In this lesson of our English Spanish Parallel Texts course and we are going to practice using Regular Spanish Verbs in Present Tense. 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 these video lessons with information relevant to this topic:

Spanish verbs in Present Tense (Part 1)

Spanish verbs in Present Tense (Part 2)

Image by Anastasia Gepp from Pixabay

Spanish Text

Jorge: Hola Isabel, ¿qué tal estás?
Isabel: Muy bien Jorge, gracias. ¿Y tú?
Jorge: Yo, muy bien también. Ahora trabajo con tu hermana Elisa.
Isabel: ¡Qué dices! No lo sabía. ¿En la oficina de Serviplan?
Jorge: Eso es. En la calle Ramón Gallud.
Isabel: ¿Elisa y tú hacéis el mismo trabajo?
Jorge: No exactamente. Elisa trabaja más con los clientes. Está cara al público. Y yo estoy en la misma oficina pero detrás, con mi ordenador y mi teléfono.
Isabel: Conozco vuestra oficina. Siempre está llena de gente. Muy concurrida y ruidosa. No sé cómo Elisa siempre está tan tranquila.
Jorge: Yo tampoco. Ella es muy paciente. Es un ángel. Muy buena con los clientes.
Isabel: Es verdad, mi hermana es una persona estupenda.
Jorge: ¿Y qué cosas hace en su tiempo libre?
Isabel: Elisa hace mucho deporte. Nada todos los días. Anda en su bicicleta. Ella también juega al tenis. Y le gusta caminar por el monte.
Jorge: Es muy activa entonces.
Isabel: Sí, muy activa. No duerme mucho.
Jorge: ¿Cuáles son sus comidas favoritas?
Isabel: Ella es vegetariana y come muchas verduras y frutas.
Jorge: ¿Perdona, pero tiene novio ahora?
Isabel: No, no tiene novio.
Jorge: ¡Qué bien!

English Text

Jorge: Hi Isabel, how are you?
Isabel: Very well Jorge, thank you. And you?
Jorge: Me, very well too. Now I work with your sister Elisa.
Isabel: What! I didn’t know. In the Serviplan office?
Jorge: That’s right. On Ramón Gallud Street.
Isabel: Elisa and you do the same job?
Jorge: Not exactly. Elisa works more with customers. She is front office. And I’m in the same office but in the back, with my computer and my telephone.
Isabel: I know your office. It is always full of people. Very busy and noisy. I don’t know how Elisa is always so calm.
Jorge: Me neither. She is very patient. An angel. Very good with customers.
Isabel: It’s true, my sister is a great person.
Jorge: And what does she do in her free time?
Isabel: Elisa does a lot of sport. She swims every day. Rides her bike. She also plays tennis. And she likes to walk in the mountains.
Jorge: She’s very active then.
Isabel: Yes, very active. She doesn’t sleep much.
Jorge: What are her favourite foods?
Isabel: She is a vegetarian and eats lots of vegetables and fruits.
Jorge: Excuse me, but does she have a boyfriend right now?
Isabel: No, she does not have a boyfriend.
Jorge: Great!

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!