Stephen (6:11)

But I mean, for me, it's something that's really real. It feels. I can imagine it happening. I can imagine life like this in a little village in Spain. What we'll do now is go through each sentence and then talk about the language in the sentence and then look at further examples and so on. So, Pablo, can you begin, please? Okay, so we'll take it line by line here. El dia a amane cido. This is from the verb amanecer, which means to don. What's the noun? The don like sunrise. Yeah. So it's a noun and a verb, the infinitive form. So el dia a amanizido. The day has started, or just. It started because we're talking about a recent event here. We're still in that morning. The day started a little grey. The day dawned a little grey. I como cada mana sobre lasocho y media. And just like every morning, about half past eight, el var estava basta de lleno de gente te, say unando. So the bar was quite full of people having breakfast. The verb to have breakfast desayunar. There we've got a gerund form, haven't we?

Pablo (7:34)

To ing forms in English.

Stephen (7:37)

Okay, so desayunando, the verb is an ar verb. So desayunar unto the ando. So it's translating having breakfast or breakfasting literally. Okay, let's continue on.

Pablo (7:55)

Enuna de las mesas de la terraza estavan Carmen, Miriam y Pilar. Tres de las enfermeras de lo hospital de allado.

Stephen (8:04)

Okay, so we're seeing here some of the characters in the story. First of all, Carmen, Miriam y Pilar. And they are Sitting en una de las mesas de la terraza on one of the tables on the terrace. And who are they?

Pablo (8:18)

Pablo puesta las tres enfermeras que trabajan en hospital que estallado de Estebar en.

Stephen (8:24)

El hospital de allado. So when you describe something that's next to something, it's allado. Let's continue. Okay. A first subjunctive of our story. So anque anga frio. Although it's cold now, what's going on here?

Pablo (9:05)

Even if it's cold? Even when it's cold.

Stephen (9:20)

Perfect. That's a hypothesis. It's not this particular situation. Because if we were talking about this morning, even though it's cold this morning, because we know it's cold, there's no hypothesis there. However, even if it's cold, even on the days that it's cold. Anke hagafrio. Even if it's cold. Siempre prefieren centar se fuera. They always prefer to sit outside. And then they say, dien que es parakelez de el ayre. It's because the. Well, it's kind of because they can be in the fresh air.

Pablo (9:57)

Literally, we say so that the air gives to them. And that sounds a little bit strange, doesn't it?

Stephen (10:04)

Yeah, absolutely. So how would we say, I want to get some air.

Pablo (10:09)

Quiero que mede el haire.

Stephen (10:11)

So we have to change it around and we say, I want the air to give to me.

Pablo (10:16)

Yes. So the structure is completely different.

Stephen (10:19)

So they sit outside. Prefierni centar se fuena. They prefer to sit outside. So they say that it's to get some air because they want to get some air. Maybe they're feeling a little bit overwhelmed being in the hospital the whole time. And it's good to get some fresh air because they're in the hospital for a long time. And that K there is a really interesting K because it's taking the role of. Porque would you say that that's something that we would be more likely to see in written Spanish as opposed to in spoken Spanish?

Pablo (11:13)

Dependexto mas formal, una conferenciarlo.

Stephen (11:20)

Perfecto. Perfecto. Okay, let's continue on.

Pablo (11:24)

Pero ademas es porque Pilar, la mayor de la stres siemprese doma un cafe a fuera para vera la gente. Que pasa?

Stephen (11:34)

Okay, so there's a further reason, pero ademas. But what's more, es porque Pilar is because Pilar, la mayor de la stres, the oldest of the three of them? Yeah. So we could say la mas vieja, the oldest, but la mayor just sounds a little nicer. Siempre se toma un cafe a fuera paraver a la gente. Que pasa? Okay, so she always has a coffee while she's kind of watching people go by. I think she's a little bit nosy.

Pablo (12:12)

Poco codija.

Stephen (12:14)

A great word. So is that like a. A gossip? Someone who likes kind of being nosy. And just before we move on, this idea of se toma un cafe. It's not just. We make it reflexive because it adds a little, doesn't it? So we're talking about a biscuit, a cake kind of thing. And you're saying, me como I eat to myself? Literally. But it just gives that idea of it perhaps infers maybe that you're enjoying it more like a little treat.

