Spanish GCSE Reading and Grammar — Constance e Imran Episode 32 (learn through a novel)
- The story episode in Spanish.
- The translation into English.
- A grammar explanation with examples from the story.
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—Hoy vamos a hablar de un criminal. O de un héroe. Depende de a quién le preguntéis —dice Mr Whitmore.
“Today we’re going to talk about a criminal. Or a hero. It depends on who you ask,” says Mr Whitmore.
Constance levanta la vista del cuaderno.
Constance looks up from her notebook.
—¿Quién? ¿Otro inmigrante?
“Who? Another immigrant?”
La clase se ríe. Incluso Whitmore.
The class laughs. Even Whitmore.
—No. Robin Hood, el hombre que les daba a los pobres lo que les robaba a los ricos.
“No. Robin Hood, the man who gave to the poor what he stole from the rich.”
—Eso se llama robo —reacciona Jason.
“That’s called theft,” Jason reacts.
—También podría llamarse justicia —responde Daniel.
“It could also be called justice,” replies Daniel.
—Yo no tengo la culpa de que otra persona sea pobre —insiste Jason.
“I am not responsible for someone else being poor,” insists Jason.
—No hablamos de culpa. Hablamos de desigualdad y redistribución. Si una ley es injusta, quizás uno tenga que desobedecerla —argumenta Daniel.
“We’re not talking about responsibility. We’re talking about inequality and redistribution. If a law is unjust, perhaps one has to disobey it,” argues Daniel.
—Entonces cualquiera puede hacer lo que quiera. La ley es la ley —se empecina Jason.
“Then anyone can do whatever they want. The law is the law,” Jason insists.
Whitmore sonríe.
Whitmore smiles.
—Eso mismo decían muchas personas antes de que algunas leyes cambiaran. Y no se trata de hacer lo que uno quiera. Se trata de enmendar la ley, de hacerla más justa. Se trata de mejorar como sociedad. Como ven, acabamos de abrir un debate formidable. Para los nobles, Robin Hood era un delincuente, pero para los campesinos era un héroe. A veces, lo único que cambia es quién cuenta la historia, lo que en literatura se llama el punto de vista narrativo.
“That is exactly what many people used to say before some laws changed. And this is not about doing whatever you want. It is about reforming the law, making it fairer. It is about improving as a society. As you can see, we have just opened a fascinating debate. For the nobles, Robin Hood was a criminal, but for the peasants he was a hero. Sometimes, the only thing that changes is who tells the story, which in literature is called the narrative point of view”.
Constance, como siempre, interviene con una cita literaria:
Constance, as always, joins in with a literary quotation:
“La historia será benévola conmigo, porque tengo la intención de escribirla”. Winston Churchill.
“History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it.” Winston Churchill.
—¿Qué haríais si una ley fuera claramente injusta? —pregunta Whitmore.
“What would you do if a law were clearly unjust?” asks Whitmore.
—Obedecerla —responde Jason.
“Obey it,” replies Jason.
—Yo no estoy seguro —dice Daniel.
“I’m not sure,” says Daniel.
—Yo tampoco —lo apoya Constance.
“Neither am I,” Constance agrees.
—Entonces ya estáis pensando como filósofos —sonríe Whitmore.
“Then you are already thinking like philosophers,” Whitmore smiles.
—Si una persona tiene razón moralmente, pero la ley la castiga, ¿quién se equivoca? —cuestiona Daniel.
“If a person is morally right, but the law punishes them, who is mistaken?” Daniel asks.
La clase está por terminar. Whitmore escribe en la pizarra:
The class is about to end. Whitmore writes on the board:
“La injusticia en cualquier lugar es una amenaza para la justicia en todas partes.”
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
—Martin Luther King Jr. —dice—. Ahora decidid vosotros si Robin Hood era un criminal o un héroe.
“Martin Luther King Jr.”, he says. “Now decide for yourselves whether Robin Hood was a criminal or a hero.”
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This is the second part of our class about the verb tener. The first part is in episode 31. Here you have a video to remember how to use this important and multifaceted verb:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqPnSn6kD3s&t=7s
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This is what you need to remember:
🔵 Tener is a verb with multiple meanings, and all of them are extremely useful in normal conversation.
🟢 Tener is not only to have. In many cases, it could be translated in a different way.
You see this clearly in our episode today:
- No tengo la culpa. I am not responsible.
- Quizá uno tenga que desobedecerla. Perhaps one has to disobey it.
- Una persona tiene razón. A person is morally right.
And to make things a little more complicated, we have another verb which is always to have: haber. This is the main auxiliary verb in Spanish used to form compound tenses, as in:
- Yo he caminado. I have walked.
- Yo había caminado. I had walked.
- Yo habré caminado. I will have walked.
- etc.
There is much more to say about haber, but I will write a special blog explaining other aspects later.
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There are two very common forms to express time using a verbal periphrasis, which is a group of verbs that work together as a single unit to express one idea. Sometimes, these verbs are linked by a preposition. The examples from the episode are:
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- La clase está por terminar. The class is about to end.
- Acabamos de abrir un debate formidable. We have just opened a fascinating debate.
So, here is the main point:
🔵 Use estar por + infinitive to say that something is about to happen:
Estoy por escribir un nuevo episodio. I am about to write a new episode.
🟢 Use acabar de + infinitive to say that someone has just finished something.
Acabo de enseñar el verbo “tener”. I have just taught the verb “tener”.
In modern Spanish, estar a punto de + infinitive is often used with the same meaning as estar por + infinitive.
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Find all the episodes here: Contents – GCSE Spanish
Highly qualified native teacher with 30 years of experience. One-to-one lessons via Zoom. Contact me at laura@spanishforlondon.com
We post two new episodes every week — keep up with Constance and Imran’s story!
