C1 · Part Two, Chapter 36
Sancho's letter to Teresa: writing the way you talk
Sancho cannot write, so he dictates a letter to his wife, and the result is spoken Spanish on paper: proverbs, jokes, asides and news all in one breath. Put it next to don Quixote's letter to Dulcinea and you have the book's two registers in the same genre. This unit is about the grammar of speech once it is written down.
The passage, exactly as Cervantes wrote it
Miguel de Cervantes, Part Two, Chapter 36. Unadapted.
Si buenos azotes me daban, bien caballero me iba; si buen gobierno me tengo, buenos azotes me cuesta. Esto no lo entenderás tú, Teresa mía, por ahora; otra vez lo sabrás. Has de saber, Teresa, que tengo determinado que andes en coche, que es lo que hace al caso, porque todo otro andar es andar a gatas. Mujer de un gobernador eres, ¡mira si te roerá nadie los zancajos! Ahí te envío un vestido verde de cazador, que me dio mi señora la duquesa; acomódale en modo que sirva de saya y cuerpos a nuestra hija. Don Quijote, mi amo, según he oído decir en esta tierra, es un loco cuerdo y un mentecato gracioso, y que yo no le voy en zaga. Hemos estado en la cueva de Montesinos, y el sabio Merlín ha echado mano de mí para el desencanto de Dulcinea del Toboso, que por allá se llama Aldonza Lorenzo: con tres mil y trecientos azotes, menos cinco, que me he de dar, quedará desencantada como la madre que la parió. No dirás desto nada a nadie, porque pon lo tuyo en concejo, y unos dirán que es blanco y otros que es negro.
If they gave me a good whipping, at least I went riding like a gentleman. If I have a good governorship, it is costing me a good whipping. You will not understand this for now, Teresa mine. Another time you will. You must know, Teresa, that I have decided that you shall ride in a coach, which is what matters, because any other way of going is going on all fours. You are a governor's wife now, see if anyone dares to nibble at your heels! I am sending you a green hunting suit that my lady the duchess gave me. Alter it so that it makes a skirt and bodice for our daughter. Don Quixote, my master, according to what I hear in these parts, is a sensible madman and an amusing fool, and I am not far behind him. We have been in the cave of Montesinos, and the wise Merlin has laid hands on me for the disenchanting of Dulcinea del Toboso, who over there is called Aldonza Lorenzo. With three thousand three hundred lashes, less five, which I am to give myself, she will be as disenchanted as the mother that bore her. Say nothing of this to anyone, because put your business before the council and some will say it is white and others that it is black.
The same thing in Spanish as it is written today
Read the two side by side. What has changed between them is the syllabus of this level.
Si me daban buenos azotes, al menos iba bien montado. Si tengo un buen gobierno, buenos azotes me cuesta. Esto no lo vas a entender ahora, Teresa mía, ya lo sabrás más adelante. Has de saber, Teresa, que he decidido que vayas en coche, que es lo que importa, porque cualquier otra manera de ir es ir a gatas. Eres la mujer de un gobernador, ¡a ver quién se atreve ahora a criticarte! Ahí te mando un traje verde de cazador que me dio mi señora la duquesa. Arréglalo para que le sirva de falda y corpiño a nuestra hija. Don Quijote, mi amo, según he oído decir por aquí, es un loco cuerdo y un tonto gracioso, y yo no me quedo atrás. Hemos estado en la cueva de Montesinos, y el sabio Merlín me ha elegido para desencantar a Dulcinea del Toboso, que allí se llama Aldonza Lorenzo: con tres mil trescientos azotes, menos cinco, que me tengo que dar, quedará desencantada como la madre que la parió. No digas nada de esto a nadie, porque si cuentas tus cosas en público, unos dirán que es blanco y otros que es negro.
What changed, form by form
| In the text | Today | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Si buenos azotes me daban, bien caballero me iba | si me azotaban, al menos iba bien montado | A proverb about convicts, who were whipped while being paraded on a donkey. Sancho bends it to his own case. |
| tengo determinado | he decidido | Tener plus participle as a perfect again. |
| andes en coche | vayas en coche | Andar for travelling, and a coach as the mark of rank. |
| ¡mira si te roerá nadie los zancajos! | ¡a ver quién te critica ahora! | Roer los zancajos, to gnaw at someone's heels, to backbite. Nadie meaning anybody, in a question that expects no. |
| acomódale | arréglalo | Pronoun on the end of the imperative, and le for a thing. |
| saya y cuerpos | falda y corpiño | The two pieces of a woman's dress. The cuerpo was the bodice. |
| un loco cuerdo y un mentecato gracioso | lo mismo hoy | Two contradictions in a row. It is the best summary of don Quixote in the book, and it comes from Sancho. |
| no le voy en zaga | no me quedo atrás | Ir en zaga, to follow behind. No irle a uno en zaga is still said. |
| trecientos | trescientos | The older form, without the s. |
| pon lo tuyo en concejo | si cuentas tus cosas en público | The first half of a proverb: put your business before the council, and some will say it is white and others black. |
The syntax
The letter has almost no subordinate clauses. Sentences start with a proverb or a piece of news and simply stop, and the links between them are left to the reader, exactly as in speech. What holds it together is the second person: Teresa mía, has de saber, mira, acomódale, no dirás. Sancho writes the way he would talk to her across the kitchen, and the future no dirás desto nada a nadie is an order dressed up as a prediction.
What a Spanish reader hears
Don Quixote is a loco cuerdo and a mentecato gracioso, and I am not far behind him. That is Sancho's own verdict, and it is shrewder than anything the duke and duchess manage in twenty chapters of practical jokes. The letter is also a small portrait of a man changed by his job: he wants his wife in a coach, he mentions without embarrassment that new governors go to make money, and he is proud of himself. Cervantes dates it 20 July 1614, a real date dropped into the middle of a fiction.
Where the course prepares you for this
- Two registers at one tableLesson 75The duchess and Sancho