Pablo (12:59)

Yo corrego muchisimos. Vervo se suna peculiaridad del espanol.

Stephen (13:03)

Okay, so she always has her coffee outside because she likes watching people going by. Let's go on 10. Okay, so we're talking about three ladies again. Carmen, Miriam y Pilar. Tenian cara de cansadas. So literally, they had the face of tired people. Pero se las vella relaxadas. But they also looked relaxed. Pablo, that's an interesting verbal construction there. Or a grammatical construction. Can you tell us about it?

Pablo (13:45)

Si, Porca tenemos el se impersonal. Porque who sees them?

Stephen (13:50)

Yeah, exactly. One sees them or they are seen.

Pablo (13:56)

It's not specified. Ilo de nemos las, which is the direct object, pranum that replace them. I bella and imperfecto. Yeah, otra gemplo, poria de cirte. Mark. Oy sedebe condento. But I'm not saying that it's me. I'm kind of like, distancing myself.

Stephen (14:18)

Okay, so you could have said it.

Pablo (14:21)

Te veo contendo, teveo contento.

Stephen (14:23)

So in that situation, you're saying, I see you as happy today. You look happy, but when you say se teve contento, it's like, ah, Mark seems happy today. One sees Mark happy today. Mark's happy every day. Pablo, come on. But we're talking here about the three ladies. So they looked relaxed, the aliviadas relieved. So it was clear that they had finished their night shift.

Pablo (14:59)

Turno de noche, turno de dia, turno de mananas, turno de tardes.

Stephen (15:03)

Muy bien. Okay, so so far we've met three people who are in the bar and the cafe. We're going to meet more, but we're going to take a short break now and we'll be back Just a moment in each episode of the Scenes from the Coffee Break Cafe podcast, you'll enjoy listening to the story and our discussion of keywords and phrases from each chapter. But what if you could explore the language even further and take your learning to the next level? That's where the Scenes Online course comes in. For every chapter, you'll get comprehensive lesson notes, a video version of the reading exercises, vocabulary, and even spotlight videos that help break down the key expressions and grammar points with additional examples. It's the perfect way to deepen your understanding and get even more from the story. To access this wealth of learning resources, visit coffeebreaklanguages.com scenes.

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Stephen (17:25)

Okay, so we are in the bar, we're learning about Carmen Miriam in Pilar and let's find out more about what's happening in our scene from the Coffee break Cafe.

Pablo (17:37)

Me a cerque atomar les la comanda y pregunte por las de mas.

Stephen (17:42)

Okay, so hacercarse means to get close to something or to approach something. In this case I approached them ato marles la commanda to take their order. So to take to them the order.

Pablo (17:57)

Oto marles nota tambien.

Stephen (17:58)

Yeah, y pregunte por las demas and I asked about the others. So when you preguntar por algen, you're asking for someone, asking for someone and answering someone.

Pablo (18:13)

Okay, Algunas libravam oy yotra sevilla. Yes.

Stephen (18:20)

Okay, so this is a really good use of this verb livrar. So when you librar, you are getting the day off, you're taking the day off. Okay.

Pablo (18:37)

Mark, no.

Stephen (18:41)

So algulas libra van hoy. So some were taking the day off today and another one, seavia ido akasa ades cansar. So this is irse when you go off, when you leave somewhere. So se a via ido akasa adescansar. That's something, I think, as learners, we find quite difficult. And I think the most obvious example is the difference between bamos and bamonos. Pablo, can you explain those differences?

Pablo (19:09)

See?

Stephen (19:28)

Yep. So when you just say boya casa literally means I am going to the house, I'm going home, but you really are leaving one place and going to another place. And that's when we make it reflect. Are you leaving already? See, we need a place to go to. Yeah. So that's exactly what we're seeing here. With otra seavia ido a casa adescansar. She had gone home to rest.

Pablo (19:58)

Perfecto. Sagimos. See, Miriam, la masjoben parecia un poco preocupada.

Stephen (20:06)

So medium la masjoben, the youngest. See?

Pablo (20:09)

Yaqui podiamos de sirtam bien la menor. Because earlier we said la mayor.

Stephen (20:15)

Yeah. So mayor and menor work together. And la mas vieja. And la masjoben perhaps more direct. But Miriam, la masjoben, the youngest, parecia un poco preocupada. She seemed a little worried.

