Day 3 of 135

Day 3: Sor Juana Before Tomorrow's Exam

At the kitchen table in Toluca, the night before a literature exam, Dante (A), a middle school student, complains about studying to his father Eduardo (B), a mechanic.

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

    Pa, ¿de veras tengo que memorizar a una monja de hace más de trescientos años?

    Dad, do I really have to memorize a nun from more than three hundred years ago?

  2. B

    ¿Sor Juana? Yo me aprendí “Hombres necios” en la secundaria y todavía lo recito debajo de los carros.

    Sor Juana? I learned “Hombres necios” in middle school and I still recite it under the cars.

  3. A

    No hay nadie de mi edad que hable asĂ­, y lo de los hombres hipĂłcritas hoy lo dice cualquiera en un video.

    Nobody my age talks like that, and that stuff about hypocritical men, anyone says it in a video these days.

  4. B

    SĂ­, pero fue ella quien lo dijo primero, cuando a las mujeres ni las dejaban entrar a la universidad.

    Yes, but it was she who said it first, when women weren't even allowed into university.

  5. A

    ÂżY? Decirlo primero no es decirlo mejor, pa.

    So? Saying it first isn't saying it better, Dad.

  6. B

    Entonces a ver quién te escribe esto en un video: “¿Cuál mayor culpa ha tenido en una pasión errada: la que cae de rogada o el que ruega de caído?”

    Then let's see who writes you this in a video: “Who bears the greater blame in a passion gone astray: she who falls from being begged, or he who begs from having fallen?”

  7. A

    “Cae de rogada, ruega de caído”... Bueno, sí, voltea la frase como calcetín.

    “Falls from being begged, begs from having fallen”... OK, yes, she turns the phrase inside out like a sock.

  8. B

    Pero bueno, segĂşn tĂş ya nadie habla asĂ­, Âżno? Mejor ni lo repases.

    But anyway, according to you nobody talks like that anymore, right? Better not review it at all.

  9. A

    No, espérate, que es en esta estrofa donde está el truco: ellos ruegan y luego la culpa es de ellas.

    No, hang on, because it's in this stanza that the trick lies: the men do the begging and then the women get the blame.

  10. B

    ÂżYa ves? Por algo te pusimos Dante.

    See? We named you Dante for a reason.

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