Spanish GCSE Reading and Grammar-Constance e Imran Episode 33 (learn through a novel)
- The story episode in Spanish.
- The translation into English.
- A grammar explanation with examples from the story.
Constance caminaba lentamente hacia su casa, digiriendo todo lo que habían discutido en clase.
Constance walked slowly towards her house, digesting everything they had discussed in class.
¿Cómo cambia una sociedad? Whitmore había hablado de leyes injustas. Entonces pensó en las mujeres: su abuela Eleanor era una mujer libre, pero su madre parecía atrapada en un laberinto. Y ella estaba en algún punto entre ambas. En realidad, mucho más cerca de su abuela que de su madre, pero aun así, todavía no había encontrado su camino. Sin duda, ella no era como su madre, porque no iba a renunciar a sus sueños. De hecho, no sabía qué sueños tuvo o tenía su madre. Eran dos desconocidas.
How does a society change?
Whitmore had talked about unjust laws. Then she thought about women: her grandmother Eleanor was a free woman, but her mother seemed trapped in a maze. And she was somewhere between the two. In fact, much closer to her grandmother than to her mother, but even so, she still had not found her own path. She certainly was not like her mother, because she was not going to give up on her dreams. In fact, she did not know what dreams her mother had once had, or still had. They were two strangers.
¿Cuánto depende una persona de la época en la que nace? ¿Quién decidió durante siglos que las mujeres debían casarse y tener hijos? Actualmente, muchas no quieren hacerlo. En Internet había leído artículos sobre mujeres que preferían viajar, estudiar o construir una carrera profesional antes que formar una familia. Algunas incluso decían que no querían tener hijos. A Constance aquello no le parecía egoísta. Le parecía perfecto que cada persona pudiera elegir su propio destino. Quizás su madre nunca eligió y por eso parecía tan frustrada. ¿Por qué nunca hablaban de estas cosas? ¿Desde cuándo vivían como dos desconocidas?
How much does a person depend on the era in which they are born? Who decided for centuries that women should get married and have children? Currently, many do not want to do so. On the Internet she had read articles about women who preferred to travel, study or build a career before starting a family. Some even said that they did not want children. Constance did not think that was selfish. She thought it was perfectly right for each person to be able to choose their own destiny. Perhaps her mother had never really had a choice, and that was why she seemed so frustrated. Why had they never talked about these things? Since when had they been living like two strangers?
Cuando llegó a casa, su madre estaba en la cocina.
—Tu abuela llamó.
—¿Para qué?
—Dijo que quiere verte mañana, y que vayas con Imran.
When she arrived home, her mother was in the kitchen.
“Your grandmother called.”
“What for?”
“She said she wants to see you tomorrow, and that you should bring Imran.”
Let’s look at interrogative words. I will leave qué and cuál for another blog, because these two require a thorough explanation. The rest are quite simple, and you have many examples in this episode. I also made a video about this topic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFzLJswY3WQ&t=2s
- ⬜ ¿Dónde vives? Where do you live?
- ⬜ ¿De dónde eres? Where are you from?
- ⬜ ¿Adónde vas? Where are you going?
- ⬜ ¿Cuándo es la fiesta? When is the party?
- ⬜ ¿Cómo estás? How are you?
- ⬜ ¿Quién es ella? Who is she?
- ⬜ ¿De quién es el coche? Whose is the car?
- ⬜ ¿Cuánto cuesta el bolso? How much does the bag cost?
- ⬜ ¿Por qué lo compraste? Why did you buy it?
- ⬜ ¿Para qué lo compraste? What did you buy it for?
Notice that Spanish interrogative words always carry an accent mark. If you see these words without an accent, it is because they are relative pronouns. But this is a topic for another blog.
Since there are many false cognates (popularly known as false friends) between English and Spanish, I will spread them along many episodes. Remember that I started with the topic in episodide 27. Let’s make some history: you remember that after the Battle of Hastings in 1066, the Normans ruled in England, and they spoke French, which was the official language for centuries. It was not until 1362 that a law was passed, requiring court proceedings to be conducted in English because the population no longer understood French. The name of this law was the Pleading in English Act. The first English king since the Norman Conquest whose native language appears to have been English was Henry IV, crowned in 1399. This means that, for more than 300 years, French was the language of the court and administration in England, and many kings did not have English as their native language. As you can imagine, a huge number of English words are simply French. Now, why should I explain this, if I am teaching you Spanish? Because French and Spanish are Latin languages, members of the same family. So, when you see a cognate (a word that you recognise because it is very similar in English and Spanish), it could be simply part of the Norman inheritance. But remember: there are cognates (complete, completar) but also false cognates (embarrassed, embarazada). Would you like to see more examples?
🟫 Exit is not éxito
La salida está a la izquierda. The exit is on the left.
El éxito no siempre nos hace felices. Success does not always make us happy.
🟫 Mayor is not mayor
El alcalde de Londres. The mayor of London.
Mi hermano es mayor que yo. My brother is older than me.
🟫 Eventually is not eventualmente
No participa en todas las reuniones, pero eventualmente asiste cuando el tema le interesa.
He doesn’t attend every meeting, but he occasionally attends when the topic interests him.
Finalmente, decidió ir a la reunión de mañana.
Eventually, he decided to attend tomorrow’s meeting.
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!
