In this lesson of our English Spanish Parallel Texts course and we are going to practice describing personality with El verbo Ser 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:

Describing personality with El verbo Ser

Image by SnapwireSnaps from Pixabay

Spanish Text

Felipe: Silvia, ¿cómo es tu padre?
Silvia: Mi padre es muy alto, tiene barba, pelo corto y ojos marrones.
Felipe: ¿Y su personalidad? ¿Cómo es tu padre como persona?
Silvia: ¿Por qué preguntas Felipe?
Felipe: Trabajo con tu padre ahora. Es mi jefe.
Silvia: ¿En serio?
Felipe: Sí, tu padre es mi jefe en la oficina donde trabajo ahora.
Silvia: No te preocupes, mi padre es una persona muy amable.
Felipe: Sí. Pero igual es diferente en el trabajo.
Silvia: No creo. Es siempre simpático y divertido. Es su carácter.
Felipe: No sé… algunas personas dicen que él es muy estricto.
Silvia: Muy estricto seguro que no. Estricto, quizás. Le gusta mucho su trabajo.
Felipe: Sí, mis compañeros dicen que tiene pasión por su trabajo.
Silvia: Eso es bueno, ¿no?
Felipe: Tu padre es un hombre muy robusto, como un oso, con su barba y su risa a todo volumen. Da un poco de miedo.
Silvia: ¡Qué dices! Mi padre no da miedo. Es como un oso igual. Pero un oso de peluche. Suave y tierno. No es antipático ni violento.
Felipe: Vale. Gracias Silvia. Yo soy ordenado, trabajador y honesto. No estoy tan preocupado.
Silvia: También eres listo y de fiar. No te preocupes por nada.

English Text

Felipe: Silvia, how is your father?
Silvia: My father is very tall, he has a beard, short hair and brown eyes.
Felipe: And his personality? How is your father as a person?
Silvia: Why are you asking Felipe?
Felipe: I work with your father now. He’s my boss.
Silvia: Really?
Felipe: Yes, your father is my boss in the office where I work now.
Silvia: Don’t worry, my father is a very kind person.
Felipe: Yes. But maybe it’s different at work.
Silvia: I don’t think so. He is always friendly and funny. It is his character.
Felipe: I dunno … some people say that he is very strict.
Silvia: Very strict, certainly not. Strict, perhaps. He likes his work very much.
Felipe: Yes, my colleagues say that he is passionate about his work.
Silvia: That’s good, right?
Felipe: Your father is a very robust man, like a bear, with his beard and his loud laughter. He scares me a bit.
Silvia: What! My father is not scary. Maybe he is like a bear. But a teddy bear. Soft and tender. He is not unfriendly or violent.
Felipe: Okay. Thanks Silvia. I am organised, hardworking and honest. I’m not so worried
Silvia: You are also smart and trustworthy. Don’t worry about anything.

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!