Spanish GCSE Reading and Grammar — Constance e Imran Episode 35 (learn through a novel)
- The story episode in Spanish.
- The translation into English.
- A grammar explanation with examples from the story.
Mr Collins está de pie frente a la clase.
Mr Collins is standing at the front of the classroom.
—Hoy no vamos a hablar de una invasión extranjera. Vamos a hablar de la división interna. Decidme una cosa. ¿Qué es más peligroso para un país: un enemigo exterior o una sociedad dividida?
“Today we are not going to talk about a foreign invasion. We are going to talk about internal division. Let me ask you something. What is more dangerous for a country: an external enemy or a divided society?”
—Buena pregunta —dice Daniel.
“Good question,” says Daniel.
—Lo es —asiente Collins—. Hace más de quinientos años, los York y los Lancaster lucharon durante la Guerra de las Dos Rosas. Durante décadas, Inglaterra estuvo dividida entre dos ramas de la misma familia real. Compartían lengua, religión, cultura y país. Sin embargo, lucharon entre sí con una ferocidad extraordinaria. Muchos reinos sobreviven a enemigos externos, pero se desangran entre sus propios miembros.
“It is,” Collins agrees. “More than five hundred years ago, the Yorks and the Lancasters fought during the Wars of the Roses. For decades, England was divided between two branches of the same royal family. They shared the same language, religion, culture and country. Yet they fought each other with extraordinary ferocity. Many kingdoms survive external enemies, but bleed themselves dry through conflicts among their own people.”
El aula está completamente en silencio. Incluso Jason parece escuchar.
The classroom is completely silent. Even Jason seems to be listening.
—¿Cuál fue el resultado? —pregunta Maya.
“What was the result?” asks Maya.
—Un país agotado. Nobles muertos. Familias destruidas. Décadas de inestabilidad.
“An exhausted country. Dead nobles. Destroyed families. Decades of instability.”
Daniel levanta la mano.
Daniel raises his hand.
—Entonces, según usted, ¿cuál fue el verdadero enemigo?
“So, in your opinion, what was the real enemy?”
Collins sonríe.
Collins smiles.
—Esa es la pregunta correcta. Los Lancaster creían que los York eran el problema. Los York creían que los Lancaster eran el problema. Y mientras peleaban, Inglaterra se debilitaba. A veces el enemigo no está al otro lado de la frontera. Está sentado frente a ti.
“That is the right question. The Lancasters believed the Yorks were the problem. The Yorks believed the Lancasters were the problem. And while they fought, England grew weaker. Sometimes the enemy is not on the other side of the border. He is sitting right in front of you.”
Constance mira a sus amigos. Daniel está tomando apuntes. Maya dibuja una rosa en el margen del cuaderno. Imran escucha atentamente. Sus amigos con los que no siempre está de acuerdo y que no piensan exactamente igual. Pero siguen juntos y se apoyan unos a otros.
Constance looks at her friends. Daniel is taking notes. Maya is drawing a rose in the margin of her notebook. Imran is listening attentively. Her friends, with whom she does not always agree and who do not always think exactly alike. Yet they stay together and support one another.
Collins continúa:
Collins continues:
—La semana pasada asistí a una conferencia sobre historia medieval. El ponente dijo algo que me hizo reflexionar: los países no suelen derrumbarse porque existan diferencias. Se derrumban cuando las diferencias hacen imposible la cooperación.
“Last week I attended a lecture on medieval history. The speaker said something that made me reflect: countries do not usually collapse because differences exist. They collapse when differences make cooperation impossible.”
—Eso tiene sentido —dice Daniel.
“That makes sense,” says Daniel.
Jason resopla.
Jason snorts.
—No siempre.
“Not always.”
—Por supuesto que no siempre —responde Collins—. Pero el problema de las mentes cerradas es que siempre tienen la boca abierta.
“Of course not always,” replies Collins. “But the problem with closed minds is that they always have open mouths.”
Algunas risas recorren el aula. Jason frunce el ceño.
