Los tres osos

I am back after a short holiday break in Brussels. Well, most of the people we met knew English so no problem managing in English. But I could understand some basic questions posed by few people in French. Questions like "what's your name?" posed to my daughter. "how old are you?" etc. Then of course Bon Journee, bon jour and bon soir and merci. It was good though as everywhere we went we saw two languages being used, one was French and then Dutch. Also learnt some signs on the way. Exit, Emergency etc.

So why am I writing about French in my spanish blog.. Just like that.. I was not practising my spanish for about a week. So I am starting again and wish I would be regular.

So today(hoy), now(ahora) I am going to translate a story (traducir un cuento del Español al Inglés) from Spanish to English. So "English" es Inglés en Español y "Spanish" es Español en Español.

That was a funny sentence I made up.

So here goes the story, the story of three bears.

The story is called "Los tres osos"

Before I begin the story, followed by the translation, few grammar notes. Every object in spanish has a gender either feminine or masculine. For masculine objects, we use el and for feminine objects we use la for the definite article "the".

The bear = el oso

so the plural, is just add s as in English.

Osos and the el becomes Los. so it is Los Osos.

Los is plural for el.

If the object is of feminine gender, then it would be Las.

Tres es "Three".

We will also discuss the use of verbs tener, haber and use of adjectives in this lesson.

some translation of commonly used words

and = y

un/una = a(masc/fem)/an

muy = very

casa = house

puerta = door

ventana = window

cerca = near

bosque = forest

buenos = good

para = for

pero = but

porque = because/why

So, now for the story.

Los Tres Osos

Cerca de un bosque hermoso vivían tres osos. Estos osos eran muy buenos y amables. Habían construido una casa comóda solamente con una puerta y una ventana. Uno de los osos era muy pequeño, uno de tamaño mediano y el otro muy grande.

Tenían en la casa todo lo necesario. Tenían un plato pequeño para el oso pequeño, un plato mediano para el oso mediano, y un plato grande para el oso grande. Tenían una silla pequeño para oso pequeño, una silla mediana para el oso mediano, y una silla grande para el oso grande.

Tenían una cama pequeña para el oso pequeño, una cama mediana para el oso mediano, y una cama grande para el oso grande. Y esto era todo.

Una mañana tenían sopa para el almuerzo. Echaron la sopa en los platos. Pero la sopa estaba tan caliente que no podían tocarla con la lengua. Los osos, como Vds. saben, no emplean ni cucharas, ni cuchillos, ni tenedores. Los platos de sopa estaban en el suelo, porque los osos no emplean mesas.

- Vamos a dar un paseo, - dijo el oso grande; - y cuando volvamos podemos tomar la sopa.

Los osos tenían hambre, mucha hambre, pera eran muy pacientes y salieron todos a dar un paseo por el bosque; primero el oso grande, después el oso mediano y por ùltimo el oso pequeño.

Poco despuès entrò una niña en el bosque. Viò la pequeña casa pero no sabía de quién era. Pensaba que la casa era muy hermosa y quería entrar para verla. Así, llamó a la puerta.

Nadie respondió. Ella creía que todas las personas de la casa estaban dormidas. Llamó otra vez, pero nadie respondió. Ahora creía la niña que nadie estaba en la casa. Abriò la puerta y entró. Todo parecía tan comódo que quería quedarse allí algunos minutos. Estaba muy cansada y quería descansar.

Viò la niña los tres platos en el suelo. Tenía mucha hambre y quería probar la sopa. Probò la sopa que estaba en el plato grande. Estaba muy fría. Entonces probó la sopa que estaba en el plato mediano; pero estaba muy caliente. Entonces probó la sopa que estaba en el plato pequeño y le gustó tanto que se la tomó toda.

Al otro lado del cuarto estaban las tres sillas. La niña quería descansar antes de ir a casa.

Primero probó la silla grande; pero era muy alta. Después probó la silla mediana; pero era muy ancha. Por último probó la silla pequeña; pero al sentarse en ella la hizo pedazos.

Luego vió las camas en la alcoba, y quería dormir la siesta antes de ir a casa.

Primero probó la cama grande; pero era demasiado blanda. Después probó la cama mediana; pero era demasiado dura. Por último probó la cama pequeña y como era muy cómoda y le gustó, se echó en ella y se durmió.

Mientras dormía los tres osos volvieron a casa. Tenían hambre después de su paseo y querían tomar la sopa. El oso grande levantó su plato y bramó:

!Alguien ha probado mi sopa!

Entonces el oso mediano levantó su plato y gruñó:

!Alguien ha probado mi sopa también!

Por último el oso pequeño levantó su plato y gritó:

!Alguien ha probado mi sopa y se la ha tomado!

Entonces fueron todos al otro lado del cuarto a sentarse en sus sillas. Primero el oso grande probó su silla y bramó:

!Alguien se ha sentado en mi silla!

Entonces el oso mediano probó su silla y gruñó:

!Alguien se ha sentado en mi silla también!

Entonces el oso pequeño probó su silla y gritó:

!Alguien se ha sentado en mi silla y la ha hecho pedazos!

Después entraron todos en la alcoba. El oso grande fué el primero que vió su cama y bramó:

!Alguien ha dormido en mi cama!

Entonces el oso mediano vió su cama y gruñó:

!Alguien ha dormido en mi cama también!

