Learn about expressing impersonal obligation
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Lizzie: Buen días, soy Lizzie. |
| Allan: Soy Allan - The Negotiation. |
| Lizzie: Sean bienvenidos. ¿Qué tal todos? ¿Allan, cómo está el maestro de los maestros? |
| Allan: Thanks, Lizzie. Today, frustrated by the traffic in Lima, the mayor has decided to rip up half of the streets and he just created a real mess to get here. How frustrating. |
| Lizzie: Oh, yes. A mi me sucede lo mismo pero el enojo pasa cuando ya estamos contigo, con ustedes aquí en SpanishPod101. |
| Allan: So hi there, guys. My name again is Allan Le Rue, and I’m joined by the one and only Lizzie Stolear. |
| Lizzie: Great to be back. |
| Allan: And today we have a great lesson, a lesson that will definitely give you insight into Spanish speaking culture. Here we have the final part of this conversation between Xavier, the speedster, and the policeman who pulled him over and wants to give him a ticket. |
| Lizzie: In the last few lessons, we’ve seen how Xavier has tried to find a way out of this ticket. |
| Allan: Claro y él ha mostrado cierta astucia al respecto. I mean, people, he is really trying to weasel himself out of this ticket. Last time he made the police officer an offer. Basically, he asked the officer if he would be able to pay the ticket for him, which really means that Xavier would give the officer the money and the officer could take him to the station and pay the ticket. |
| Lizzie: Of course, Xavier knows that the cop would keep the money. |
| Allan: Así es. Es una manera de insinuar una oferta medio escandalosa. |
| Lizzie: ¿Y Allan, la gramática de hoy? |
| Allan: Bueno hoy vamos a estudiar otra forma perifrástica. This time for grammar we’re going to look at how to use the verb haber along with the pronoun que in order to show obligation. |
| Lizzie: La obligación. |
| Allan: Así es amiga mia. |
| Lizzie: Como por ejemplo ¿hay que escuchar la conversación de hoy? |
| Allan: Exactamente. Hay que escuchar la conversación de hoy. |
| Lizzie: And how can we translate that? |
| Allan: Well, we can say “We’ve got to listen to today’s conversation.” |
| Lizzie: Vamos. |
| Allan: Muy bien señorita Empezemos. Here comes another conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| OFICIAL: Bueno, pero sólo esta vez. |
| JAVIER: Agradezco su comprensión. ¿Cuánto será la multa? |
| OFICIAL: A ver... va a salir carito... |
| JAVIER: Entiendo, oficial, pero estoy en falta y hay que pagar. |
| OFICIAL: Son 200 soles. |
| JAVIER: ¡200 soles! ¿Qué tal planchamos la arruga con 20 soles? |
| OFICIAL: Hmm... está bien, pero sólo para usted. |
| OFICIAL: Well, only this time. |
| JAVIER: I appreciate your understanding. How much is the ticket? |
| OFICIAL: Let's see... it's going to cost a pretty penny... |
| JAVIER: I understand, Officer, but I am at fault and one must pay. |
| OFICIAL: It is 200 soles. |
| JAVIER: 200 soles! How about we even up with 20 soles? |
| OFICIAL: Hmm... alright, but only for you, Sir. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Lizzie: ¡Qué escándalo! |
| Allan: Sí lo se. No puedo creer que el oficial haya aceptado la coima. I can’t believe that the cop took the bribe. |
| Lizzie: Bueno lo que a mi me sorprendió es que la coima haya sido de tan poca plata. Broma broma. |
| Allan: It’s a good one, Lizzie. So as you say, you’re surprised that the bribe was so small but, hey, let’s talk about this so as not to be frightened. Not all cops are corrupt and we’ve got to say that there are some great policemen out there. And not just policemen, but police women. Lizzie, have you noticed all the police women that are now working in Lima? |
| Lizzie: Yeah. There are lots of them. |
| Allan: That’s right. These women have the reputation of being not only tough but artist. And let me tell you, I think they improved traffic. Alright, enough with that. Time to go over the vocab. |
| Lizzie: Sounds like a good, good idea. |
| Allan: So, let’s begin with… |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Lizzie: Multa. |
| Allan: Ticket. |
| Lizzie: Multa, multa. |
| Allan: Now, we’ll hear… |
| Lizzie: Falta. |
| Allan: Fault, lack, mistake. |
| Lizzie: Falta, falta. |
| Allan: Now, we’ll listen to… |
| Lizzie: Planchar. |
| Allan: To iron. |
