A Visa Interview

25.1 Basic Sentences — A Visa Interview

John White is at the Consulate, interviewing a gentleman who wants a visa.

Vocabulary

English	Spanish
the visa	la visa
the purpose	el propósito
over there	allá
the immigrant	el inmigrante
to be born	nacer
the father	el padre
the parents	los padres
divorced (to divorce)	divorciado (divorciar)
the engineer	el ingeniero
the work, job	el trabajo
the money	el dinero
some money	algo de dinero
itself to me (it) forgot (to forget)	se me olvidó (olvidarse)
the surname	el apellido

Dialog

English	Spanish
I’d like a visa for the United States.	Quisiera una visa para los Estados Unidos.
What’s the purpose of your trip?	¿Cuál es el propósito de su viaje?
I want to go live there.	Deseo irme a vivir allá.
Then you need an immigrant visa.	Entonces necesita una visa de inmigrante.
Where were you born?	¿Dónde nació?
Here. And my parents also.	Aquí. Y mis padres también.
Are you going with your family?	¿Se va con su familia?
No. I’m divorced and have no children.	No. Soy divorciado y sin hijos.
What part of the country do you want to go to?	¿A qué parte quiere ir?
Los Angeles, California.	A Los Angeles, California.
What do you intend to work at?	¿En qué piensa trabajar?
I’m an engineer.	Soy ingeniero.
Do you already have a job?	¿Ya tiene trabajo?
Not yet. But I’m taking a fair amount of money.	Todavía no. Pero llevo algo de dinero.
How much are you taking?	¿Cuánto lleva?
Three thousand dollars.	Tres mil dólares.
Excuse me, but I’ve forgotten your last name.	Perdone señor, pero se me olvidó su apellido.
Moreno Rojas. My full name is José Luis Moreno Rojas.	Moreno Rojas. Mi nombre completo es José Luis Moreno Rojas.

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25.10 Notes on the Basic Sentences

(1) Note that in Spanish the preposition a, which was part of the question a qué parte, must be repeated in the answer: a Los Angeles. In English the preposition is ordinarily not repeated in this situation.

(2) Your attention is called to the preposition en used with working. A similar use of en: ¿En qué trabaja usted? — “What do you do for a living?”

(3) Note especially the use of the verb llevar in the everyday meaning “take.” Americans at first tend to translate using tomar. One student once remarked that he could remember the distinction easily because llevar means “carry,” and he as a southerner was accustomed to using “carry” in that sense: “I’ll be glad to carry you all home after work.”

(4) The se me olvidó construction is taken up immediately in the drills.

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25.2 Drills and Grammar

25.21.1 Reflexive and Indirect Clitic Pronouns in the Same Construction

This typical Spanish construction transposes the subject of an equivalent English sentence to an indirect object. The English object is expressed as a Spanish subject, showing the usual number agreement with the verb. The reflexive clitic is indispensable in the Spanish construction, but has no equivalent in the English sentence.

In this construction, only “things” occur as subjects (in 3rd person), so 1 and 2 reflexive clitics never occur — only se appears as the reflexive.

Reflexive	Indirect
—	1 sg: me
—	1 pl: nos
—	2 fam: te
se	2-3 sg: le
se	2-3 pl: les

Illustrations

English	Spanish
I dropped a cup of coffee and it broke on me.	Se me cayó una taza de café y se me rompió.
I forgot your last name.	Se me olvidó su apellido.
We forgot the ad.	Se nos olvidó el anuncio.
We dropped the coins.	Se nos cayeron las monedas.
Did you drop this pen?	¿Se te cayó esta pluma?
Did you forget the pencils?	¿Se te olvidaron los lápices?
Did you leave anything in the house?	¿Se le quedó algo en la casa?
Martha left the gift at the office.	A Marta se le quedó el regalo en la oficina.
Did you all forget about the inspection?	¿A ustedes se les olvidó lo de la inspección?
Did they forget the name of the officer?	¿A ellos se les olvidó el nombre del oficial?

Key Substitution Drill — Person-number

Cue	Response
A mí se me olvidó la llave.	—
A Juan __	Se le olvidó la llave.
A nosotros __	Se nos olvidó la llave.
A Carmen __	Se le olvidó la llave.
A ellos __	Se les olvidó la llave.

