A Not So Intelligent Bird | Theo van der Ster

This is a chapter from El Jazz del Cocinero, a novel written by Alejandro Velázquez Betancourt from México. The aim is to create a web app where you can read the text and click on a sentence to see a translation. Another click will show you annotations and links to more information. I don’t know enough javascript to do this, so for the time being, this is a static page.

Un pájaro nada inteligente

A not so intelligent bird

He dicho lo siento montones de veces en mi vida pero en verdad nunca lo he sentido.

I’ve said sorry many times in my life, but I’ve never really meant it.

He dicho: I have said. In Spanish you use the present perfect to indicate that an action continues into the present. Same as in English.

¿Te parece mal?

Do you think that’s wrong?

¿Te parece gracioso?

Do you think it’s funny?

Gracioso has many synonyms. Which one you use will depend on the context. In order to know which word fits the context best, you need to do a lot of reading and listening. That is the way to learn a language: By soaking up as much context as you can.

A mí no me parece ninguna de las dos cosas: es sólo una costumbre que adopté la tarde en que mi tío, el borracho, llegó por primera vez borracho a la casa de los abuelos.

To me, it doesn’t seem either. It’s just a habit I adopted the afternoon my boozer uncle arrived at grandma and grandpa’s house. It was the first time they’d seen him completely legless.

Translation is rarely a word by word affair. In this case, the translator moved a subordinate clause to a new sentence.
Adopté is the pretérito of adoptar. You always use the pretérito when there is a time stamp (in this case, the afternoon).
Llegó is the pretérito of llegar. Arriving is a one-off event. You cannot keep on arriving, hence the use of the pretérito.

La casa de los abuelos tenía un inmenso jardín con guanábanos, limones, guayabos, el ahuilote del que colgaba un columpio, dos palmeras que rara vez daban cocos y cinco magníficos ciruelos.

Their house had an immense garden with guanabanos, limones, guava trees, the ahuilote with a swing, two palm trees that rarely bore coconuts and five magnificent plum trees.

Tenía: A description in the past. There is no action here, and no end, hence the imperfecto.

Era el inmenso jardín de una casa en el pueblo diminuto llamado Tonaztlán.

The enormous garden was connected to a house in the tiny town of Tonaztlán.

Era: A description in the past usually gets the imperfecto. Note that there is no clear beginning or end. In other words, there’s no action.

Yo, como casi toda mi infancia, pasaba en ese pueblo las vacaciones y aquella tarde, aburrido de columpiarme, jugaba a joder a una hilera de hormigas rojas junto al ahuilote cuando escuché gritar a mi abuela.

As a kid, I spent most of my vacations in that town, and that afternoon, bored with the swing, I was messing around with a colony of red ants by the ahuilote when I heard my grandmother scream.

This is a classic example of the imperfecto and the definido in one sentence. The imperfecto (pasaba and jugaba) is a description of what the author was doing when something else happened. Look that this as a stage where things are happening when one action occurs. The author was playing when, suddenly, he heard a scream (escuché).

Yo apenas medía siete años y aún no sabía nadar muy bien.

I was barely seven years old then, and I still couldn’t swim very well.

medía and sabía: No beginning and no end, hence the use of the imperfecto.

Si no sabías nadar era peligroso estar cerca de ella en situaciones como ésa pues detrás los gritos venía el llanto y toda la familia opinaba que mi abuela lloraba a mares.

If you didn’t know how to swim it was dangerous to be near her in situations like that, for after the screams came the crying, and the whole family was of the opinion that the term waterworks was invented especially for my grandmother.

Note that the translation is not literal. Expressions like lloraba a mares often don’t have an exact equivalent in another language.
Crying was something the grandmother did often, so you would expect this to be translated with used to. In this case, the used to is implied.

Yo conocía el mar porque estaba a veinte kilómetros del pueblo y lo había visto muchas veces.

I was familiar with the sea because it was only twenty kilometers from the town, and I had seen it many times.

Note the use of the imperfecto. The distance to the sea is not an action that occurred only once. It’s a description. You also use the imperfecto to shows that you did something a number of times or regularly.

Definitivamente podías ahogarte, sobre todo después de comer.

You could definitely drown in there, especially after a meal.

Los gritos seguían.

The screams continued.

The clue is in the word seguían / continued. By definition, something that continues is not completed, hence the imperfecto.

Yo trataba de averiguar si ya había pasado una hora desde la comida y recordé una caja de cartón, de las que se utilizaban para empacar las botellas de salsa de chilpete, donde estaban los salvavidas que mi madre nos había comprado, a mí y a mis dos detestables primas, las vacaciones anteriores.

