At the Barber Shop

42.1 Basic Sentences — At the Barber Shop

John White goes to the barber shop to get his hair cut.

Dialogue

English	Spanish
How do you want me to cut your hair?	¿Cómo quiere que le corte el pelo?
Short on the sides and in back.	Corto a los lados y atrás.
Don’t get the cloth so tight around my neck.	No me apriete tanto el paño al cuello.
Shall I use the clippers?	¿Le paso la maquinilla?
No. Just use the scissors.	No. Con las tijeras basta.
Are you in the diplomatic corps?	¿Es usted del Cuerpo Diplomático?
More or less…	Más o menos…
Many foreign clients come to this barber shop.	A esta peluquería vienen muchos clientes extranjeros.
Who was that old fellow that shook hands with me when I came in?	¿Quién era ese viejo que me dio la mano al entrar?
I had never seen him before.	Jamás lo había visto.
Well… It’s not that I like to gossip…	Bueno… No es que a mi me guste criticar…
But he’s a sort of nutty old widower.	Pero es un viudo un poco chiflado.
He seems to me to be very pleasant.	Me parece muy simpático.
Yes, although from time to time he’s rather ill-tempered.	Sí. Aunque de vez en cuando tiene malas pulgas.
Shall I put on some brilliantine?	¿Le pongo brillantina?
No. When you finish, I’ll comb it myself.	No. Cuando termine, yo mismo me peino.
You came here with Mr. Molina one time, didn’t you?	Usted vino con el señor Molina una vez, ¿no es cierto?
Yes.	Sí.
As soon as I saw you, I recognized you.	Tan pronto como lo vi, lo reconocí.

Vocabulary

English	Spanish
to cut	cortar
the hair	el pelo
short	corto
the side	el lado
behind	atrás
to press down, tighten	apretar
the cloth	el paño
the collar	el cuello
the clippers	la maquinilla
the scissors	las tijeras
to be sufficient	bastar
the body, corps	el cuerpo
diplomatic	diplomático
the barber shop	la peluquería
foreign	extranjero
to give the hand, to shake hands	dar la mano
never	jamás
to criticize	criticar
the widower	el viudo
to become mentally unbalanced	chiflarse
nice, pleasant	simpático
the flea	la pulga
to be ill-tempered	tener malas pulgas
hair oil, brilliantine	la brillantina
to finish	terminar
to comb one’s hair	peinarse
certain	cierto
as soon as	tan pronto como
to recognize	reconocer

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42.10 Notes on the Basic Sentences

(1) With parts of the body, clothes and the like, possession is signalled by a clitic (here an indirect clitic) rather than by a possessive form.

(2) Latin American men often prefer their hair longer than men in this country. White’s preference for scissors may reflect American experience with Latin barbers who use clippers differently.

(3) The inversion of word order in Spanish would be quite stilted if translated directly into English.

(4) The past perfect construction could also be translated ‘I’ve never seen him before.’

(5) The word chiflado with viudo reinforces the Spanish cultural stereotype of a widower as elderly and somewhat peculiar.

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42.2 Drills and Grammar

42.21 Present Subjunctive in Verb-Modifying Clauses — Conditioned Occurrence

Verb-modifying clauses can be divided into three groups: those which always appear with a subjunctive verb form, those which always appear with an indicative verb form, and those which appear with either. The condition which determines whether subjunctive or indicative appears is that of fulfillment: if the statement of the modifying clause is unfulfilled (still anticipated, has not happened yet), the verb form is subjunctive; if fulfilled (no longer pending, has already happened), the verb form is indicative.

Clause relators in the conditioned pattern: cuando (when), como (as), donde (where), aunque (although), hasta que (until), después que (after), en cuanto (as soon as), tan pronto como (as soon as), de manera que / de modo que (so that)

Illustrations

English	Spanish
As soon as I saw him, I recognized him.	Tan pronto como lo vi, lo reconocí.
As soon as I see him, I’m going to recognize him.	Tan pronto como lo vea, lo voy a reconocer.
The strike broke up as soon as the police arrived.	La huelga se disolvió en cuanto llegó la policía.
The strike is going to break up as soon as the police arrive.	La huelga se va a disolver en cuanto llegue la policía.
I didn’t eat until I shaved.	No comí hasta que no me afeité.
I’m not going to eat until I shave.	No voy a comer hasta que no me afeite.
We bought it although we didn’t like it.	La compramos aunque no nos gustó.
We’re going to buy it although we may not like it.	La vamos a comprar aunque no nos guste.

Translation Drill

English	Spanish
I wrote the letter as soon as I could.	Escribí la carta tan pronto como pude.
I’m going to write the letter as soon as I can.	Voy a escribir la carta tan pronto como pueda.
We ate lunch when we arrived.	Almorzamos cuando llegamos.
We’re going to eat lunch when we arrive.	Vamos a almorzar cuando lleguemos.
They called after they received the letter.	Llamaron después que recibieron la carta.
They’re going to call after they receive the letter.	Van a llamar después que reciban la carta.
Give me a glass of milk when he comes.	Déle un vaso de leche cuando venga.
Come whenever you have a day off.	Vengan cuando tengan un día libre.
Don’t call until you have the passports ready.	No llamen hasta que no tengan los pasaportes listos.

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42.4 Readings

42.41 Life in Surlandia — Un Incidente de Tránsito

A reading about a traffic incident involving Jack Brown.

42.42 Features — ¡Oh, el Tránsito!

A reading about traffic in Las Palmas.