Shopping in the Stores

24.1 Basic Sentences — Shopping in the Stores

Carmen and Mrs. Harris are shopping in the stores.

Vocabulary

English	Spanish
the department	el departamento
the pair	el par
the shoe	el zapato
the footwear	el calzado
the dress	el vestido
the topcoat	el abrigo
the hat	el sombrero
made (to make)	hecho (hacer)
ready-made clothes	la ropa hecha
the skirt	la falda
the blouse	la blusa
to (make a) lack, to need	hacer falta
the cloth, material	la tela
to sew	coser
the dressmaker	el modista, la modista
the tie	la corbata
the husband	el marido
the article	el artículo
the gentleman	el caballero
down, downstairs	abajo
the exit, way out	la salida
up, upstairs	arriba
let’s go (to go out, away)	vámonos (irse)

Dialog

English	Spanish
Shall we go to the women’s department?	¿Vamos al departamento de señoras?
Yes, I have to buy myself a pair of shoes.	Sí, yo tengo que comprarme un par de zapatos.
No, the footwear is in another section.	No, el calzado está en otra sección.
There, there are only dresses, topcoats, and hats.	Allí sólo hay vestidos, abrigos y sombreros.
Do you buy ready-made clothes?	¿Usted compra la ropa hecha?
Sometimes.	Algunas veces.
But now I need material for a skirt and a blouse.	Pero ahora me hace falta tela para una falda y una blusa.
Oh, do you sew?	Ah, ¿usted cose?
No, I have a dressmaker.	No, tengo una modista.
You can see that she’s very good. You dress very well.	Se ve que es muy buena. Usted se viste muy bien.
Thank you.	Gracias.
I’d like a tie for my husband.	Quisiera una corbata para mi marido.
Men’s clothes are downstairs. Shall we go down?	Los artículos para caballeros están abajo. ¿Bajamos?
No, we’ll see them on the way out.	No, a la salida los vemos.
Let’s go upstairs for your things.	Vámonos arriba por lo suyo.
What time is it?	¿Qué hora es?
It’s five twenty-five.	Son las cinco y veinticinco.
If we don’t hurry, we’ll be late.	Si no nos damos prisa, se nos hace tarde.

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24.10 Notes on the Basic Sentences

(1) This is a typical example of the use of a simple present tense form in Spanish, vamos, in a context where the only reasonable English translation is “shall.”

(2) Notice that the translation given in the full utterance is “You can see.” It could also have been “one can see” or “it can be seen,” or even “it is obvious,” “it’s clear.” That is, the reflexive se ve is here equivalent to what in English would be thought of as impersonal.

(3) See note (1) above: bajamos is similar here.

(4) The form vámonos is vamos plus nos, with the final -s of vamos dropped in accord with a regular pattern.

(5) Se nos hace tarde literally means “it makes itself late for us” or “it’ll get late on us.”

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24.2 Drills and Grammar

24.21.1 Reflexive Clitic Pronouns

Reflexive clitic pronouns repeat the person-number form of the subject. Unlike direct and indirect clitics, the 2-3 form se has no distinction for number, and reflexive clitic forms are not differentiated for gender.

Person	Singular	Plural
1	me	nos
2 fam	te	—
2-3	se	se

Illustrations

English	Spanish
I’m moving on Saturday.	Me mudo el sábado.
I’ll be dressed in thirty minutes.	Yo en treinta minutos me visto.
At least we had a good time.	Por lo menos nos divertimos mucho.
We don’t worry much.	No nos preocupamos mucho.
When are you moving?	¿Cuándo te mudas?
You dress very well.	Ud. se viste muy bien.
He pays a lot of attention to the brunette.	Él se fija mucho en la morena.
My mother-in-law gets sick on a boat.	Mi suegra se marea en barco.
You all notice everything.	Ustedes se fijan en todo.
They change apartments almost every year.	Ellos se cambian de apartamento casi todos los años.
Those girls are always getting confused.	Esas chicas siempre se confunden.