A few laughs spread through the classroom. Jason frowns.
—¿Eso iba por mí?
“Was that aimed at me?”
—Si te has sentido identificado, no voy a discutir contigo —contesta Collins.
“If you felt identified, I’m not going to argue with you,” replies Collins.
La clase estalla en carcajadas. El timbre está a punto de sonar.
The class bursts into laughter. The bell is about to ring.
Collins recoge sus papeles.
Collins gathers his papers.
—La próxima semana haremos una lectura detenida de la historia de los Tudor. Fueron ellos quienes heredaron el país que dejó la Guerra de las Dos Rosas.
“Next week we will do a careful reading of Tudor history. They were the dynasty that inherited the country left behind by the Wars of the Roses.”
Mientras guarda sus cosas, Constance vuelve a mirar a sus amigos. Collins había hablado de un reino dividido. La amistad consistía precisamente en lo contrario: en encontrar razones para permanecer unidos a pesar de las diferencias.
As she packs her things away, Constance looks once more at her friends. Collins had been talking about a divided kingdom. Friendship was precisely the opposite: finding reasons to remain united despite differences.
This is one of the most problematic topics for Spanish learners, simply because they have been given incorrect information. In many textbooks for the GCSE, they say that what is qué and which is cuál, and this is simply incorrect.
🟣 What is qué or cuál, depending on the context
What is this? ¿Qué es esto?
What is your name? ¿Cuál es tu nombre?
🟣 Which is qué or cuál, depending on the context
Which film do you like? ¿Qué película te gusta?
Which one do you prefer? This or that? ¿Cuál prefieres? ¿Esta o aquella?
So, the distribution of these two words in Spanish is not the same distribution that we find with what and which in English. Etch this into your memory: “qué” and “cuál” do not map neatly onto “what” and “which”, because different languages have different grammars. Do not expect one-to-one correspondences; they don’t work most of the time.
Let’s see how to use qué and cuál with the verb “ser”:
🟣¿Qué es un oso panda? What is a panda (bear)?
We use qué es when asking for a definition or when identifying the nature of something. The answer should be something like “it is an animal very similar to a bear, but it is not dangerous, it is black and white and eats bamboo”.
Now, suppose that a child is in the zoo and has never seen either a panda or a giraffe. He is not asking ¿qué es un oso panda? because he already knows that it is an animal, but this is all that he knows. Now, the question is not about definition or identity, he needs to tell one animal from the other, so he asks:
🟣¿Cuál es el oso panda?
You have these examples in our episode:
¿Qué es más peligroso para un país: un enemigo exterior o una sociedad dividida?
¿Cuál fue el resultado?
¿Cuál fue el verdadero enemigo?
To understand why these forms are correct, you can watch this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8N14T2HOP8&t=12s
I will continue explaining this topic in the next episode.
I will explain the basic difference between qué and que, but this is a much more complex topic. However, I think that this will help. We have in Spanish eight Relative Pronouns (relative means that they relate or connect components in the phrase). For instance:
Tengo un perro. Mi perro se llama Coquito.
Instead of repeating “mi perro”, we use a Relative Pronoun:
Tengo un perro que se llama Coquito.
The eight Relative Pronouns are: que, quien, cual, cuyo, como, donde, cuando, cuanto. Forget 1to1 translations in all the cases! Notice that they do not carry a written accent. When these pronouns take a written accent, they are Interrogative or Exclamatory Pronouns, because we distinguish the function precisely in this way. For instance:
¿Qué te pasa? What happens to you?
We also have more false cognates in this episode.
La semana pasada asistí a una conferencia. Last week I attended a lecture.
La próxima semana haremos una lectura detenida de la historia de los Tudor. Next week we will do a careful reading of Tudor history.
Another useful pair is biblioteca y librería:
Tengo acceso libre a la biblioteca. I have free access to the library.
Every bookstore has its own appeal. Cada librería tiene su propio atractivo.
So, lectura is not lecture, and librería is not library. Sorry.
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!
