In this lesson of our English Spanish Parallel Texts course and we are going to practice more about 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:

El verbo Ser & the family

Image by Jason Gillman from Pixabay

Spanish Text

Alejandro: Feliz Navidad Benjamín. ¿Estás con la familia esta navidad?
Benjamín: Feliz Navidad Alejandro. Sí estoy con la familia. Es un poco aburrido. Porque soy hijo único.
Alejandro: ¿Tus padres no tienen hermanos o hermanas?
Benjamín: No, mis padres son hijos únicos también. No tengo tíos ni tías.
Alejandro: ¿Abuelos?
Benjamín: Desgraciadamente no. Están muertos.
Alejandro: Entonces estáis solo tú y tus padres en casa para navidad.
Benjamín: Sí, eso es. ¿Y tú?
Alejandro: Bueno. Yo tengo una familia muy grande. Somos mis padres, mis cuatro hermanos, mis seis hermanas y yo. Hay mucho ruido en casa siempre.
Benjamín: ¡Qué divertido!
Alejandro: No lo sé. No hablo mucho con mis hermanas y me peleo con mis hermanos.
Benjamín: ¿Tienes abuelos, tíos y tías?
Alejandro: Sí, mi abuela y mi abuelo están en casa con nosotros para navidad, también mis cinco tíos y seis tías, con mis diez primos.
Benjamín: Tengo envidia. Suena muy bien.
Alejandro: ¿Quieres comer con nosotros mañana?
Benjamín: ¡Sí, claro! Muchas gracias Alejandro.
Alejandro: De nada. Hasta mañana a las dos.
Benjamín: Vale, muy bien. ¡Hasta mañana!

English Text

Alejandro: Merry Christmas Benjamín. Are you with the family this Christmas?
Benjamín: Merry Christmas Alejandro. Yes, I am with the family. It is a bit boring. Because I am an only child.
Alejandro: Your parents don’t have brothers or sisters?
Benjamín: No, my parents are only children too. I don’t have uncles or aunts.
Alejandro: Grandparents?
Benjamin: Unfortunately not. They are dead.
Alejandro: Then it’s just you and your parents at home for Christmas.
Benjamín: Yes, that’s right. And you?
Alejandro: Well. I have a very large family. We are my parents, my four brothers, my six sisters and me. There is a lot of noise at home always.
Benjamín: What fun!
Alejandro: I dunno. I don’t talk much with my sisters and I fight with my brothers.
Benjamín: Do you have grandparents, uncles and aunts?
Alejandro: Yes, my grandmother and my grandfather are at home with us for Christmas, also my five uncles and six aunts, with my ten cousins.
Benjamín: I’m envious. It sounds really good.
Alejandro: Do you want to eat with us tomorrow?
Benjamín: Yes, of course! Thank you very much Alejandro.
Alejandro: You’re welcome. See you tomorrow at two.
Benjamín: Ok, very good. See you tomorrow!

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!