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

Telling time in Spanish

Image by marijana1 from Pixabay

Spanish Text

Rogelio: Hola Eva, ¿cómo estás?
Eva: Muy bien Rogelio, ¿y tú?
Rogelio: Bien, gracias. Un poco aburrido.
Eva: ¿Por qué?
Rogelio: No sé. Supongo que es porque no tengo muchos hobbies. No hago mucho los fines de semanas.
Eva: Pero tienes muchos amigos.
Rogelio: Sí, tengo amigos. Pero con ellos siempre hago las mismas cosas: beber, comer e ir a las discotecas. ¿Qué haces tú los fines de semanas?
Eva: Bueno, salgo con mis amigos para beber, comer y bailar en las discotecas. Pero también hago deporte.
Rogelio: ¿Qué tipo de deporte haces?
Eva: Juego al tenis los sábados a las nueve de la mañana y a veces al baloncesto por la tarde, a las tres. Vamos, mi hermana y yo, a yoga los sábados más tarde, a las siete. Y voy a Jiu-jitsu con mi amigo Nicolás los domingos entre las diez de la mañana y las once y media.
Rogelio: ¿No es demasiado? Suena como mucho.
Eva: Me gusta hacer cosas y estar activa. Me gusta mucho estar con amigos en otros ambientes. No solo en bares, restaurantes y discotecas.
Rogelio: Sí, creo que necesito empezar una o dos actividades.
Eva: ¿Qué deportes te gustan?
Rogelio: Me gusta el tenis. Soy demasiado bajo para jugar al baloncesto. No me gusta el fútbol. Pero igual el que más me gusta es el Jiu-jitsu. Me interesan mucho las artes marciales. ¿Cómo es el Jiu-jitsu?
Eva: A mí me encanta. Es muy bueno para tu cuerpo y mente.
Rogelio: ¿Es todo sobre pelear?
Eva: Para nada. Lo contrario. Jiu-jitsu es un arte marcial japonés centrado en manipular la fuerza del oponente contra sí mismo en lugar de confrontarla con tú propia fuerza. ¿Quieres venir con Nicolás y conmigo el domingo que viene? La clase empieza a las diez.
Rogelio: Vale, sí. Gracias Eva.

English Text

Rogelio: Hello Eva, how are you?
Eva: Very well Rogelio, what about you?
Rogelio: Well, thank you. A little bored.
Eva: Why?
Rogelio: I don’t know. I guess it’s because I don’t have many hobbies. I don’t do much at weekends.
Eva: But you have many friends.
Rogelio: Yes, I have friends. But with them I always do the same things: drink, eat and go to the clubs. What do you do on weekends?
Eva: Well, I go out with my friends to drink, eat and dance in the clubs. But I also play sport.
Rogelio: What kind of sport do you do?
Eva: I play tennis on Saturdays at nine in the morning and sometimes basketball in the afternoon, at three. We go, my sister and I, to yoga later on Saturdays, at seven. And I go to Jiu-jitsu with my friend Nicolás on Sundays between ten in the morning and eleven thirty.
Rogelio: Isn’t it too much? It sounds like a lot.
Eva: I like to do things and be active. I really like being with friends in other environments. Not only in bars, restaurants and nightclubs.
Rogelio: Yes, I think I need to start one or two activities.
Eva: What sports do you like?
Rogelio: I like tennis. I’m too short to play basketball. I don’t like football. But maybe the one I like the most is Jiu-jitsu. I am very interested in martial arts. How is Jiu-jitsu?
Eva: I love it. It is very good for your body and mind.
Rogelio: Is it all about fighting?
Eva: Not at all. The opposite. Jiu-jitsu is a Japanese martial art focused on manipulating the opponent’s strength against themselves instead of confronting them with your own strength. Do you want to come with Nicolás and with me next Sunday? The class starts at ten.
Rogelio: Okay, yes. Thanks Eva.

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!