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Lección Ciento cinco (105)

1 The English gerund : We have seen 2 different translations of it.
Let's try now to see what shades of meaning they imply.

1° If the gerund answers the question how?, we use the forms in -ando and -iendo, that in Spanish are called gerund: gerundio.
Ex. : others do themselves well (how?) by eating oysters : otros se deleitan comiendo ostra?.
— We protect ourselves from the cold (how?) by covering ourselves with overcoats: and comforters : nos resguardamos del frío abrigándonos con gabanes y bufandas.
We must not put en before the gerund for we should change the meaning :
en saliendo does not mean by going out but once gone out (S. copla at the end of less. 62).

2° If the gerund answers the question when? we translate in by the Spanish infinitive preceded by al.
— Ex. : I met your friend (when?) on coming out of the theatre ; encontré a tu amigo al salir del teatro :
he did not take leave of me (when?) on (or when) going away: no se despidió de mí, al marchar.
This infinitive can be accompanied by a subject :
al empezar la caída de la hoja;
then in most cases we must use a personal tense :
when the fall of leaves begins
(Yet we do say in English : on my father beginning to speak, I..).

2 Haber de, tener que.
— These 2 phrases correspond to our : must or to have to and express obligation.
Haber de is weaker than tener que and is translated merely by the future :
He de ver eso : I shall (or will) see that
— Hemos de pensarlo, We shall (or will) think of it
— The difference between the two phrases is felt more strongly in interrogative locutions :
Haber de then implies that one calls one's interlocutor to witness :
¿Por qué han de silbarla? [Why have they to (must they) hiss her] : (Tell me) why should they hiss her?)
— ¿Qué hé de hacer? —- What should I do?
— ¿Hemos de enfadarnos por tan poco? Have we to (do you want us to) fall out for so little?

4 The adverb ya. — Its primitive meaning is : already :
¿Ya acabaste? You have already finished?
— Mi hermano llegó ya : my brother has already arrived.
Sometimes it merely reinforces an affirmation, and corresponds to the emphatic form :
ya sabes : you do know; ya lo veo : I do see it; ya veremos; we will see.

Used with a negation, is corresponds to : no more, no longer :
ya no sé : I know no longer.
Esta no vuelve ya : this one comes back no more.
Ya nadie me conoce : nobody knows me any longer.

Repeated before two terms, it means : either... or..., or ; now... now.
Todos los días tenemos pescado, ya de río, ya de mar ; every day we have fish, either (of) river, or (of) sea.
— Oíanse los truenos, ya lejanos y sordos, ya cercanos y estrepitosos : [They heard] the thunderclaps were to be heard, now distant and low, now near and noisy.

Now... now... can he rendered also by : unas veces... otras veces... (= at times...) :
Unas veces me reñía, otras veces me halagaba : sometimes he would scold me, sometimes he would flatter me.

5 The tú, imperative (2nd pers. singular).
-— It is, as we have already seen, very simple, and is characterized by a final a for verbs in AR and e for verbs in ER and IR.
Habla : speak; bebe : drink; abre la puerta : open the door.
You will recognize and easily remember the only irregular forms ; ve, ven, ten, pon, sal, di, haz (cf. less. 96, exerc).

When you speak in the plural imperative to several persons to each of whom separately you say tú, it is still easier :
you change the r of the infinitive into d :
hablad (hablar) más alto : speak louder;
bebed (beber) despacio, drink slowly;
abrid (abrir) la puerta ; open the door;
sed (ser) buenos, hijos míos; be good, my children (There are no irregularities)-

When we say : venga usted, tome usted, vaya usted, we use in fact the forms of the subjunctive, not of the imperative :
let his Honour come, take, go, etc...
And we must come back to these forms, when our tú-imperative (sing.) is negative, only adding the s, characteristic of the 2nd person.
Thus : toma : take, and : no tomes, don't take (compare with : no tome usted) ;
dime, tell me, and : no me digas nada, tell me nothing (cf. no me diga Vd. nada) ;
corred, run, and no corráis : don't run.

6 El otoño. — Ya se van acortando los días, y aflojando el calor.
Se hace la recolección de las frutas maduras : nueces (una nuez), castañas, avellanas, higos nísperos, naranjas, limones, etc.

Pero es principalmente la época de la vendimia y con la uva prensada en los lagares se hace el vino.
En el campo, los labradores aran la tierra para sembrar el trigo.
Los cazadores persiguen la liebre, la codorniz, la perdiz, la becada, o acechan por el monte la paloma torcaz.
Óyense a cada rato tiros de escopeta.
Al amanecer hay rocío por los prados y a menudo alguna neblina a lo largo de los ríos.

Autumn. — Already, the days grow shorter [go shortening], and the heat diminishes [goes yielding].
They [make the] gather[ing] of ripe fruit : walnuts, chestnuts, hazel-nuts, figs, medlars, oranges, lemons, etc.

But it is chiefly the time of the grape-gathering, and with the grapes crushed in the (wine-)presses, the wine is made.
In the country, the ploughmen plough the earth to sow the corn.
The sportsmen chase the hare, quail, partridge, woodcock or stalk the ring-dove in the wooded places.
They [you] hear at each moment gun reports.
At daybreak there is dew in the fields and often some mist along the rivers.

La vid : the vine (plant);
una viña, a vineyard.
Perseguir, persigo, Vd. persigue, perseguimos, like pedir.
— El monte often means, not the mountain, but wooded places.
Desmontar : to clear of trees.