Number Substitution Drill

Singular	Plural
Se me olvidó la corbata.	Se me olvidaron las corbatas.
Se le rompió el zapato.	Se le rompieron los zapatos.
Se nos olvidó el nombre.	Se nos olvidaron los nombres.
Se le rompió la camisa.	Se le rompieron las camisas.
Se les cayó el baúl.	Se les cayeron los baúles.
Se me cayó la foto.	Se me cayeron las fotos.
Se le olvidó el abrigo.	Se le olvidaron los abrigos.

Key Response Drill

Question	Answer
¿A Ud. se le olvida mi nombre o mi apellido?	Se me olvida su apellido.
¿A él se le olvida mi nombre o mi apellido?	Se le olvida su apellido.
¿A quién se le cayeron los libros? (a él)	A él se le cayeron.
¿A quién se le olvidaron las llaves? (a mí)	A Ud. se le olvidaron.
¿Qué se le cayó a él? (el lápiz)	Se le cayó el lápiz.
¿Qué se le rompió a Ud.? (la camisa)	Se me rompió la camisa.
¿Qué se les olvida a Uds.? (la lección)	Se nos olvida la lección.

Translation Drill

English	Spanish
Carmen’s blouse got torn.	A Carmen se le rompió la blusa.
Two cups of José’s got broken.	A José se le rompieron dos tazas.
My overcoat got torn.	A mí se me rompió el abrigo.
Ma’am, you dropped something.	Señora, se le cayó algo.
Sir, did you drop these checks?	Señor, ¿se le cayeron estos cheques?
I never drop anything.	A mí nunca se me cae nada.
We forgot our hats.	A nosotros se nos olvidaron los sombreros.
Do you forget Latin names?	¿Se le olvidan a Ud. los nombres latinos?
Darn it! I dropped the ashtray.	¡Caramba!, se me cayó el cenicero.
The little boy tore his shirt.	Al chico se le rompió la camisa.
Have you all forgotten anything?	¿Se les ha olvidado algo?
What did you all forget?	¿Qué se les olvidó?
Have we dropped anything?	¿Se nos ha caído algo?

Discussion

The construction drilled in this section is as typical for Spanish as it is strange for English. In English we say “I broke the cup,” which in Spanish is “The cup broke itself to (for, on) me.” The English subject (the person who has primary concern for the incident) is expressed as an indirect object, and the English object becomes the Spanish subject governing verb agreement.

The significant point is that the normal usage of English should be equated with the normal usage of Spanish — which in essence equates “He broke the cup” with se le rompió la taza.

The cup, which is the noun object in English, becomes the subject in Spanish and governs the agreement of the verb. The verb appears with a reflexive clitic (always se, since only things — therefore 3rd person — can occur as subjects). A change from “I broke…” to “You broke…” in the Spanish construction becomes se me… changing to se te….

Verbs which frequently occur in this construction include: caerse, parecerse, romperse, casarse, quedarse, salirse, olvidarse.

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25.24 Review Drill — Verb-Subject Order in Dependent Clauses

English	Spanish
Let’s go see when Mary is coming.	Vamos a ver cuándo viene María.
Let’s go see when José is coming.	Vamos a ver cuándo llega José.
Let’s go see where Paul works.	Vamos a ver dónde trabaja Pablo.
Let’s see where the customs office is.	Vamos a ver dónde está la aduana.
Let’s see where John lives.	Vamos a ver dónde vive Juan.
Let’s go see what Alice needs.	Vamos a ver qué necesita Alicia.
Let’s see what Carmen says.	Vamos a ver qué dice Carmen.
Let’s see what they believe.	Vamos a ver qué creen ellos.
Let’s go see what José is writing.	Vamos a ver qué escribe José.
Let’s go see how much the bed costs.	Vamos a ver cuánto cuesta la cama.
Let’s go see how much the suit costs.	Vamos a ver cuánto cuesta el vestido.
Let’s go see how José studies.	Vamos a ver cómo estudia José.
Let’s see how Paul speaks.	Vamos a ver cómo habla Pablo.

Note: The full drills and practice exercises — including replacement drills, variation 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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25.4 Reading — Señora Sistemática

The reading describes Marta de Fuentes as a very methodical and rigorous woman in the organization of her household. Each day of the week was designated for a specific task: Monday was laundry day, Thursday was for canasta or bridge with friends from the neighborhood, Friday was market day, and Saturday was dedicated to general house cleaning. Marta never sent the servants to do the shopping — she preferred to go herself because nobody knew like she did where and how to buy good, fresh, and inexpensive groceries. She was truly an expert in shopping.