Day 29: Avocados and the Old Pesos
At a market in Tepic, Citlali (A) is shocked by the price of avocados, and her grandmother Carmela (B), who is shopping with her, remembers the crisis of the eighties.
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
¡Noventa pesos el kilo de aguacate, abuela! Hace un mes estaba a cuarenta.
Ninety pesos for a kilo of avocados, Grandma! A month ago they were forty.
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B
Ay, mi niña, eso no es nada. Con la devaluación de los ochenta, remarcaban los precios cada semana.
Oh, sweetheart, that's nothing. With the devaluation in the eighties, they marked prices up every week.
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A
¿Cada semana? ¿Y cómo le hacían para que rindiera el sueldo?
Every week? And how did you make your wages stretch?
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B
Nos apretábamos el cinturón: la carne llegó a costar miles, hasta que le quitaron tres ceros al peso.
We tightened our belts: meat ended up costing thousands, until they knocked three zeros off the peso.
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A
Pues aunque suba más, yo no dejo el guacamole. Me llevo medio kilo.
Well, even if it goes up more, I'm not giving up guacamole. I'll take half a kilo.
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B
Mejor kilo y medio, en caso de que suba la semana que entra. Si no alcanza, lo rendimos con calabacita.
Better make it a kilo and a half, in case it goes up next week. If it doesn't go far enough, we'll stretch it with zucchini.
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A
¿Con calabacita? ¡Con razón el de la taquería de enfrente sabía rarísimo!
With zucchini? No wonder the one at the taquería across the street tasted so weird!
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