| Lizzie: Planchar, planchar. |
| Allan: Next, we’ll hear… |
| Lizzie: Arruga. |
| Allan: Wrinkle. |
| Lizzie: Arruga, arruga. |
| Allan: Now, let’s listen to… |
| Lizzie: comprensión |
| Allan: Understanding, comprehension. |
| Lizzie: comprensión, comprensión |
| Allan: And finally… |
| Lizzie: Oficial. |
| Allan: Officer, official. |
| Lizzie: Oficial, oficial. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Allan: Alright, Lizzie. Before we move on to the usage let’s focus really quickly on the pronunciation of one of these words. |
| Lizzie: Which one? |
| Allan: Well, how about the Spanish word for “wrinkle”? Could you say it again? |
| Lizzie: Arruga. |
| Allan: Spelled A-R-R-U-G-A. |
| Lizzie: Arruga. |
| Allan: Now, notice that this has the double R also called the rr and this is the rolled r so it’s not aruga with just one R but arruga. |
| Lizzie: Arruga. |
| Allan: Well, maybe not that exaggerated. But I think you’re getting the point across. |
| Lizzie: Entonces ahora avancemos con el uso de estas palabras. |
| Allan: Time to go over some of these words. So, to begin, let me ask you. Lizzie, if you do something wrong then it’s your… |
| Lizzie: …fault |
| Allan: And if it’s your fault then we could also say that “you are at fault”, right? |
| Lizzie: ¡Cómo no! |
| Allan: And if we remove the letter U from the word “fault” what are we left with? |
| Lizzie: Ahora seria falt. |
| Allan: And now if we just add an A to the end of that, what does it sound like? |
| Lizzie: Falta |
| Allan: Hey, that’s right.Falta. And in the conversation when Xavier says estoy en falta what does he mean? |
| Lizzie: He means that “he is at fault”. |
| Allan: Right. So the word falta when we use it after preposition en means “fault”. Other times it can refer to a lack and also a mistake. But today we’ll just focus on it when it means “fault” as in the expression en falta. Again, this means “at fault”. |
| Lizzie: Y la proxima palabra maestro. |
| Allan: planchar |
| Lizzie: planchar |
| Allan: Right. So, when you take your clothes to the cleaner’s and they wash and dry them, what do they do to make sure that they are nice and pressed? |
| Lizzie: They iron them. |
| Allan: Aha. So how would you say “I will iron the shirt”? |
| Lizzie: Seria yo planchare la camisa. |
| Allan: So the verb planchar means “to iron”. But as we see in today’s conversation, it’s also used figuratively sometimes. |
| Lizzie: Claro, Javier siendo el vivo que es dice: que tal planchamos la arruga con veinte soles. |
| Allan: That’s right. And in order to understand this figurative meaning we’re going to have to look at the word arruga. Lizzie, what is an la arruga? |
| Lizzie: It’s a wrinkle. |
| Allan: Right. And when we say “wrinkle here, we mean either wrinkle in the skin or a wrinkle in the clothes, any kind of wrinkle. |
| Lizzie: Pero la frase planchar la arruga ya es otra cosa. |
| Allan: Yeah, I know. I’ll get into that as my trustee sidekick so graciously pointed out the phrase planchar la arruga is a figurative expression. Literally it means “to iron out the wrinkle”, but we often use this one for discussing how a debt will be paid. |
| Lizzie: Así es maestro de los maestros. |
| Allan: You’re right. Alright, Lizzie. One more word. |
| Lizzie: Which one? |
| Allan: Oficial. |
| Lizzie: Oficial. |
| Allan: Spelled very similar to the English word “official” except for one difference. |
| Lizzie: Tienes una f. |
| Allan: Exactly. In Spanish, this word has just one F, oficial. However, the meaning in Spanish is quite a bit different than “official” in English. |
| Lizzie: How so? |
| Allan: Well, in Spanish we can refer to an officer, I mean any kind of officer as oficial and we can also refer to un documento oficial “an official document”. |
| Lizzie: Entonces puede ser o adjetivo o sustantivo. |
| Allan: Ding, ding, ding. You are correct, Lizzie. |
| Lizzie: Ha, ha, ha. ¿Cómo me vas a premiar? |
| Allan: What’s your prize? Lizzie for you the great prize today is an all-expense trip paid to Lima, Peru. Now, onto grammar. |
| Lizzie: la gramática |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Allan: Time to learn how the language is working in here and how to make it work for us. |
| Lizzie: Eso queremos |
