(a) 1. No sé como he vivido tanto tiempo con ellos. 2. ¡Bien ha tardado Vd. esta noche! 3. ¿Cuánto tiempo espera Vd. pasar aquí? 4. Dígales que yo quiero verlas antes que salgan. 5. No sé leer el español pero conozco las obras de Benavente en traducción. 6. No tardamos en saber lo que había hecho. 7. Antes de escribir los ejercicios tenemos que estudiar las reglas. 8. Antes era rico, ya no lo es. 9. En el abecedario viene la a ante la be. 10. Puesto que no puedo quedarme más tiempo, tendrá Vd. que acabarlo solo.
(b) 1. Do you know the works of Blasco Ibáñez? 2. How long have you been here? 3. I don't know how to describe it to you. 4. I don't know how long he has been ill. 5. Before I speak I want to know how much you know. 6. Do you know this song? Yes, but I don't know how to sing it. 7. Before buying the house he told me that he had known the owner for a long time. 8. Ask him if he knows who has lived in it since. 9. I knew him before he went to live there. 10. I'm sure I shall see him before long.
LESSON VI
| Ya ves que no hay que fiar de sueños.[6] |
| —PALACIO VALDÉS. |
16. The English to get has so many different translations in Spanish that it is always advisable to paraphrase it before translating. So: I am going to get (buy) some bread. We are going to get (fetch or bring) our books. He gets (receives) his money here. The lion got out (escaped). We got back (arrived, returned) this morning. It gets (grows, becomes) dark early. In such examples as the last, however, the alternatives are also verbs that present some difficulty in translations: and many of the compounds of get and a preposition must be learned literally.
He got (obtained) what he wanted.
Obtuvo lo que quería.
There is no more sugar. I shall have to go and get some.
No hay más azúcar. Tendré que ir a comprar más.