Spanish GCSE Reading and Grammar — Constance e Imran Episode 42 (learn through a novel)
- The story episode in Spanish.
- The translation into English.
- A grammar explanation with examples from the story.
La profesora de Tecnología cerró el portátil y miró a la clase.
The Technology teacher closed her laptop and looked at the class.
—Hoy no voy a enseñaros a utilizar ninguna herramienta. Quiero haceros una pregunta. Hace unos años, la inteligencia artificial solo podía hacer determinadas tareas muy concretas. Hoy puede escribir un poema imitando a Shakespeare, componer una canción que parece creada por un músico real o generar la imagen de una persona que nunca existió. Dentro de unos años hará cosas que ahora ni siquiera imaginamos. Mi pregunta es esta: cuando una inteligencia artificial pueda crear una novela, una canción o una película indistinguible de una obra humana, ¿nos importará saber quién la creó?
“Today I’m not going to teach you how to use any tools. I want to ask you a question. A few years ago, artificial intelligence could only perform certain very specific tasks. Today it can write a poem imitating Shakespeare, compose a song that sounds as if it was created by a real musician, or generate an image of a person who never existed. In a few years, it will be able to do things we can’t even imagine today. My question is this: when artificial intelligence can create a novel, a song or a film that is indistinguishable from a human work, will we care who created it?”
Constance levantó inmediatamente la cabeza. Imran la miró desde la otra punta del aula.
Constance immediately looked up. Imran looked at her from the other side of the classroom.
—A vosotros dos parece que sí —dijo la profesora.
“It seems that you two will,” said the teacher.
—Claro que importa —dijo Constance—. Una máquina puede juntar palabras y copiar estilos, pero no ha vivido, no puede amar ni odiar, no puede estar triste o feliz.
“Of course it matters,” said Constance. “A machine can put words together and copy styles, but it hasn’t lived, it can’t love or hate, it can’t be sad or happy.”
—¿Y qué importa eso si tú lees el libro y te emociona? Imaginemos que ayer estuviste en una librería y encontraste dos novelas. Una fue escrita por una mujer que tardó diez años en escribirla. La otra fue generada por una inteligencia artificial en diez segundos. Lees las dos sin saber cuál es cuál y la segunda te emociona más. ¿Cuál es mejor?
“And why does that matter if you read the book and it moves you? Let’s imagine that yesterday you were in a bookshop and found two novels. One was written by a woman who took ten years to write it. The other was generated by artificial intelligence in ten seconds. You read both without knowing which is which, and the second one moves you more. Which one is better?”
—La primera —dijo Constance.
“The first one,” said Constance.
—¿Seguro?
“Are you sure?”
Constance dudó.
Constance hesitated.
—No sé.
“I don’t know.”
—Bien. Imran, vamos contigo. Imagina que el sábado anduviste por la calle escuchando música con los auriculares y una canción te hizo llorar. Llegas a casa y descubres que no hay ningún músico detrás. La melodía, la voz y la letra fueron generadas por una máquina. ¿Deja de ser hermosa?
“Right. Imran, let’s try you. Imagine that on Saturday you walked down the street listening to music through your headphones and a song made you cry. You get home and discover that there isn’t a musician behind it. The melody, the voice and the lyrics were generated by a machine. Does that make it any less beautiful?”
—No. Pero cambia algo.
“No. But it changes something.”
—¿Qué?
“What?”
—No lo sé exactamente.
“I don’t know exactly.”
—Ese es el problema.
“That’s the problem.”
La profesora se apoyó contra el escritorio.
The teacher leaned against her desk.
—Durante siglos nos hemos definido como la única especie inteligente. Pensamos, razonamos, inventamos, escribimos. Pero ahora hemos construido algo que posee una forma de inteligencia propia, aunque sea radicalmente distinta de la nuestra. Entonces podemos decir: muy bien, la inteligencia ya no es suficiente para definirnos. ¿Qué nos queda?
“For centuries, we have defined ourselves as the only intelligent species. We think, reason, invent, write. But now we have built something that possesses a form of intelligence of its own, even if it is radically different from ours. So we can say: all right, intelligence is no longer enough to define us. What do we have left?”
—Las emociones —dijo Maya—. La inteligencia artificial no siente como nosotros. Pero, claro, puede estudiar millones de cosas creadas por personas que sí sienten o sintieron. Puede aprender qué palabras nos entristecen, qué armonías nos emocionan, qué imágenes nos asustan. Y después puede producir algo nuevo con todo eso.
“Emotions,” said Maya. “Artificial intelligence doesn’t feel the way we do. But, of course, it can study millions of things created by people who do feel or once felt. It can learn which words make us sad, which harmonies move us, which images frighten us. And then it can produce something new from all of that.”
Daniel levantó la mano.
Daniel raised his hand.
—Pero está copiando.
“But it’s copying.”
—Nosotros también —dijo Constance—. No quiero decir copiando literalmente. Pero ningún escritor empieza de cero. Leemos miles de cosas, escuchamos historias, vivimos experiencias y después escribimos con todo eso dentro. Somos una cadena de influencias.
“So are we,” said Constance. “I don’t mean literally copying. But no writer starts from nothing. We read thousands of things, listen to stories, have experiences, and then we write with all of that inside us. We are a chain of influences.”