| Allan: So, Lizzie, si yo digo Javier tiene que pagar. ¿A quien le corresponde el deber de pagar? I mean if I say “Xavier has to pay” to whom does the obligation of paying correspond? |
| Lizzie: A Xavier. |
| Allan: Aha, right. So, now, if I say “One must pay” does this still express obligation? |
| Lizzie: Claro que sí maestro. |
| Allan: It does, okay. And what’s the obligation? |
| Lizzie: The obligation is to pay. |
| Allan: And now, the million dollar question. |
| Lizzie: Espero que gane, espero que gane. |
| Allan: Whose obligation is it to pay? |
| Lizzie: With the example “One must pay”? |
| Allan: Yeah, that’s right. |
| Lizzie: I’m not sure. |
| Allan: Well, to tell you the truth, that’s not an entirely wrong answer. |
| Lizzie: Do I still win the prize? |
| Allan: We have to talk to the judges, but I’ll get back to that one, Liz. |
| Lizzie: Well, what do you mean by not being entirely wrong? |
| Allan: Well, when we say something like “One must pay”, we’re expressing an obligation. But this obligation is impersonal. |
| Lizzie: We don’t know whose obligation it is? |
| Allan: No, madam. |
| Lizzie: Not at all? |
| Allan: Paranada. Let’s see what it looks like in Spanish. Check out what Xavier says after he admits that he is at fault. He says: hay que pagar |
| Lizzie: A pero claro. ¿Por qué no me lo explicaste así desde el principio? |
| Allan: So, Lizzie. What’s the infinitive form of the verb hay? |
| Lizzie: Hay haber. |
| Allan: Haber. Right. And this form hay is this personal or impersonal? |
| Lizzie: Impersonal. |
| Allan: Alright. So, in Spanish we use the verb hay and then to this we add other words to convey this sense of impersonal obligation. |
| Lizzie: Claro, usamos el pronombre que y luego algún verbo en el infinitivo. |
| Allan: Right. So, we use the impersonal form of haver which is hay and then the pronoun que followed by any verb in the infinitive. |
| Lizzie: Como por ejemplo, hay que tener paciencia |
| Allan: That’s a great example. hay que tener paciencia Now, guys, here is the trick to this. Because this is an impersonal expression of obligation we can translate it to English as “One must have patience”, but notice that the word “one” here refers to anyone, right? So, this is the only real way to show what’s going on in this construction. |
| Lizzie: Claro es una forma muy particular pero común también. |
| Allan: Definitely common. With this construction you can express what must be done, but and this is a big, big “but” you don’t indicate whose job it is to do, whatever needs to be done. |
| Lizzie: Por supuesto. We use this a lot in Spanish because it’s an indirect way to tell someone what they need to do. |
| Allan: Right. And this indirectness translates into courtesy. |
| Lizzie: Allan, when do you use this expression? |
| Allan: Well, let me think. For example, when my family and I were getting ready to go to Trujillo I remember we were getting ready the night before and I said hay que salir temprano mañana, and here I used this impersonal form because I didn’t want to give them an order as much as I just wanted them to know that it would be best if we left early. |
| Lizzie: What would it have sounded like in the personal form? |
| Allan: Then it would have been tenemos que salir temprano and this means “We have to leave early”. So hay que and then the infinitive- impersonal but tener que and then the infinitive-personal. |
| Lizzie: Bueno Allan ya se acabó la fiesta. |
| Allan: Pero siempre habrá otra. It’s been another great lesson, Lizz |
| Lizzie: Gracias a ti Allan. |
Outro |
| Allan: No, thank you, Liz. Now, from here stop by SpanishPod101.com, pick up the PDF and check out the language tools in the Learning Center and if you’re looking for a greater challenge, why don’t you check out Cathy and Anna in the Lower Intermediate Lessons. And if you’re looking for an even greater challenge, then eventually, guys come on down to Lima and see what an immersion course is all about at El Sol. This is my Language School where I guarantee you will learn a lot of Spanish and a tremendous amount of our Peruvian culture. |
| Lizzie: Y si quieren conocernos pueden ver nuestras fotos en SpanishPod101.com. Meet the team. |
| Allan: Ok todos, hasta luego. Hasta la proxima. |
| Lizzie: Hasta la proxima. |
| Allan: Chao! |
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