Level B2 · Chapter 90.5
Review 16: lessons 85 to 90
The vocabulary from lessons 85 to 90 that does not come back, the whole of B2 in two tables, and two exercises. The last unit of the course.
What you will learn
- Check, word by word, how much of the vocabulary from lessons 85 to 90 you actually remember.
- Give an order or a wish with que plus subjunctive and nothing in front of it.
- Tell the whole novel from beginning to end without losing the thread.
The story in easy Spanish
Camino de Barcelona vieron pies y piernas colgando de las ramas de unos árboles.
On the road to Barcelona they saw feet and legs hanging from the branches of some trees.
Eran bandoleros ahorcados, más de cuarenta, dejados allí por la justicia del país.
They were hanged bandits, more than forty of them, left there by the justice of the land.
Cuarenta bandoleros vivos los rodearon con las escopetas listas y vaciaron las alforjas del rucio.
Forty live bandits surrounded them with their muskets ready and emptied the donkey’s saddlebags.
Su capitán, Roque Guinart, les contó que un agravio suyo le había pedido venganza.
Their captain, Roque Guinart, told them that an injury of his had called for revenge.
De aquella venganza salió otra, y las demás acabaron por eslabonarse hasta las ajenas.
Out of that revenge came another, and the rest ended up linking together as far as other people’s.
Repartió el botín por cabezas y contó con tanto cuidado que nadie pudo quejarse.
He shared out the loot head by head and counted so carefully that nobody could complain.
A unos peregrinos no les quitó nada y encima les dio diez escudos del montón.
From some pilgrims he took nothing and on top of that gave them ten crowns from the pile.
Les dio además un salvoconducto escrito para las otras cuadrillas de aquellos montes.
He also gave them a written safe conduct for the other bands in those hills.
A un deslenguado le abrió la cabeza de un revés, y nadie volvió a hablar.
He split a foul-mouthed man’s head open with a backhand blow, and nobody spoke again.
Ya en Barcelona, don Quijote vio un letrero que anunciaba que allí se imprimían libros.
Once in Barcelona, Don Quixote saw a sign announcing that books were printed inside.
Unos tiraban de la prensa y otros corregían pliegos que ya estaban secos.
Some were pulling at the press and others were correcting sheets that were already dry.
Los oficiales le explicaron qué había en cada cajón y cómo se enmendaba lo compuesto.
The workmen explained to him what was in each type case and how set text was corrected.
Dijo que traducir era como mirar un tapiz flamenco por el revés, sin la lisura del derecho.
He said that translating was like looking at a Flemish tapestry from the back, without the smoothness of the front.
Preguntó al traductor si había vendido el privilegio y cuánto podía venir a ser el provecho.
He asked the translator whether he had sold the printing rights and how much the profit might come to.
Salió de la imprenta con muestras de despecho al ver allí la segunda parte falsa.
He left the printing house showing his annoyance, having seen the false second part there.
Días después, en la playa, un retador de armas relucientes le puso las condiciones de un desafío.
Days later, on the beach, a challenger in gleaming armour set out the terms of a challenge to him.
Traía la visera calada y no quiso decir de dónde venía ni a quién servía.
He kept his visor down and would not say where he came from or whom he served.
Don Antonio Moreno fue el juez del campo, y los dos arremetieron sin trompetas ni ceremonia.
Don Antonio Moreno was the judge of the field, and the two of them charged with no trumpets and no ceremony.
Derribado en la arena, dijo que su flaqueza no podía quitarle la verdad a Dulcinea.
Knocked down on the sand, he said that his weakness could not take the truth away from Dulcinea.
Tuvo que resignarse a volver a casa y conformarse con no tocar las armas en un año.
He had to resign himself to going home and make do with not touching his weapons for a year.
Por el camino se acordó de unos pastores fingidos que representaban églogas vestidos de zagales.
On the way he remembered some make-believe shepherds who acted out eclogues dressed as shepherd lads.
Comprarían ovejas, dijo, y su hija Sanchica les llevaría la comida al hato.
They would buy sheep, he said, and his daughter Sanchica would bring the food out to the camp.
Comerían de las encinas, beberían de los arroyos y dormirían a la sombra de los sauces.
They would eat from the holm oaks, drink from the streams and sleep in the shade of the willows.
Habría gaitas y rabeles en aquellos montes, y Sancho se ofreció a labrar cucharas de palo.
There would be bagpipes and rebecs in those hills, and Sancho offered to carve wooden spoons.
Seguía queriendo entrar en un libro, y lo único que hacía era mudar de estante.
He still wanted to get inside a book, and all he was doing was moving shelves.
Aquella tarde los atropelló una piara de seiscientos cerdos que iba camino de la feria.
That afternoon a drove of six hundred pigs on its way to the fair ran them both over.
En su pueblo le entró una calentura que lo tuvo seis días en la cama.
In his village a fever came over him and kept him six days in bed.
Al despertar conoció sus disparates y sintió que el desengaño le llegaba demasiado tarde.
When he woke he recognised his own nonsense and felt that seeing clearly had come to him too late.
Dejó por albaceas al cura y al bachiller, y mandó su hacienda a la sobrina.
He named the priest and the graduate as executors, and left his estate to his niece.
Que se pagara primero al ama su salario, dijo, y que nadie discutiera la cláusula.
Let the housekeeper be paid her wages first, he said, and let nobody argue with the clause.
Murió en su cama tan sosegadamente como ningún caballero andante había muerto nunca.
He died in his bed as peacefully as no knight errant had ever died before.
Todo había empezado con un hidalgo flaco y madrugador que leyó hasta secarse el cerebro.
It had all begun with a thin, early-rising gentleman who read until his brain dried up.