Pablo (20:31)

Al preuntarles como abia y do la noche me contaron que mirian me dio un poco la pata. Pero fue dansolo unerr de calculo.

Stephen (20:42)

Okay. There's quite a lot going on here. So when we see al plus an infinitive, it means on doing something or when I did something, al preguntarles como a villa ido la noce. On asking them how had gone the night. So when I asked them how the.

Pablo (21:00)

Night shift went, Mark y aquita nemos une gemplo de como con han dono se cidiata do cuenta.

Stephen (21:07)

Si, sis, si. So here we've got como with an accent which makes it look like a question word. And the reason for this is actually it's an indirect question.

Pablo (21:14)

Una pregunta indirect.

Stephen (21:17)

So what happened was the narrator asked them how the night went. I would say, como a ido la noche, how did the night go? But because we're talking about it in the past, we're recounting what happened? So we put the verb further back into the past, into the pluperfect. Al pregun tarles como habillai ido la noche. And that como has to keep the accent because it's still part of this indirect question. When I asked them how the night had gone. Let's go on.

Pablo (21:49)

Me contaron que Miriam me dio un pogo la bada.

Stephen (21:53)

So they told me, me contaron Miriam metio un poco la pata. So meter. La pata is a lovely expression. It means to put your foot in it to make a mistake. So Miriam me tio un poco la pata. She had made a bit of a mistake.

Pablo (22:11)

Pero d fuetan solo un error de calculo.

Stephen (22:14)

But it was just an error of calculation. It was just a mistake of calculation. And what was this error of calculation, Pablo? So al solicitar el pedido de material. When she was ordering the material or unordering the material, that same al plus the infinitive, she did the double of it. She basically ordered twice the number that she should have.

Pablo (22:51)

Im encanta doble porque pode seriously a noun.

Stephen (22:58)

Have you got a doppelganger?

Pablo (23:02)

Una camado?

Stephen (23:03)

Yeah. A double bed. Yeah. So she did it double the time that she should have. Okay. Y la jefa de la informaria lecho na bronca. And the head of the nurses or the head of the infirmary. Le echo una bronca. So hechar aalgen. Una bronca means to give someone into.

Pablo (23:25)

Trouble, to give someone a row or to tell someone off.

Stephen (23:28)

Yeah. Okay, so etar una bronca. And just watch the le, because we see here le echo una bronca. She gave to her a row. And it wasn't just a row or a telling off. It was a good telling off. Una bronca. Okay, let's continue on.

Pablo (24:04)

Extra.

Stephen (24:12)

Yeah.

Pablo (24:14)

Sal is like gossip.

Stephen (24:15)

Excellent. So let's go back and work through this. Las otras dos amigas sereillan. So the other two friends, they were laughing. Why were they laughing? Because un celeador nuevo muy guapeton. Un celedor is a porter in a hospital. Yeah, Muy guapeton. So guapo means good looking.

Pablo (24:37)

But guapetono, guapedona, it highlights more how handsome or pretty someone is.

Stephen (24:44)

Okay, so a really good looking new porter. Le hayudo hacer la debulucion del material. So he helped her. Le ayudo a hacer la de to do the return. So to return the material or to.

Pablo (25:01)

Return the goods refund as well.

Stephen (25:08)

And someone took advantage of this to ask someone else for their number. Who's doing what?

Pablo (25:18)

El salador esel quia pro veccha.

Stephen (25:20)

Okay. Because otherwise we would have said, miriamo.

Pablo (25:31)

Fuel quien la judo tambien el lepidio?

Stephen (25:36)

Si, perfecto. Okay, so I don't know, maybe something will happen here. I guess this is the cotigeo del varno. So let's continue.

Pablo (25:47)

Miriam se son rojo y parecia que no se le quitaba el dis gusto.

Stephen (25:53)

Okay, so, medium se son rojo. So son rojarce is a nice verb, isn't it?

Pablo (26:09)

When we blush.

Stephen (26:10)

When we blush, yeah. So sono rojarse to blush. We've got rojo in there. Or roja sonorojarce. So she blushed. Y parecia que no se quitaba yis gusto. And it seemed that she wasn't kind of getting over the upset, basically.

Pablo (26:30)

Cuidado, conesta, palabra. Pareceo lo es.

Stephen (26:34)

Yeah, so disgusto is a false friend. This doesn't mean disgust. It's just annoyance. Yeah.

