation, and it is enough to understand and repeat,
without learning anything by heart, or trying to find the "why" of the phrases which differ from the English.
You'll get used to them by degrees.
When you read over again the first lessons, they seem ridiculously easy to you;
it will be the same soon for the present one.