Se armó con unas armas oxidadas y salió a deshacer agravios antes de amanecer.
He armed himself with some rusty armour and rode out to right wrongs before daybreak.
Confundió una bacía de barbero con el yelmo de Mambrino y soltó a una cuerda de galeotes.
He mistook a barber’s basin for the helmet of Mambrino and set free a chain of galley slaves.
Le montaron una dueña con barbas y una ínsula de mentira, y allí su escudero supo juzgar con tino.
They staged a bearded duenna and a made-up island for him, and there his squire turned out to judge shrewdly.
Aquella burla tenía que torcerse, porque el gobernador falso dijo que había nacido para arar.
That joke was bound to go wrong, because the false governor said he had been born to plough.
Al final renegó de los libros que lo habían enloquecido y volvió a llamarse Alonso Quijano.
In the end he renounced the books that had driven him mad and went back to being Alonso Quijano.
Cervantes colgó su pluma de un alambre y mandó que nadie moviera a su caballero de la sepultura.
Cervantes hung his own pen from a wire and ordered that nobody move his knight from the grave.
Que nadie se lo lleve de allí, escribió, y que cada lector lo saque al campo cuando quiera.
Let nobody take him away from there, he wrote, and let every reader ride him out into the fields whenever they like.
Vocabulary
The visit to the printing house (lesson 85)
- el letrero
- the sign
- la prensa
- the press
- el pliego
- the printed sheet
- enmendar
- to correct, to amend
- el cajón
- the type case
- el oficial
- the journeyman, the workman
- el privilegio
- the printing rights
- el tapiz
- the tapestry
- la lisura
- smoothness
- el despecho
- annoyance, spite
- venir a ser
- to come out as, to amount to
Roque Guinart (lesson 86)
- ahorcar
- to hang someone
- la rama
- the branch
- la escopeta
- the shotgun, the musket
- las alforjas
- the saddlebags
- el botín
- the loot
- la venganza
- the revenge
- eslabonarse
- to link up like a chain
- el peregrino
- the pilgrim
- el salvoconducto
- the safe conduct
- deslenguado
- foul-mouthed
The defeat on the beach (lesson 87)
- el retador
- the challenger
- la visera
- the visor
- el desafío
- the challenge
- arremeter
- to charge
- la flaqueza
- weakness
- el juez del campo
- the judge of the field
- resignarse
- to resign yourself
- conformarse con
- to make do with
The plan to become shepherds (lesson 88)
- fingido
- make-believe, pretended
- el zagal
- the shepherd lad
- la oveja
- the sheep
- el hato
- the flock, the shepherds’ camp
- la encina
- the holm oak
- el sauce
- the willow
- el arroyo
- the stream
- la gaita
- the bagpipe
- el rabel
- the rebec, a small fiddle
- la cuchara de palo
- the wooden spoon
- la piara
- the drove of pigs
- atropellar
- to run over, to trample
- mudar de estante
- to move shelves
The will (lesson 89)
- la calentura
- the fever
- el disparate
- the piece of nonsense
- el desengaño
- the disillusion, seeing clearly
- el albacea
- the executor
- la hacienda
- the estate, the property
- el salario
- the wages
- la cláusula
- the clause
- sosegadamente
- peacefully
The end of the story (lesson 90)
- el hidalgo
- the gentleman
- madrugador
- an early riser
- secarse el cerebro
- for the brain to dry up
- oxidado
- rusty
- deshacer agravios
- to right wrongs
- la bacía
- the barber’s basin
- el yelmo
- the helmet
- el galeote
- the galley slave
- la dueña
- the duenna, the older lady companion
- juzgar con tino
- to judge shrewdly
- arar
- to plough
- renegar de
- to renounce
- el alambre
- the wire
- la sepultura
- the grave
- torcerse una burla
- for a joke to go wrong
Lessons 85 to 90, and behind them the whole of B2
Start with the vocabulary above. It is the last list of the course, so be strict with yourself.
| point | rule | from the summary above |
|---|---|---|
| what a word means | significar, querer decir, venir a ser | cuánto podía venir a ser el provecho |
| cause | como in front, porque behind, puesto que in either place | porque el gobernador falso dijo que había nacido para arar |
| consequence | de modo que, así que, de ahí que, and the last of those takes a subjunctive | contó con tanto cuidado que nadie pudo quejarse |
| resignation | conformarse con, no haber más remedio, tener que | Tuvo que resignarse a volver a casa. |
| suffixes | -ito, -ón, -azo, -ísimo change the tone, not only the size | leoncitos, cabrillas, espadazo |
| que plus subjunctive, nothing in front | an order, a wish, or a provision in a will | Que se pagara primero al ama su salario. |
And behind those six, the whole of B2, which is four reviews.
| review | lessons | what you need to hold on to |
|---|---|---|
| 13 | 67 to 73 | para que, aunque, the imperfect subjunctive, si tuviera, reported orders, deber de |
| 14 | 74 to 79 | courtly, plain and official register, irony, habría plus participle, chaining reasons |
| 15 | 80 to 84 | si hubiera and habría, ojalá, como si, darse por, hay against está against es |
| 16 | 85 to 90 | meaning, cause and consequence, resignation, suffixes, que with a subjunctive |
The full conjugations are in the verb tables at the back, and every word of the course is in the glossary.
This is the last unit, so here is the thing to take away rather than another farewell. The course worked because every lesson gave you a short Spanish text with the English beside it, a short list of words, and one point of grammar. You can now build that same unit yourself out of any Spanish text, and the book you have just finished is the obvious place to start. Open a real edition of the novel at chapter one, read a page with a translation beside it, write down the ten words you did not know, and find the one grammar point that page keeps using. That is a lesson. Do it once a week for a year and you will have written yourself another fifty.