English Spanish Parallel Texts – El verbo Ser & the family (Part 1) Posted by Laura & Adam on Aug 24, 2021 in Language, Learning, Spanish Grammar, Spanish Vocabulary
In this lesson of our English Spanish Parallel Texts course and we are going to practice using the Spanish verb Ser (To Be) to describe The Family. 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:
Image by S. Hermann & F. Richter from Pixabay
Spanish Text
Alba: Hola, buenas tardes. ¿Eres hermano de Lucas?
Sebastián: ¿Lucas, no, quién es Lucas?
Alba: Perdona. Lucas es un amigo mío. Te pareces mucho a él.
Sebastián: Yo soy Sebastián López Martín.
Alba: ¿Vives aquí Sebastián?
Sebastián: Sí, toda la vida en este barrio.
Alba: Yo también. Soy Alba Pérez García, hija de Juan y María.
Sebastián: ¿Juan Pérez González, el electricista?
Alba: Sí, es mi padre.
Sebastián: Juan es un buen electricista y también muy buena persona.
Alba: Ya lo sé.
Sebastián: ¿Tienes una hermana también, no?
Alba: Tengo tres hermanas.
Sebastián: ¿Como se llaman tus hermanas?
Alba: Son Carlota, Michelle y Julieta. Somos cuatro hermanas y dos hermanos. Mis hermanos son Martín y Nicolás.
Sebastián: ¡Nicolás Pérez García! ¿Nicolás es tu hermano? Es un amigo mío.
Alba: ¡Qué dices!
Sebastián: Bueno, encantado de conocerte Alba.
Alba: Igualmente Sebastián.
English Text
Alba: Hello, good afternoon. Are you Lucas’s brother?
Sebastián: Lucas, no, who is Lucas?
Alba: Excuse me. Lucas is a friend of mine. You look a lot like him.
Sebastián: I’m Sebastián López Martín.
Alba: Do you live here Sebastián?
Sebastián: Yes, all my life in this neighborhood.
Alba: Me too. I’m Alba Pérez García, daughter of Juan and María.
Sebastián: Juan Pérez González, the electrician?
Alba: Yes, that’s my father.
Sebastián: Juan is a good electrician and also a very good person.
Alba: I know.
Sebastián: You have a sister as well, don’t you?
Alba: I have three sisters.
Sebastián: What are your sisters called?
Alba: They are Carlota, Michelle and Julieta. We are four sisters and two brothers. My brothers are Martín and Nicolás.
Sebastián: Nicolás Pérez García! Nicolás is your brother? He iss a friend of mine.
Alba: No way!
Sebastián: Well, nice to meet you Alba.
Alba: Likewise Sebastian.
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!
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About the Author: Laura & Adam
Laura & Adam have been blogging and creating online Spanish courses for Transparent Language since 2010. Laura is from Bilbao in northern Spain and Adam is from Devon in the south of England. They lived together in Spain for over 10 years, where their 2 daughters were born, and now they live in Scotland. Both Laura & Adam qualified as foreign language teachers in 2004 and since have been teaching Spanish in Spain, the UK, and online.
Comments:
Steviej:
I did not know that No way was used in that context. Many ways of saying no way?
Laura & Adam:
@Steviej Hola Stevie, thanks for your comment! Yes, there are many ways to translate the expression ‘No way!’. Here I have used ¡Qué dices! This literally means ‘What do you say!’ or ‘What are you saying!’ but it is used in the same way as English speakers use ‘No way!’.
Michael R Klein:
I was able to understand most except for Pareces
Laura & Adam:
@Michael R Klein ¡Muy bien Michael! Keep up the great work! Paracer is a useful verb to learn and use. It translates to ‘Seems’ in English. Let’s see how you do with the next text. Laura
DavidW:
Gracias por la leccion. I got 95% or more after the second reading (looking at the potential context of the words helps). I’m getting better at reading, still having issues taking my English thoughts and saying them in Espanol. Will keep at it.
Laura & Adam:
@DavidW Well done David! Good for you for having a few gos at it before checking the text. And, yes, keep working on not translating everything literally from Spanish to English. It is totally normal and necessary to do it at the early stages but more and more we need to push towards only thinking in the target language, Spanish. This takes time of course. But you will get there for sure. All my best, Laura