Today, I decided to translate a story from a book called "38 Latin Stories" into Spanish.. After reading the Spanish version, we'll break it down from Spanish into English to make sure it's understood. Then, for fun, I'll show you the Latin version. Some of the Spanish grammar may be too advanced for you to grasp if you're new to the language, but most Spanish students will be able to get most of it. The grammar reviews are brief, but hopefully you can get some practice. If it's too hard now, come back and check it out later when you've improved. Okay... here's the Spanish version of the story... try to understand as much as you can...
La Caja de Pandora
Jápeto tiene dos hijos, Prometeo y Epimeteo. Prometeo es un hombre muy prudente; Epimeteo es un hombre imprudente. Júpiter le regala a Epimeteo una mujer hermosa, Pandora. A menudo, Prometeo le advierte a
Epimeteo sobre Pandora: "O, Epimetheus, ¡vas tú por mal camino! No puedes ver el peligro. No debes aceptar esta mujer." Epimeteo ama a
Pandora; él no piensa en el peligro. Júpiter le da a Epimeteo una caja; no se permite abrirla. Sin embargo, Pandora está curiosa: "Qué contiene la caja? Mucho dinero? Una gran cantidad de joyas?"
La mujer abre la caja. ¡Muchas variedades de maldad salen! Pero adentro de la caja Pandora guarda la esperanza. Aunque la vida esté llena de maldad, siempre tenemos la esperanza. Did you understand el cuento? Let's check out some of the sentences before doing a full translation...
It starts out easily enough...
Jápeto tiene dos hijos, Prometeo y Epimeteo.
tener = to have. When conjugated in the third person, singular, we have tiene. Dos hijos means two sons...so, Iapete has two sons, Prometheus and Epimetheus.
Prometeo es un hombre muy prudente; Epimeteo es un hombre imprudente.
Prudente means wise or prudent. This sentences is saying that Prometheus is a very wise man and Epimetheus is an unwise man.
Júpiter le regala a Epimeteo una mujer hermosa, Pandora.
Any time some one is giving something to some one else (regalar means to give as a gift), we use an indirect object pronoun - in this case, le. Indirect object pronouns (me, te, le, nos, os, les) tell for whom something is done or given. Le means it is for the third person. For example, yo le di a Juan mi carro means I gave Juan my car (literally, I (le) gave to Juan my car). The le goes before the verb and is usually followed by a before naming the person or thing receiving something.
In this Case, Jupiter is giving to Epimetheus una mujer hermosa - a beautiful woman. (Notice that the adjective follows the noun). Her name is Pandora.
A menudo, Prometeo le advierte a Epimeteo sobre Pandora: "O, Epimeteo, ¡vas tú por mal camino!
Notice the le again.. this time Prometheus is warning (advertir... in the third person singular, we have advierte) Epimetheus regarding Pandora. He is giving the warning to him, which is why the indirect object pronoun is used.
He tells him.. "vas tú por mal camino." Although vas translates literally as "you go," in Spanish the simple present tense is oftentimes used in a progressive sense. In other words, he is saying "you are going." That is why you may here some one ask "¿Qué haces?," which translates literally as "What do you do?" Obviously, they are really asking, "What are you doing?"
Here, he is saying "you are going down a bad road."
No puedes ver el peligro.
Just like in English - the first verb is conjugated and the second remains in the infinitive:
Tú / no puedes / ver / el peligro
You / are not able / to see / the danger.
No se permite abrirla.
When something is generalized and not specific to a person, se is often used. You may see businesses put up signs that say "se habla español," which means Spanish is spoken here. It is not saying that any particular person speaks Spanish; just that it is spoken there. The sentence here, in reference to the box, is saying that it is not permitted to be opened in a general sense - no one should open it.
Aunque la vida esté llena de maldades, siempre tenemos la esperanza.
Aunque can mean "although" or "even if." When you want it to mean "although," the following verb should be conjugated into the indicitive form (a verb stating a factual state, not a hypothetical or possible one).
For example, aunque ella es muy alta, no juega basquetbol. (Although she is very tall, she doesn't play basketball). Here, it is a fact that she is very tall, so we use the third person indicative (not subjuctive) of ser (es, not sea).
In this sentence, the subjunctive is used (esté, not está), so we know that it is saying "even if," not "although." So, the sentence says: Even if life is full of evils, we always have hope.
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So, hopefully you were able to understand the entire story... here's the full translation:
Iapetus has two sons, Prometheus and Epimetheus. Prometheus is very wise man;
Epimetheus is an unwise man. Jupiter gives a
beautiful woman, Pandora, to Epimetheus. Prometheus oftentimes warns
Epimetheus about Pandora: "Oh, Epimetheus, you are going astray! You do
not see the danger. You shouldn't accept the woman." Epimetheus loves
Pandora; he does not think about the danger. Jupiter gives to Epimetheus a box. It is not permitted to be opened. Pandora, however, is
curious: "What does box contain? Much money? A large number of jewels?"
The woman opens the box. Many forms of evil escape!
But Pandora saves the hope inside the box. Even if life is full of evils,
we always have hope. And, in case you are curious like Pandora.. the Latin version:
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