In this lesson of our English Spanish Parallel Texts course and we are going to practice using some common Spanish verbs in Present Tense. Start by reading the text in Spanish below. The English translation is provided later but please try not to look at it until you have read the Spanish version various times and tried your best to understand it.

There may be some words and phrases in the text that you are unfamiliar with, but you should be aiming to capture the main essence of what is happening. There will always be words and phrases popping up in real-life situations that you have never heard before, so it is important never to get too distracted by details.

If you want to investigate some of the words you don’t know with a dictionary that would be great, please do, but do this after trying your best to understand with what you already have in your head.

Check out these video lessons with information relevant to this topic:

Spanish verbs in Present Tense (Part 1)

Spanish verbs in Present Tense (Part 2)

Image by Social Butterfly from Pixabay

Spanish Text

Carlos: Hola Maya, ¿qué tal?
Maya: Bien, gracias Carlos, ¿y tú?
Carlos: Yo, bien. ¿Qué lees?
Maya: El Quijote, de Miguel de Cervantes.
Carlos: ¿Por qué lees esto? Don Quijote de la Mancha es un libro muy largo. Y aburrido también, ¿no?
Maya: ¡Qué dices! De ningún modo. Es un clásico por muy buenas razones. Es muy divertido y extremadamente imaginativo. También fue la primera novela. ¿Qué escuchas?
Carlos: En este momento, David Bowie. Pero normalmente no escucho ese tipo de música. Mi música favorita es el jazz.
Maya: ¿Escuchas a Herbie Hancock y Miles Davis? ¿John Coltrane? ¿Thelonious Monk?
Carlos: Por supuesto. Son los clásicos del jazz.
Maya: Yo no comprendo el jazz. Suena todo igual.
Carlos: A ti te gusta leer ¿Escribes también Maya?
Maya: Sí a veces. Trabajo en una biblioteca entonces sé bastante de libros y leo mucho. Normalmente no escribo muy a menudo pero estoy escribiendo una historia corta ahora.
Carlos: ¡Qué bien! ¿Sobre qué es?
Maya: Es una historia de misterio.
Carlos: Yo trabajo en una tienda de música. Vendemos instrumentos y partituras. Hablo mucho sobre jazz con los clientes.
Maya: ¡Tenemos los trabajos perfectos!

English Text

Carlos: Hello Maya, how are you?
Maya: Well, thank you Carlos, what about you?
Carlos: I am well. What are you reading?
Maya: Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes.
Carlos: Why are you reading this? Don Quixote de la Mancha is a very long book. And isn’t it boring as well?
Maya: What are you saying! No way. It is a classic for very good reasons. It is very funny and extremely imaginative. It was also the first novel. What are you listening to?
Carlos: Right now, David Bowie. But normally I don’t listen to that kind of music. My favourite music is jazz.
Maya: Do you listen to Herbie Hancock and Miles Davis? John Coltrane? Thelonious Monk?
Carlos: Of course. They are the classics of jazz.
Maya: I don’t understand jazz. It all sounds the same.
Carlos: You like to read. Do you also write Maya?
Maya: Yes sometimes. I work in a library so I know a lot about books and I read a lot. I don’t usually write very often but I’m writing a short story at the moment.
Carlos: That’s great! What is it about?
Maya: It’s a mystery story.
Carlos: I work in a music store. We sell instruments and musical scores. I talk a lot about jazz with customers.
Maya: We have the perfect jobs!

So, how did you get on? How much did you understand of the original text before checking the translation? Please let me know in the comments section below…

Don’t worry if you didn’t understand that much, practice makes perfect! Be patient and keep reading, hearing, writing, and speaking Spanish. See you next time!