THE TENSES.


The Tenses in Spanish being mostly used as in English, we shall only
call attention to such of the principal differences between the two
languages as have not yet been treated.

Present--

The English emphatic Present, "I do say," must be expressed by "Lo digo
en efecto," "lo digo de veras," "lo digo sí."

"I do" with a verb understood after, as "Do you understand? I do" is
translated by "Sí," "Sí, señor," or "Sí entiendo."

"Are you an engineer? Yes, I am"; "He is generous with me, and I am with
him"; "He is my surety, and I am his"; must be translated by "Es V.
ingeniero? Sí, lo soy"; "Es generoso conmigo y yo lo soy con él"; "Él es
mi fiador y yo lo soy suyo."


Past--

The English language has one form of Simple Past--I wrote.

In Spanish this is translated by--

Yo escribía (Imperf. Indic.) or

Yo escribí (Past Definite), according to sense.

It is most important to learn the difference between the Imperfect
Indicative and the Past Definite (or Preterite), because these two
tenses admit of no compromise in Spanish.

The Imperfect Indicative[146] describes an action or state which was
present when another past action took place, or another past state
existed.

[Footnote 146: Or Descriptive Past.]

The Past Definite or Preterite[147] narrates an event.[148]

[Footnote 147: Or Narrating Past (this is why it is often called the
Historical Past).]

[Footnote 148: "Napoleon I died in 1821" is an event. "I fell" is
grammatically also an event.]

Consequently, it will be understood that whilst the Past Def. refers to
"one point of time" or "several separate points of time," the
Imperfect embraces a whole indefinite period.

The following examples will show clearly the different functions of
these two tenses--

Le escribí una vez (or dos o tres veces) mientras él viajaba en
Argentina: I wrote to him once (or two or three times) whilst he
travelled[149] in Argentina.

[Footnote 149: Travelled--was travelling, but notice that in Spanish we
would also have the progressive form--"estaba viajando."]

Encontré á Luis, quien llevaba levita negra: I met Louis, who wore[150]
a black frock-coat.

[Footnote 150: Wore--was wearing. Here in Spanish the progressive form
"estaba llevando" would not be admissible because there is no real
progressive action.]

Hacía grandes negocios cuando residía en Chile: I had a large business
when I resided in Chili.

Los Cartagineses eran un pueblo comercial y emprendedor: The
Carthagenians were a commercial and enterprising people.

Él estaba allí cuando yo llegué: He was there when I arrived.

Él leía al entrar yo en el bufete del abogado: He was reading when I
entered the lawyer's office.

En Inglaterra trabajaba[151] ocho horas cada día: In England I worked
(used to work) eight hours a day.

[Footnote 151: As will be seen, the English "was" followed by a pres.
part. or the expression "used to be" may always be rendered by the
Spanish Imperfect, but the Spanish progressive form also exists:
"Estaba leyendo" (he was reading), and "used to" has its equivalent
"solía":--"Solía trabajar 8 horas" (he used to work 8 hours).]

Cada mes recibiamos nuestro sueldo: Each month we received (used to
receive) our pay.

Ayer cerré el contrato: Yesterday I signed the contract.

Las pipas de vino resultaron averiadas: The casks of wine were damaged.

Trabajé en Inglaterra 5 años[152]; Viví dos años en Londres y tres en
Manchester: I worked 5 years in England; I lived two years in London and
three in Manchester.

[Footnote 152: This is "a period of time," but it is definite.]

As will be seen in all the examples of the Imperfect, the action or
state is described as "existing in the past."


     VOCABULARY.

abarrotado glutted, cram full
acorazado iron-clad
ajo garlic
alerta on the alert, on the look out
brisa breeze
cebollas onions
conducta conduct, behaviour
contrabando contraband
cosecha harvest, harvest-time, crop
*dar en el clavo to hit it
dátiles dates
encogido shrivelled, shrunk
fruta fruit
granadas pomegranates
guardias aduaneras custom house officials
higos figs
inmaturo verde, unripe
limones lemons
llevar to carry, to wear
matute smuggling
mirar to look
moscatel muscatel grapes
naranja orange
¡ojo! attention!
olvidar to forget
pasas de Corinto currants
podrido rotten
por decirlo así so to say, as it were
*querer decir to mean
recobrar to recover
reprensible objectionable
resumir to recapitulate, to state briefly
sinnúmero a large number, innumerable
travesía journey by sea



                            EXERCISE 1 (49).

Translate into English--

1. Cuando yo era más joven y me gustaba viajar, hacía la travesía de
Liverpool á Las Palmas todos los años.

2. Estuve allí la última vez en 1905 principalmente para recobrar mi
salud, pero como viaje de negocios también tuvo muy buen éxito.

3. No había entonces como la hay hoy en día tanta competencia en ese
comercio.

4. Cuando llegó el buque á La Coruña había un sinnúmero de guardias
aduaneras alerta, pues se decía que llevaba muchos géneros de
contrabando.

5. ¿Qué quiere decir género de matute?

6. De matute es lo mismo que de contrabando y matutero ó contrabandista
es el que introduce tales géneros.

7. No sabía esta palabra antes, pero ya no la olvidaré.

8. ¿Ha aprendido V. bien la diferencia entre el preterito y el
imperfecto?

9. Perfectamente y voy á resumírsela en dos palabras--El uno es pasado,
pasado y nada más, el otro es un presente de lo pasado por decirlo así;
¡mire V.! "Encontré á Carlos": pasado absoluto; "Llevaba sombrero
blanco"; pasado hoy, presente entonces; ¿qué le parece á V.?

10. Me parece que V. ha dado en el clavo y estoy satisfecho.

11. Y ahora ¡ojo! en la aplicación y ¡no olvidar!


                            EXERCISE 2 (50).

Translate into Spanish--

1. I believe his behaviour is most (muy) objectionable.

2. And I do also.

3. Did you receive the B/L for the cargo (cargamento) of oranges and
grapes from Seville?

4. I did; and I expect a good parcel (partida) of muscatels from
Valencia as well.

5. Are these the lemons, onions and pomegranates you were expecting?

6. They are.

7. I am sorry they were delayed so long because now the market is
glutted with fruit.

8. He is my friend and I am his.

9. We received this year three cargoes of bananas from the Canary
Islands (Islas Canarias). Six were consigned to us last year, but we
used to receive many more when we sent our traveller in those islands at
harvest time.

10. Ten thousand boxes of currants, 3,000 of figs, and 4,561 of dates
were sold by auction.

11. There had not been such large quantities offered for a long time
(hacía mucho tiempo que).

12. The iron-clad "Achilles" left yesterday for Vigo. The sea was
perfectly calm although a light breeze blew, or was blowing (soplaba
not estaba soplando), from the S.W. (sudoeste).

13. The commission-agent (comisionista) went by the three o'clock train.

14. When I went to say good-bye to him (para despedirme de 61) he was
writing (escribía or estaba escribiendo) a letter.

15. The cargo was examined and it was found that some of the fruit was
unripe, some shrivelled or frost-bitten (tomada por la escarcha), and a
parcel of garlic was rotten and had to be destroyed.