—Exactamente —dijo la profesora—. Shakespeare tampoco inventó todas sus historias. Los seres humanos llevamos miles de años aprendiendo unos de otros.
“Exactly,” said the teacher. “Shakespeare didn’t invent all his stories either. Human beings have been learning from one another for thousands of years.”
Imran frunció el ceño.
Imran frowned.
—Pero hay una diferencia. Cuando yo toco una canción porque estoy triste, la tristeza existe antes que la canción. La canción sale de algo que me está pasando.
“But there is a difference. When I play a song because I’m sad, the sadness exists before the song. The song comes out of something that is happening to me.”
—¿Y si yo no puedo distinguir tu canción de una creada por una inteligencia artificial?
“And what if I can’t tell the difference between your song and one created by artificial intelligence?”
—Yo sí puedo.
“I can.”
—¿Por qué?
“Why?”
—Porque sé por qué la hice.
“Because I know why I made it.”
La profesora sonrió.
The teacher smiled.
—Esa ya es otra respuesta. Quizá lo importante no sea si el que escucha puede distinguirlo. Quizá lo importante sea que haya alguien detrás que necesitó decir algo. Cuando escribes, no solo estás produciendo un texto. Estás intentando entender algo. A veces estás intentando entenderte a ti mismo.
“Now that’s a different answer. Perhaps what matters isn’t whether the listener can tell the difference. Perhaps what matters is that there is someone behind it who needed to say something. When you write, you’re not only producing a text. You’re trying to understand something. Sometimes you’re trying to understand yourself.”
—Entonces —dijo Daniel—, ¿lo que nos hace humanos no es el producto sino la necesidad de crearlo?
“So,” said Daniel, “is it not the product that makes us human, but the need to create it?”
Nadie respondió. La profesora volvió a abrir el portátil.
No one answered. The teacher opened her laptop again.
—No lo sé. Y esa es precisamente la razón por la que quería haceros la pregunta.
“I don’t know. And that’s precisely why I wanted to ask you the question.”
Enjoying this way of learning Spanish?
I offer one-to-one Spanish lessons via Zoom.
We continue studying irregular verbs in the Preterite, whose correct name is Pretérito Perfecto Simple. Remember that we started in episode 39, where we covered the verbs ser, ir, dar, ver. In episode 40, we covered the so-called fake irregulars ending in car, gar, zar, and in episode 41, verbs ending in uir. Today, we will cover estar, tener and andar.
The verbs estar, tener and andar form their Pretérito Perfecto Simple with -uv- in the stem: estuve, tuve, anduve. This pattern is the result of the historical development of Spanish. Over time, these three verbs came to share the same -uv- pattern in the Preterite. So, instead of memorising three completely separate irregular verbs, you can remember them as one historical pattern.
Estar → estuve
Tener → tuve
Andar → anduve
| Estar | Tener | Andar | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yo | estuve | tuve | anduve |
| Tú | estuviste | tuviste | anduviste |
| Él, ella, usted | estuvo | tuvo | anduvo |
| Nosotros, nosotras | estuvimos | tuvimos | anduvimos |
| Vosotros, vosotras | estuvisteis | tuvisteis | anduvisteis |
| Ellos, ellas, ustedes | estuvieron | tuvieron | anduvieron |
And, as you can imagine, all the forms derived from “tener” show the same pattern, like the verbs “contener, detener, entretener, mantener, obtener, retener, sostener”, etc.
Examples from our episode are:
Imaginemos que ayer estuviste en una librería.
Let’s imagine that yesterday you were in a bookshop.
Imagina que el sábado anduviste por la calle.
Imagine that on Saturday you walked down the street.
This is a topic that requires a whole lesson, but I will give you some tips.
🟨 Solo, sola, solos, solas: these are adjectives meaning alone.
Ella está sola en casa. She is alone at home.
🟪 Solamente: it is an adverb meaning “only” (remember that adverbs with -ly endings translate as adverbs with -mente endings in Spanish, like “generally, generalmente”). Since “solamente” is a long word and we use it all the time, we can switch to “solo” simply to speak faster.
Solamente conozco Tokio, pero no Kioto. Solo conozco Tokio, pero no Kioto.
I only know Tokyo, but not Kyoto.
🟥 Único, única, únicos, únicas: these adjectives refer to “the only one” or “the only ones”, as in:
Es mi único hijo. He is my only child (meaning that I have only one child).
Son los únicos libros en italiano que encontré. They are the only Italian books that I found.
Here are the examples from our episode:
Hace unos años, la inteligencia artificial solo podía hacer determinadas tareas muy concretas.
A few years ago, artificial intelligence could only perform certain very specific tasks.
Cuando escribes, no solo estás produciendo un texto.
When you write, you’re not only producing a text.
Durante siglos nos hemos definido como la única especie inteligente.
For centuries, we have defined ourselves as the only intelligent species.
Find all the episodes here: Contents – GCSE Spanish
We post two new episodes every week — keep up with Constance and Imran’s story!
Learn Spanish with me
Highly qualified native teacher with 30 years of experience. One-to-one lessons via Zoom.
View Spanish courses and lessons
Or contact me at laura@spanishforlondon.com