Key Substitution Drill — Person-number

Cue	Response
Yo me mudé de casa.	—
El coronel __	Se mudó de casa.
Los Harris __	Se mudaron de casa.
Mi hermana __	Se mudó de casa.
Nosotros __	Nos mudamos de casa.

Key Response Drill

Question	Answer
¿Ud. se sienta aquí o ahí?	Me siento aquí.
¿Uds. se sientan aquí o ahí?	Nos sentamos aquí.
¿A qué hora se levanta Ud.? (a las siete)	Me levanto a las siete.
¿Quién se mudó de casa? (Juan)	Juan se mudó de casa.
¿Cuándo se mudó? (el sábado)	Se mudó el sábado.
¿Se afeitan Uds. por la noche? (por la mañana)	No, nos afeitamos por la mañana.
¿Se cambia José mucho de ropa?	Sí, se cambia mucho.
¿Se acuesta Ud. tarde los sábados?	Sí, me acuesto muy tarde.

Translation Drill

English	Spanish
Last night we went to bed late.	Anoche nos acostamos tarde.
This morning I got up at ten.	Esta mañana me levanté a las diez.
Yesterday I stayed at home.	Ayer me quedé en la casa.
They stayed in the city.	Ellos se quedaron en la ciudad.
We never complain about anything.	Nosotros nunca nos quejamos de nada.
Now we are used to hearing Spanish spoken.	Ya nos acostumbramos a oír hablar español.
She moved last week.	Ella se mudó de casa la semana pasada.
He didn’t say goodbye to us.	No se despidió de nosotros.
Afterward, we got in touch with her.	Después nos comunicamos con ella.
I was very happy.	Yo me alegré mucho.
I never complain.	Yo nunca me quejo.

Discussion

As was pointed out in Units 10 and 15, some verbs may appear with direct, some with indirect clitic pronouns. The verbs in the present section appear with a third set of clitic pronouns, called reflexive.

Reflexive clitics always appear identified with the subject of the verb they occur with; i.e., they have the same person and number forms as the subject. Other clitics never refer back to the subject.

Reflexive clitic pronouns may be direct or indirect in function, but they are “reflexive” in form: although me, nos, and te look just like direct and indirect clitic forms, se is unique to the reflexive group, and occurs for all 2-3 singular and plural functions.

Some Spanish reflexive constructions are fairly easy to interpret through English: sentarse (“to sit down”) is easily inferred from “to seat oneself,” acostarse (“to go to bed”) from “to put oneself to bed.” Many times, however, a Spanish construction does not have the support of a similar English construction, as in the case of quejarse (“to complain”). In English we cannot say “to complain ourselves.”

Key patterns:

• Impersonal/passive: Se ve que es muy buena. = “It’s easy to see she’s very good.” / Aquí se habla español. = “Spanish is spoken here.”
• “Get _-ed” equivalents: Mi suegra se marea en barco. = “My mother-in-law gets sick on a boat.” / Él se vistió en media hora. = “He got dressed in half an hour.”
• Reflexive as possessive: Me pongo el sombrero. = “I put on my hat.” / Tengo que cambiarme de ropa. = “I have to change my clothes.”

Full clitic chart (position relative to each other):

	Reflexive	Indirect	Direct
1 sg	me	—	—
1 pl	nos	—	—
2 fam	te	—	—
2-3 sg	se	le	lo (le), la
2-3 pl	se	les	los, las

In a verb construction, reflexives always precede other clitics.

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24.21.2 Reflexive Clitic Pronouns with Progressive and Periphrastic Future

Any reflexive clitic can appear in a construction either preceding the conjugated verb (estar or ir) or following the -ndo form or infinitive. It makes no difference to the meaning.

Construction	Clitic Before	Clitic After
Progressive	Yo me estaba limpiando los dientes.	Yo estaba limpiándome los dientes.
Progressive	Ya me voy acostumbrando a todo.	Ya voy acostumbrándome a todo.
Periphrastic future	Mis vecinos se van a mudar de casa.	Mis vecinos van a mudarse de casa.
Periphrastic future	Me iba a dar una ducha también.	Iba a darme una ducha también.

