In this lesson of our English Spanish Parallel Texts course and we are going to practice comparing in Spanish. 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 this video lesson with information relevant to this topic:

Comparing in Spanish

Image by Andreas Lischka from Pixabay

Spanish Text

Mateo: El coche es un invento increíble ¿no? Tan cómodo, tan rápido, tan seguro y tan eficiente. ¡Y el avión! ¡¡Un milagro!! Los humanos somos tan inteligentes.
Sara: No sé Mateo. Somos inteligentes, está claro, pero no sé si me gustan los coches y aviones.
Mateo: ¡Qué dices! ¿Donde estaríamos sin los coches y los aviones?
Sara: Viviendo en un mundo más limpio, con menos contaminación, con menos estrés, menos ruido. Yo estoy mucho más contenta cuando ando o voy en bici.
Mateo: ¿Y cuando llueve o nieva?
Sara: No me importa.
Mateo: ¿Cómo vas al trabajo en bici cuando está nevando y hay hielo en la carretera?
Sara: Ya lo sabes, trabajo desde mi casa.
Mateo: Sí, para ti es fácil. Pero para la mayoría de la gente el coche es esencial.
Sara: Pero la mayoría de la gente no está contenta conduciendo millas cada día con mucho tráfico y retrasos.
Mateo: Ya, pero la vida no es fácil Sara. Tenemos que trabajar y entonces tenemos que usar coches y los coches que usamos hoy en día son maravillosos.
Sara: Tenemos que buscar otro sistema. Trabajamos demasiado.
Mateo: Vale Sara, sigue soñando.
Sara: Bueno Mateo, no hay nada malo en tener sueños y buscar mejores soluciones. Y por cierto, usar el transporte público es mucho mejor que usar tantos coches.
Mateo: No hay suficiente flexibilidad con el transporte público.
Sara: ¡No hay suficiente flexibilidad contigo Mateo! ¡De todas formas, los coches de hoy en día no son tan buenos, deberían ser todos eléctricos!
Mateo: Bueno, tengo que trabajar. No quiero llegar tarde.

English Text

Mateo: The car is an incredible invention, isn’t it? So comfortable, so fast, so safe and so efficient. And the plane! A miracle!! Humans are so clever.
Sara: I don’t know Mateo. We are smart, of course, but I don’t know if I like cars and planes.
Mateo: What are you saying! Where would we be without cars and planes?
Sara: Living in a cleaner world, with less pollution, with less stress, less noise. I am much happier when I walk or go by bike.
Mateo: And when it rains or snows?
Sara: I don’t mind.
Mateo: How do you go to work on a bike when it’s snowing and there’s ice on the road?
Sara: You know, I work from my house.
Mateo: Yes, it’s easy for you. But for most people, the car is essential.
Sara: But most people are not happy driving miles every day with a lot of traffic and delays.
Mateo: Yeah, but life is not easy Sara. We have to work and therefore we have to use cars and the cars we use today are wonderful.
Sara: We have to look for another system. We work too much.
Mateo: OK Sara, keep dreaming.
Sara: Well, Mateo, there’s nothing wrong with having dreams and looking for better solutions. And by the way, using public transport is much better than using so many cars.
Mateo: There is not enough flexibility with public transport.
Sara: There’s not enough flexibility with you Mateo! Anyway, the cars of today are not so good, they should all be electric!
Mateo: Well, I have to work. I don’t want to be late.

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!