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

Physical descriptions in Spanish

Image by Steve Buissinne from Pixabay

Spanish Text

Joaquín: Hola Pilar, ¿cómo estás?
Pilar: Ocupada como ves.
Joaquín: Sí, ¿cuántos niños tienes ahora?
Pilar: Tengo cinco. Esta preciosidad es el más pequeño.
Joaquín: ¿Cómo se llama tu bebé?
Pilar: Se llama Manolito.
Joaquín: Un nombre tradicional, me gusta. Y le pega.
Pilar: Manolito es el nombre de su abuelo. Bueno, Manuel.
Joaquín: Mi abuelo se llama Joaquín como yo.
Pilar: El abuelo Manuel está muy contento.
Joaquín: Manolito es muy mono ¿eh? Con su boca y nariz son tan pequeñas y sus ojos tan grandes y brillantes.
Pilar: Si, me encantan sus ojos azules. Su abuelo Manuel también tiene ojos azules.
Joaquín: Y tiene el pelo rubio. No es normal para un español. ¿Manuel también tiene el pelo rubio?
Pilar: Manuel tiene el pelo castaño. Pero el padre de Manolito tiene pelo rubio como su hijo.
Joaquín: Manolito es un niño guapísimo Pilar. También los otros cuatro niños. ¡Todos guapísimos!
Pilar: Muchísimas gracias Joaquín.

English Text

Joaquín: Hi Pilar, how are you?
Pilar: Busy as you see.
Joaquín: Yes, how many children do you have now?
Pilar: I have five. This cutey is the smallest.
Joaquín: What’s your baby’s name?
Pilar: His name is Manolito.
Joaquín: A traditional name, I like it. And it suits him.
Pilar: Manolito is the name of his grandfather. Well, Manuel.
Joaquín: My grandfather is called Joaquín like me.
Pilar: Grandfather Manuel is very happy.
Joaquín: Manolito is very cute huh? With his mouth and nose so small and his eyes so big and bright.
Pilar: Yes, I love his blue eyes. His grandfather Manuel also has blue eyes.
Joaquín: And he has blond hair. It is not normal for a Spaniard. Does Manuel also have blond hair?
Pilar: Manuel has brown hair. But Manolito’s father has blond hair like his son.
Joaquín: Manolito is a beautiful boy Pilar. Also the other four children. All beautiful!
Pilar: Thank you very much Joaquín.

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!