An Accident

51.1 Basic Sentences — An Accident

Enrique, Beatriz, and Humberto discuss the holiday and witness a traffic accident.

English	Spanish
the holiday	el feriado
to have a good time	pasarlo bien
The holiday is all over and we had quite a good time.	Se nos fue el feriado y lo hemos pasado bastante bien.
It’s a shame Isabel didn’t come along.	Lástima que no haya venido Isabel.
the dentist	el dentista
disposed, planning (to dispose, to prepare, to plan)	dispuesto (disponer)
to return	regresar
Yes, she left early for the dentist’s and was planning to come back in time, but, you know how it is with a dentist… once you go in his office you never know when you’re going to get out.	Sí, salió temprano para el dentista y estaba dispuesta a regresar a tiempo, pero, tú sabes… con el dentista sabes cuando entras pero no sabes cuando sales.
to cancel, to discontinue	cancelar
And it’s even worse now that they have done away with Saturday visits.	Y peor aún ahora que se cancelaron las visitas de los sábados.
Did she have an appointment?	¿Tenía cita marcada?
the patient	el paciente
previous	anterior
to be a long time	tener para rato
Yes, but apparently the dentist must have been too busy, because Isabel called me at ten and told me that we should go on, since the patient before her was going to be in there for some time.	Sí, pero por lo visto el dentista estaría demasiado ocupado, porque Isabel me llamó a las diez y me dijo que nos fuéramos nosotros porque el paciente anterior tenía para rato.
to take a nap	dormir la siesta
I wonder if she’s taking a nap now?	¿Estará durmiendo la siesta ya?
decided, planning (to decide)	decidido (decidir)
I don’t think so; at least she was planning to take advantage of the day by fixing up the garden.	No creo; por lo menos estaba decidida a aprovechar el día arreglando el jardín.
to trample	pisotear
public	público
Speaking of gardens, why do they allow people to trample the public gardens?	A propósito de jardines, ¿por qué se permite a la gente pisotear los jardines públicos?
And why do you ask that?	¿Y a qué viene eso…?
Don’t you see those people over there?	¿No ves esa gente allá?
to interrupt, to stop	interrumpir
It looks as though traffic has been stopped. I wonder what’s going on?	Parece que el tráfico ha sido interrumpido. ¿Qué pasará?
It must be an accident.	Será un choque.
Did something happen, mister?	¿Pasó algo, señor?
against	contra
to run into, to crash against	darse contra
the tree	el árbol
Nothing. It just crashed against that tree, that’s all.	¡Nada…! Se dio contra ese árbol, ¿le parece poco?
He was probably drunk and tried to go between two trees when there was only one.	Estaría borracho y habrá querido pasar entre dos árboles cuando había sólo uno.
the control	la estabilidad
to cause	ocasionar
the defect	el defecto
the steering (mechanism)	la dirección
I don’t know. It looks like he lost control. It was very likely caused by a defect in the steering. They took him away a little while ago.	No sé. Parece que perdió la estabilidad. A lo mejor fue ocasionado por un defecto de la dirección. Se lo llevaron hace un rato.
the hospital	el hospital
Do you suppose he’s in the hospital?	¿Estará en el hospital?
I suppose so.	Supongo.
the piece	el pedazo
the insurance	el seguro
The car was a total wreck. I wonder if he had insurance, Humberto?	El carro estaba hecho pedazos. ¿Tendría seguro, Humberto?
to insure	asegurar
Right now he’s probably not thinking about whether the car was insured or not.	A estas horas no estará pensando si el carro estaba asegurado o no.

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51.10 Notes on the Basic Sentences

(1) Because the Past I tense implies that something happened at some specific time in the past, certain verbs which usually express a mental state require a modified translation in this tense. Thus while él sabía means ‘he (already) knew’, él supo often implies ‘he came to know at a certain moment’, i.e., ‘he found out’. Querían ir means ‘they (already) wanted to go’, but quisieron ir implies ‘they wanted to go and did something about it’, that is, ‘they tried to go’. In the present example, habrá querido is used as a substitute for probablemente quiso and thus is translated as ‘he probably tried’.

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51.2 Drills and Grammar

51.21.1 Indicative and Subjunctive After Expressions of Uncertainty

Expressions such as quizá(s), tal vez, probablemente, and posiblemente may be followed by either subjunctive or indicative, depending on the degree of uncertainty the speaker feels. A lo mejor does not participate in this pattern and is always followed by indicative.

English	Spanish (Subjunctive)	Spanish (Indicative)
Perhaps I’ll go up later.	Quizá yo suba después.	Quizá yo subo después.
Perhaps we’ll order a wreath.	Tal vez mandemos hacer una corona.	Tal vez mandamos hacer una corona.
He’s probably going on Sunday.	Probablemente él vaya el domingo.	Probablemente él va el domingo.
Possibly it’s the man who is seated in that armchair.	Posiblemente sea el señor que está sentado en esa butaca.	Posiblemente es el señor que está sentado en esa butaca.

51.21.2 The Future and Conditional of Probability

The future and conditional tenses are used to indicate conjecture or probability in present and past time respectively.

Time Reference	Certainty	Probability
Present	Present indicative	Future
Past (Past II)	Past II	Conditional
Past (Past I) / Present perfect	Past I / Present perfect	Future perfect

English	Spanish
I wonder what’s going on?	¿Qué pasará?
It must be an accident.	Será un choque.
Do you suppose he’s in the hospital?	¿Estará en el hospital?
Right now he’s probably not thinking about whether the car was insured or not.	A estas horas no estará pensando si el carro estaba asegurado o no.
There must be a lot of people sick with the flu.	Habrá muchos enfermos con gripe.
The poor little guy must be hungry.	El pobrecito tendrá hambre.
By the looks of it he would have been too busy.	Por lo visto estaría demasiado ocupado.
I wonder if he had insurance, Humberto?	¿Tendría seguro, Humberto?
He would have been drunk.	Estaría borracho.
He probably had a lot of work.	Habrá tenido mucho trabajo.
He probably tried to go between two trees.	Habrá querido pasar entre dos árboles.

51.21.3 The Passive Voice

Spanish expresses passive voice in several ways:

1. ser + past participle (with agent): Esta casa fue construida por mi padre.
2. se + verb (impersonal, no agent): Se toma mucho café aquí. | Se perdió un documento.
3. estar + past participle (result/condition, not action): Estas tazas están rotas.

English	Spanish
In what year was this house built?	¿En qué año fue construida esta casa?
It looks as though traffic has been stopped.	Parece que el tráfico ha sido interrumpido.
It was very likely caused by a defect in the steering.	A lo mejor fue ocasionado por un defecto de la dirección.
The applications have to be signed by the president.	Las solicitudes tienen que ser firmadas por el presidente.
The trip will be arranged by the Embassy.	El viaje será organizado por la Embajada.
A document was lost.	Se perdió un documento.
Three girls were hired yesterday.	Se empleó a tres muchachas ayer.
The car was a total wreck.	El carro estaba hecho pedazos.

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Readings

• “Elecciones Congresales”