Spanish Obsessed Beginners Podcast: Telling stories

Beginners series 1

Beginners 40: Telling stories with the present tense

Talk about the past, using the present!

Rob

Inglés

Transcript

[00:00:06]

Hola. Buenos días. Buenas tardes. Wherever you are. And bienvenidos. Welcome to another episode of Spanish Obsessed Beginners. In this episode, we're going to be talking about the past using the present. So how does that work? Well, we're going to listen to a story from Lis in which she does exactly this. Now, I'll warn you now it's going to be a little bit hard to follow. It's a monologue. And Lis being a native speaker, she does tend to run words together. She can talk quite fast sometimes. Plus, the vocabulary itself is actually quite advanced. I don't want you to focus so much on that. What I want you to do when you listen to this story is really listen to the tenses that she's using, and specifically the present tense. Once we've heard the story, we'll come back. We'll dissect it together. I'll make sure you can at least understand most of it. Maybe you'll pick up a few new words here and there, and then we'll look at how is she using the present in the past.

Translation

[00:01:06]

Ayer tuvo un día horrible . Son las siete de la manana c uando suena el despertador. Abro los ojos y miro el reloj . ¡No puede ser ! El despertador nunca sonó y me quedé dormida. Ahora voy a atrasada . Me levanto de una y me visto a las carreras . Salgo volando hacia la ducha, pero resbalo con una revista tirada en el suelo y me golpeo el pie. Salto en un pie hasta la cocina, me prepara un tinto y una arepa y corra . Agarro las llaves del carro y arranco para el trabajo . En la autopista me quedo en un trancón impresionante . Parece que va a ser un día largo . Ya son las ocho de la mañana y aun no llego a me lugar de trabajo . Corro a toda mecha hasta el escritorio mientras me jefe mi grita que llegué tarde otra vez . Enciendo el computador y cuando comienzo el trabajo siento un dolor en la barriga . Ay no, con el afán olvidé que había una reunión importante con el gerente hoy.

Translation

Yesterday was a horrible day. It's seven o'clock in the morning when the alarm clock goes off. I open my eyes and look at the clock - it can't be! The alarm clock never went off and I overslept. Now I'm running late. I jump up and get dressed in a hurry. I fly to the shower, but I slip on a magazine on the floor and hit my foot. I hop on one foot to the kitchen, make myself a tinto and an arepa and run. I grab the car keys and start for work. On the motorway I'm stuck in an impressive traffic jam. It looks like it's going to be a long day. It's already eight o'clock in the morning and I'm still not at my workplace. I run at full speed to my desk while my boss yells at me that I'm late again. I switch on the computer and when I start working I feel a pain in my stomach. Oh no, in the rush I forgot that there was an important meeting with the manager today.

[00:02:19]