Key Substitution Drill

Cue	Response
Ana se está mudando de casa.	—
Juan __	Se está mudando de casa.
Mis hermanas __	Se están mudando de casa.
Nosotros __	Nos estamos mudando de casa.
Yo __	Me estoy mudando de casa.

Translation Drill

English	Spanish
We’re going to move to a pretty house.	Vamos a mudarnos a una casa bonita.
That boy’s going to fall and break his head.	Ese muchacho se va a caer y va a romperse la cabeza.
I’m getting nervous.	Me estoy poniendo nervioso.
Now I’m shaving late.	Ahora estoy afeitándome tarde.
We’re staying here every afternoon.	Nos estamos quedando aquí todas las tardes.
Why are you complaining about the furniture?	¿Por qué se está quejando Ud. de los muebles?
They are going to change clothes.	Ellos van a cambiarse de ropa.
It’s getting late.	Se está haciendo tarde.
We’re going to bed.	Nos vamos a acostar.
When are you going to shave?	¿Cuándo se va a afeitar Ud.?
Are you all going to get up late tomorrow?	¿Van a levantarse tarde mañana?
Tonight I’m going to bed late.	Esta noche me voy a acostar tarde.
He’s going to bed late now.	Él se está acostando tarde ahora.

Discussion

Like other clitic pronouns, reflexives normally precede a conjugated verb, but follow an -ndo form or an infinitive. When a progressive or periphrastic future construction occurs, the clitic may appear either before the conjugated form or after the nonconjugated form — it apparently makes no difference to the meaning. The clitic must occur before or after the whole construction; it cannot occur between the conjugated and nonconjugated verb forms.

One of the differences between present tense and present progressive is particularly noticeable in reflexive constructions. Present tense tends to signal the customary present (“She dresses well” — always), while present progressive tends to signal a more limited reference to present time, with the implication of a change in recent conditions (“She’s starting to dress well” — now).

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24.21.3 Expressions for Time of Day

Time is usually expressed from the nearest hour: menos equals “before” or “to,” and y equals “after” or “past.”

English	Spanish
What time is it?	¿Qué hora es? / ¿Qué horas son?
It’s one o’clock.	Es la una.
It’s twelve o’clock.	Son las doce.
It’s a quarter to twelve.	Son las doce menos cuarto.
It’s three minutes to two.	Son las dos menos tres.
It’s four fifteen.	Son las cuatro y quince.
It’s six thirty.	Son las seis y media.

Translation Drill

English	Spanish
What time is it?	¿Qué hora es?
It’s one o’clock.	Es la una.
It’s five after one.	Es la una y cinco.
It’s one thirty.	Es la una y treinta.
It’s two o’clock.	Son las dos.
It’s a quarter after two.	Son las dos y cuarto.
It’s two thirty.	Son las dos y media.
It’s two forty-five.	Son las dos y cuarenta y cinco.
It’s three minutes to twelve.	Son las doce menos tres.

Discussion

Time is usually asked in Spanish by the question ¿Qué hora es?, though this may be pluralized to ¿Qué horas son?. The answer “one o’clock” is Es la una, but “two o’clock” etc. are Son las dos etc. The article la always appears in the statement; the noun hora, which is implied by the la, nevertheless never appears.

Media (“half”) is a modifier and agrees with hora, but cuarto (“quarter”) is a noun and does not show this agreement.

A twenty-four hour clock is observed in written schedules of railroads, airlines, and military establishments, but in general conversation de la mañana indicates a.m. and de la tarde and de la noche indicate p.m.

Note: The full drills and practice exercises — including replacement drills, variation drills, review drills, and conversation stimulus sections — are designed for oral work with the audio recordings. Open the Student Text PDF for the complete drill sets.

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24.4 Reading — Los Fuentes se Despiden

The reading selection tells the story of the Fuentes family saying goodbye after an extended visit to the Robinsons’ home. Though Ricardo and Marta hadn’t planned to stay so late, Fred kept the conversation going on topics ranging from international politics to domestic life. The couples make plans to meet again for dinner the following week, settling on Friday as the best day.