Day 148: A Year's Rent in Advance?
In Querétaro, roommates Rosana (A) and Úrsula (B) talk to their landlord, Don Silvestre (C; don is a respectful title), who has just knocked on their door with an offer.
How to study this lesson 3 steps
- Read the situation under the title. It says who is talking and how they know each other, which decides how politely they speak.
- 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.
- 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
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A
A ver si entendí, don Silvestre: si le damos el año completo de adelanto, ¿nos cobra once meses y no doce?
Let me see if I've got this right, Don Silvestre: if we give you the whole year up front, you'll charge us for eleven months, not twelve?
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B
Suena bien, pero no nos tome el pelo: ¿dónde está el truco?
It sounds good, but don't pull our leg: where's the catch?
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C
No hay truco: voy a remodelar mi casa, y el contratista me dijo que si le pagaba antes de junio, me respetaba el precio.
There's no catch: I'm fixing up my house, and the contractor told me that if I paid him before June, he'd stick to his price.
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A
Saca cuentas, Úrsula: son $137,500 de golpe, y el banco nos da un rendimiento del seis por ciento anual.
Do the math, Úrsula: it's 137,500 pesos in one go, and the bank gives us a return of six percent a year.
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B
Perdone la desconfianza, pero ¿y si vende el edificio a medio año? Mi prima me contó que a ella le había pasado.
Forgive me for being suspicious, but what if you sell the building halfway through the year? My cousin told me that had happened to her.
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C
Lo ponemos en el contrato, faltaba más. Pero no se tarden: si el viernes no me contestan, se lo ofrezco a los del tercero.
We'll put it in the contract, of course. But don't take too long: if you haven't answered by Friday, I'll offer it to the people on the fourth floor.
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A
Mira: dejándolo en el banco, en un año habremos ganado unos cuatro mil; con el descuento, nos habremos ahorrado $12,500.
Look: if we leave it in the bank, in a year we'll have earned about four thousand; with the discount, we'll have saved 12,500.
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B
Más vale pájaro en mano: las rentas en Querétaro ya cuestan un ojo de la cara. Aceptamos, don Silvestre.
A bird in the hand, then: rents in Querétaro cost an arm and a leg these days. We'll take it, Don Silvestre.
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C
Me da gusto. Y para que luego no digan que les tomé el pelo: el año que entra, la renta sube.
I'm glad. And so you can't say later that I pulled your leg: next year the rent goes up.
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