Day 105 of 135

Day 105: The Landlord Referees a Cousin Feud

In the apartment they share in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas, the cousins Bárbara (A) and Eva (B) are quarreling over their late grandmother's ring when their landlord, Don Eleazar (C), a retired telenovela actor, arrives to fix the water heater.

How to study this lesson 3 steps
  1. Read the situation under the title. It says who is talking and how they know each other, which decides how politely they speak.
  2. Read the dialogue line by line with its translation, until every line makes sense. Point at (or tap) a Spanish word to see what it means.
  3. Spend at least 30 minutes listening to native Spanish, for example from the Resources page. It doesn't matter if you don't understand it yet.

Dialogue

Audio recordings are on the way. For now, each lesson is the dialogue with its English translation.

Keys: E hide English · ← → previous / next day · point at a word to see its meaning

  1. A

    ¡Que me lo prometió a mí, Eva! Me lo dio en el hospital: “Para la nieta que me cuide”.

    She promised it to me, Eva! She gave it to me at the hospital: “For the granddaughter who looks after me.”

  2. B

    Y a mí, que era para la primera que se casara. Dámelo, que me caso en abril y tú ni novio tienes.

    And she told me it was for the first one to get married. Hand it over: I'm getting married in April, and you don't even have a boyfriend.

  3. C

    Disculpen, toqué tres veces. Vengo a ver el calentador, mas si me permitiesen una observación: esta escena yo ya la hice en una telenovela.

    Excuse me, I knocked three times. I've come to look at the water heater, but if you would permit me a remark: I've already played this scene in a telenovela.

  4. A

    Ay, don Eleazar, esto no es telenovela, es el anillo de la abuela. Aunque, ¿cómo acabó la suya?

    Oh, Don Eleazar, this isn't a telenovela, it's Grandma's ring. Although, how did yours end?

  5. C

    Érase una vez una abuela que prometió el mismo anillo a dos nietas. Las primas, antaño inseparables, pasaron cuarenta capítulos sin hablarse.

    Once upon a time, a grandmother promised the same ring to two granddaughters. The cousins, once inseparable, went forty episodes without speaking.

  6. B

    ¿Y quién se lo quedó? Si fue la que se casó, ya sé de qué lado estaba el guionista.

    And who got it? If it was the one who got married, I know whose side the scriptwriter was on.

  7. C

    Ninguna: era de fantasía. Permítame, señorita... Lo sospechaba: la réplica que vendían en los mercados, con mi foto en la cajita.

    Neither: it was costume jewelry. May I, miss... Just as I suspected: the replica they sold in the markets, with my photo on the little box.

  8. A

    ¿Nos peleamos por una baratija de mercado? ¿Y la abuela nos armó el mismo enredo que en la tele?

    So we're fighting over a market trinket? And Grandma cooked up the same mess for us as on TV?

  9. C

    Su abuela no les heredó un anillo, señoritas, sino un argumento. Díjome un director: el público todo lo perdona, menos un final sin reconciliación.

    Your grandmother didn't leave you a ring, young ladies, but a plot. A director once told me: audiences forgive everything except an ending without a reconciliation.

  10. B

    Entonces, seis meses cada una, y en mi boda lo llevo yo. ¿Trato, Bárbara?

    Then six months each, and I wear it at my wedding. Deal, Bárbara?

  11. A

    Trato, pero empiezo yo, que le metía sus tamales de chipilín al hospital. Y usted, don Eleazar, se queda a cenar: nos debe cuarenta capítulos.

    Deal, but I go first, because I was the one sneaking her chipilín tamales into the hospital. And you, Don Eleazar, are staying for dinner: you owe us forty episodes.

  12. C

    Encantado. Empero, primero el calentador, que, como un servidor, otrora fue galán y hoy nomás echa agua tibia.

    Delighted. First, however, the water heater, which, like yours truly, was once a leading man and now only puts out lukewarm water.

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