Translations and comments

We finished the last lesson with some sentences which you were supposed to be looking at for this week. No good hunting around for them now – they went in the cat’s litter tray last Tuesday. Not to worry, here they are again with accompanying comments.

Me voy a levantar temprano.

Here we have the reflexive verb “levantarse” used in the infinitive after “voy a”. The reflexive pronoun “me” has to agree with the subject “I” or “yo”. This could also be written “Voy a levantarme temprano”. Oh, I nearly forgot – it means “I’m going to get up early”.

A mi madre le gusta levantarse a las ocho.

“My mother likes getting up at eight o’clock”. Here we have the same verb in the same kind of structure, but in this case we have a few other fiddly bits caused by the use of “gustar” (lit: “to my mother it pleases her”) so we keep the reflexive verb all together out of the way (“to get herself up”). Here the particle is “se” because we are in the third person singular.

Nos vamos a ir mañana. “We are going to go (away) tomorrow”. The reflexive verb is “irse” – to go away. It would be equally correct to say “Vamos a irnos mañana”.

¿Prefieres ducharte o bañarte en la bañera?

“Do you prefer to have a shower or have a bath?” A rather personal question I think, please do not feel obliged to answer.

Los chicos tienen que irse temprano

“The young people have to go off / leave early” Again the verb “irse”, kept together in one word, the “se” is because it is the third person plural “they” form.

¿Os habéis acordado del regalo?

Here the verb is “acordarse” (to remember) which is followed by the word “de”. The sentence is in the recent past tense “Have you (plural) remembered the present?” Notice that when a verb form is made up of two words, (e.g. habéis acordado) they are never separated, so the “os” goes in front of both.

Hay que apuntarse pronto “Hay que” is a form we haven’t mentioned before. It has the impersonal meaning “one has to”. This form takes the third person, hence the pronoun “se”. Normally in English we would replace the word “one” for the impersonal use of “you”, so the translation is: “You have to sign up soon”.

¡Cuídate mucho, cariño! This is an imperative or command from the verb “cuidarse” (to look after oneself). The sentence means “Look after yourself darling!” or “Take good care” or words to that effect.

¿No te das cuenta del problema?

This sentence is negative and a question all in one. “Don’t you realize the problem?” The infinitive is “darse cuenta” (to realize). The reflexive pronoun goes in front of the verb but after the word “no”.

Yo no quiero irme, me quedo aquí.

Finally, “I don’t want to go, I’m staying here”. Those of us who have had children will be familiar with this sentence. “Quedarse” is “to stay”. In English we would say “I’m staying here” but in Spanish it takes the present simple tense “I stay here” – “Me quedo aquí – aquí me quedo.”