Por último vió su cama y gritó con voz aguda:

!Alguien ha dormido en mi cama y aquí está!

Este ruido despertó a la niña. Cuando abrió los ojos y vió a los osos, estaba muy asustada. Se levantó y huyó de la casa. Los tres osos fueron a la puerta para mirar tras ella. Vieron que ella corría por el bosque hacia su casa. No la persiguieron, porque eran buenos y amables. Y eso es todo lo que sé acerca de la niña y de los tres osos que vivían en el hermoso bosque en la pequeña casa con solamente una ventana y una puerta.

The Three Bears

Near a beautiful(hermoso) forest(bosque) lived(vivían) three bears. Those bears were very good and kindly. They had constructed a comfortable house with just a door and a window. One of the bears was small, one was medium sized(tamaño) and the other(otro) one(uno) was very(muy) big(grande).

They had everything necessary in the house. They had a small plate for the small bear, medium plate for the medium bear, and a big plate for the big bear. They had a small chair for the small bear, a medium chair for the medium bear and a big chair for the big bear. They had a small bed for the small bear, medium bed for the medium bear and a big bed for the big bear. And

that was all.

One morning they had soup for their breakfast(almuerza). They poured the soup in the plates. But the soup was very hot that they could not take with the tongue. The bears, as you know, don't use knifes, spoons or forks. The soup plates were on the floor, because they did not use tables.

- Let's take a walk, - said the big bear; and when we come back we can have our soup.

The bears are hungry, very hungry but they are very patient and they all go to have a work in th forest; first the big bear, then the medium bear and finally the small bear.

Shortly afterwards a girl enters in the forest. She sees the small house but does not know whose it is. She thinks that the house is very beautifuly and desires to enter to view the house. Then, she calls near the door.

There is no response. She thinks that all the people in the house are sleeping. She calls again, but no response. Now she thinks that no one is in the house. She opens the door and enters. All seems very comfortable but desires to stay here for few more minutes. She is very tired and desires to rest.

She sees the three plates on the floor. She is very hungry and desires to taste the soup. She tastes the soup from the big plates. It is very cold. Then she tastes the soup from the medium plate, it is very hot. Then she tastes the soup from the small plate and she loves it very much and takes it all.

In the other side of the room are three chairs. The girl desires to rest before going back to her house.

First she tries the big chair; but it is very tall. Then the medium chair; it is very wide. She tries the last small chair; but when she sits on it, it breaks to pieces.

She sees the beds in the bedroom and desires to take a small nap before going home.

First she tries the big bed; but it is very soft. Then she tries the medium bed, but it is very hard. Then she tries the last small bed and finds it very comfortable and she loves and she lies down and sleeps.

While she is sleeping, the three bears get back to their house. They are hungry after the walk and they desire to take the soup. The big bear lifts his plate and shouts:

Someone has tasted my soup.

Then the medium bear lifts his plate and shouts:

Someone has tasted my soup too.

Then the last small bear lifts his plate and cries:

Someone has tasted my soup and had it all.

Then they went across to see who was sitting on their chairs. First the big bear finds his chair and says:

Someone has sat on my chair.

Then the medium bear finds his chair and shouts:

Someone has sat on my chair too.

Then the last small bear finds his chair and cries:

Someone has also sat on my chair and has broken it.

After that they enter the bedroom. The big bear was the first and see his bed and says:

Some has slept on my bed.

Then the medium bear sees his bed and shouts:

Some has slept on my bed too.

For the last small bear sees his bed and cries with an acute voice:

Some has slept on my bed and is here!

This noise wakes the girl. When she opens her eyes and see the bears, she is very scared. She gets up and runs out of the house. The three bears were at the door to have a look at her. They saw her run through the forest towards her house. They don't pursue her for they are very good and kindly. And that's the last of her they see and the tree bears live in their beautiful forest in their beautiful house that just had a window and a door.

That's the end of the beautiful story. So the girl is Goldilocks. Goldilocks and the three bears.

It was indeed a big story. I started working on it yesterday for an hour and today for almost an hour. That's good practise for me then.

Well, the story had quite a number of new verbs and adjectives.

So we will have a look at the various verbs and their conjugations now.

vivían - we encounter at the start of the story.

vivir = to live (the infinitive)

The conjugations are for present indicative.

yo vivo - I live
tú vives - You live
él/usted vive - He/she/it lives
nosotros vivimos - we live
vosotros vivís - you(plural) live
ellos/ustedes viven - they live

Since the story is in past tense, we have to see the past tense of vivir

yo vivía - I lived
tú vivías - You lived
él/usted vivía - He/she/it lived
nosotros vivíamos - we lived
vosotros vivíais - you(plural) lived
ellos/ustedes vivían - they lived -This is the verb used in the story right at the first sentence.

Cerca de un bosque hermoso vivían tres osos.

Near a beautiful forest lived three bears.

Cerca = near

bosque = forest

hermoso = beautiful

vivían = lived

tres = three

osos = bears.

haber = to have

Present Indicative:
yo he
tú has
él/usted ha
nosotros hemos
vosotros habéis
ellos/ustedes han

Imperfect:
yo había
tú habías
él/usted había
nosotros habíamos
vosotros habíais
ellos/ustedes habían

I think it is better we discuss the other verb conjugations in the next post.

Adios!!