Day 97: Doing the Sums After Pension Day
At the kitchen table in the port of Veracruz, Hilario (A) and his wife Rosaura (B), both retired, go through the month's bills on the day their pension comes in; a lechero is the milky coffee of the Gran Café de la Parroquia, the city's famous old café.
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
Ya cayó la pensión, vieja. Pagada la luz, que subió trescientos pesos, nos quedan seis mil ochocientos.
The pension's in, honey. With the electricity paid, and it's gone up by three hundred pesos, we've got six thousand eight hundred left.
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B
Descontando el gas y la despensa, con el huevo a cincuenta el kilo, no nos quedan ni tres mil.
Take off the gas and the groceries, with eggs at fifty pesos a kilo, and we don't even have three thousand left.
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A
Con todo cariño, algo hay que recortar: pagas tres plataformas y ves una sola.
I say this with love, but something has to go: you pay for three streaming services and only watch one.
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B
¿Y tu lechero diario en La Parroquia, mi rey? Sesenta y tantos por treinta días son casi dos mil.
And what about your lechero at La Parroquia every day, sweetheart? Sixty-odd pesos times thirty days is nearly two thousand.
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A
Eso no es lujo: desde que me jubilé, es mi única vida social.
That's no luxury: since I retired, it's been my only social life.
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B
Y mis series me acompañan mientras andas en el café. Sumados los dos gustitos, nos cuestan más que la luz.
And my series keep me company while you're off at the café. Add our two little treats together and they cost us more than the electricity.
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A
Nos apretamos el cinturón los dos: cancelas dos plataformas y yo voy a La Parroquia nomás los domingos.
We'll both tighten our belts: you cancel two of the services and I only go to La Parroquia on Sundays.
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B
Está bien, siempre y cuando los domingos me lleves contigo. Con lo que ahorremos, alcanza para dos lecheros.
All right, as long as you take me with you on Sundays. With what we save, there's enough for two lecheros.
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