Pablo (26:40)

Upset them.

Stephen (26:40)

So basically here, medium, she's quite embarrassed, but she's also maybe a little bit put out by this teasing that's happening, I think.

Pablo (26:49)

Entre la bronca de la jefa oligoteo estampuco.

Stephen (26:56)

Okay, let's continue on. Okay, so this is the bar owner who's of course our narrator, but they clearly know their customers well.

Pablo (27:11)

Same que maja, no?

Stephen (27:12)

Yeah, I think so. So cuando pidiero la cuenta when they asked for the bill, le jeve un troso de tortilla, I took her a piece of tortilla, and that's le to her. And jeve pretz of jebar un troso de tortilla. A piece of tortilla. Spanish omelet. Claro.

Pablo (27:30)

Oh, a slicey.

Stephen (27:31)

Yeah. En una cajita para jevar. And a little box to take away.

Pablo (27:36)

Y aquita nemo sel diminutivo y ta pero porrejemblo and mi pueblo. In some other parts, they might say cajilla. There's a lot of variation in here.

Stephen (27:47)

It's the first part of the word that counts, in a sense. Whoever comes after is that ita ico yo, Whatever. Okay, So I gave her a little piece. I took her a little piece of tortilla to make her feel better. Okay.

Pablo (28:01)

Le vije quez perava que la tortilla de la tia isa la udac el maltrago.

Stephen (28:09)

So I told her that I hoped that the tortilla of latia Isa. So Aunt Isa's tortilla le hayudacia olvidar el maltrago, that it would help her. We've got a nice imperfect subjunctive there. A olvidar el maltrago. Literally, to forget the bad swallowing, maybe to take away the bad taste of her mouth. It's nice, though. But we've also got la hayudase. We could have said la a las.

Pablo (28:46)

Dos formas don correctas en a li imperfecto de su juntivo.

Stephen (28:49)

And it's there. The subjunctive is there because of so le dije. I told her that I hoped that la tortilla de la tia Isa layudase ah olvidar in maltrago. So I hoped. I said to her that I hoped that Auntie Isa's tortilla would help her forget the bad experience.

Pablo (29:16)

Perfecto. Creo que lecento muy bien. Me son rio y me corazon.

Stephen (29:24)

So it seems to have worked. I think it went down well. I think it worked. That's, of course, centar vien. So to sit well with something, ideally.

Pablo (29:38)

You know, or to take something well.

Stephen (29:40)

So I think she took it well. Me sonrio. She smiled at me y me and she thanked me from the bottom of her heart.

Pablo (29:50)

Que bonito.

Stephen (29:52)

So we're clearly seeing that there are customers in the bar, in the cafe, who are known well to the owner of the cafe, the person who's narrating this story. And as the story develops, we'll see more this through the subsequent chapters.

Miriam (30:32)

Scenes from the Coffee Break Spanish Cafe Capitulo uno El dia a manecido un poco gris y como cada manana sobrela so y media El barestava bastante geno de gente de salnando en una de las mesas de la terraza esta ban Carmen, Miriam y Pilar tres de las enferas de los de allado aunque aga frio siempre pre preferen centar sefuera dies para que les de el aire ques pero ademas es porque pilar la mayor de la tres siemprese toma un cafe a fuera paraber ala genteel las otras dos amigas serrellan porque un felador nuevo muy hua le ayudo hacer la devolucion del material extra y approve.

Stephen (33:15)

Perfecto. Now, if you're listening to the podcast version of this, then you may be interested to know that we have a premium version of our course which includes lots of bonus materials to help you get into all of the language included in the texts in more detail and of course also practice it with exercises and you can find that@coffeebreaklanguages.com scenes if of course, you're already in the Coffee Break Academy using this course, then we would suggest that you move on and work through the additional materials for this chapter.

Pablo (33:46)

See. Don't forget that we also share more Spanish tips and tricks and help you build your language skills even more every week in our free newsletter. Now to access this just go to coffeebreakspanish.com and sign up there.

Stephen (34:01)

Perfecto. Pes muchas gracias y muchas gracias a tos vosotros mos estros olientes y hasta las. You have been listening to A Coffee Break Languages Production for the Radiolingua Network. Copyright 2025 Radiolingua Limited Recording Copyright 2025 Radiolingua Limited all rights reserved.

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