Spanish story with translation · B1 · 13 lines
El anillo que no era de oro The ring that wasn't gold
Comic · 12 panels
En el bar de abajo trabajan Vicente y Pepa, un matrimonio encantador. El sábado celebraron sus bodas de oro: cincuenta años casados.
Vicente and Pepa, a lovely married couple, work at the bar downstairs. On Saturday they celebrated their golden wedding anniversary: fifty years married.
Invitaron a medio barrio, y Vicente nos contó cómo empezó todo.
They invited half the neighborhood, and Vicente told us how it all started.
De joven se dedicaba a vender pescado en el Mercado Central. Un día se fijó en una chica que venía a comprar cada sábado.
When he was young, he sold fish at the Mercado Central. One day he noticed a girl who came to shop every Saturday.
«Fue un flechazo», dijo. «Me enamoré de ella ese mismo día. Y ella ni siquiera se acordaba de mi nombre».
"It was love at first sight," he said. "I fell in love with her that very day. And she didn't even remember my name."
En las fiestas del barrio la invitó a bailar, pero Pepa se negó: «¡Contigo no, que hueles a pescado!».
At the neighborhood festivities he asked her to dance, but Pepa refused: "Not with you, you smell like fish!"
Vicente no se rindió. Cada sábado le guardaba el mejor pescado y, con el tiempo, ella empezó a pensar en él.
Vicente didn't give up. Every Saturday he saved her the best fish, and over time she started to think about him.
Un año después se declaró y le dio un anillo. Ella dijo que sí.
A year later he confessed his love and gave her a ring. She said yes.
«Pero el anillo no era de oro», nos confesó Vicente. «No tenía dinero. Le dije que era de oro y soñaba con comprarle uno de verdad».
"But the ring wasn't gold," Vicente confessed to us. "I didn't have any money. I told her it was gold, and I dreamed of buying her a real one."
Pepa se casó con él y llevó aquel anillo cincuenta años.
Pepa married him and wore that ring for fifty years.
El sábado, delante de todos, Vicente sacó de la chaqueta un anillo de oro: «Te lo debo desde hace cincuenta años».
On Saturday, in front of everyone, Vicente took a gold ring out of his jacket: "I've owed you this for fifty years."
Pepa se rio: «¡Tonto! Siempre lo he sabido: el primer verano se puso verde. Pero yo no me casé con un anillo, me casé contigo».
Pepa laughed: "You silly man! I've always known: it turned green the very first summer. But I didn't marry a ring, I married you."
Él la besó, ella le hizo una caricia en la cara y los dos salieron a bailar de la mano.
He kissed her, she stroked his face, and the two of them went off to dance hand in hand.
Yo los miraba con ternura. Y, no sé por qué, me acordé de Diego.
I watched them tenderly. And, I don't know why, I remembered Diego.
Grammar for this text
Verbs with a preposition in a love story: se fijó en una chica — "he noticed a girl", me enamoré de ella, se acordaba de mi nombre, pensar en él, soñaba con comprarle — "I dreamed of buying her", se casó con él, me casé contigo (con + ti = contigo). Two more come from the unit's words: se dedicaba a vender — "he sold for a living", hueles a pescado — "you smell like fish".
Bodas de oro — "golden wedding anniversary", fifty years together. In the plural, bodas means an anniversary, not the wedding itself.
Le dije que era de oro — reporting what someone said in the past: dije que + imperfect (unit 14).
Two pronouns: te lo debo — "I owe it to you" (unit 10).
Se puso verde — "it turned green": ponerse + a color or an adjective — "to turn, to get" (A2, unit 10). Llevó aquel anillo cincuenta años — the length of time is given, so it's the preterite, not the imperfect (A2, unit 16).
Words and grammar of the unit: Talk about falling in love.
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