I was trying to figure out if it had already been an hour since lunch when I remembered a cardboard box, the kind used to pack bottles of salsa de chilpete. Now, it was a storage place for the life jackets my mother had bought for me and my two obnoxious cousins on our previous vacation.

This sentence includes multiple past tenses, showing ongoing actions, completed actions, and the sequence of events in the past.

Imperfect Tense (trataba, utilizaban, recordé):

Yo trataba: This indicates an ongoing action in the past. It suggests that the speaker was in the process of trying to find out something, without specifying when this attempt started or ended.
se utilizaban: This also uses the imperfect tense to describe a habitual action in the past, indicating that the boxes were regularly used for packing bottles of salsa de chilpete.
recordé: This is in the simple past (preterite) tense, indicating a completed action. The speaker recalls a specific moment when they remembered the box.

Pluperfect Tense (había pasado, había comprado):

había pasado: This is the past perfect tense (pluperfect), which indicates that the action of time passing occurred before the action of trying to find out. It establishes a timeline where the hour had already passed by the time the speaker was reflecting on it.
mi madre nos había comprado: This also uses the past perfect to show that the purchase of the life jackets occurred before the speaker’s current recollection, indicating a completed action in relation to another past action.

Corrí a buscarlos.

I ran to look for them.

Not an ongoing effort, hence the definido.

El primero que encontré era de niña.

The first one I found was for girls.

By definition, finding something is one moment in time. You use the definido for a number of actions, one after the other. As soon as you mention an action, it is concluded, and the next one can begin. You can never have two actions in the definido simultaneously, like you can in the imperfecto.

Lo tomé sin dar importancia a los dibujos color rosa para no perder tiempo y fui veloz a la sala.

I took it out without paying attention to the pink drawings so as not to waste time, and I proceeded quickly to the living room.

Just as in the previous sentence: actions that follow, one after the other.

Cuando llegué mi abuela aún no comenzaba a llorar porque continuaba gritándole a su hijo.

When I arrived, my grandmother had not yet started to cry because she was still yelling at her son.

comenzaba and continuaba. You have to use the imperfecto because grandma is doing two things at the same time. Llegué is in the definido because llegar is not something you can continue. The moment you arrive, you are there and the action is concluded.

Mientras inflaba el salvavidas supe que los dibujos rosas eran sirenas rosas que nadaban cerca de barcos rosas en mitad de un mar de olas rosas.

Blowing air into the life jacket, I saw the pink drawings of pink mermaids, swimming around pink boats in a sea of pink waves.

Mientras inflaba: indicates that something happened during an ongoing action. Therefore, mientras is followed by the imperfecto.
supe is the past tense of saber. In this context is means discovered. The moment you discover something, you conclude the action, hence the definido.
eran sirenas rosas que nadaban: a description of a drawing or picture is always in the imperfecto.

El ruido marino del aire que soplaba dentro del salvavidas, las olas en movimiento y el canto de las sirenas rosas me impidieron escuchar claramente el regaño.

While blowing into the jacket, it was as if I could hear the waves breaking and the pink mermaids singing. That prevented me from hearing my scolding grandmother.

Again, a number of continuous things are going on when something else happens.

Mi tío estaba demasiado borracho y no entendí nada de lo que dijo antes de que mi abuela lo cacheteara, le jalara los cabellos y se fuera de ahí sin llorar.

My uncle was too drunk, and I couldn’t make out anything he said. Then my grandmother slapped him, pulled his hair and left without crying.

cachetear” is conjugated in the subjunctive form cacheteara because it follows antes de que. This indicates that the slapping is contingent on the prior state of the uncle being too drunk and the speaker not understanding anything.

Mi abuelo, con su inseparable violín en las manos, había visto todo desde la silla en la que solía tocar y, mientras frotaba con suavidad las cerdas del arco sobre un pequeño cubo de una cosa amarillenta que después supe se llamaba brea, le contó a mi tío, el borracho, la historia del pájaro que cantaba el éxito de la época tranquilamente posado sobre una rama.

My grandfather, his inseparable violin in his hands, had watched it all from the chair in which he used to play. Gently rubbing the bow over a small jar of a yellowish stuff that I later learned was called rosin, he told my uncle, the drunkard, the story of the bird that sang a popular song of that time while peacefully sitting on a branch.

El pájaro cantaba preocupado tan sólo de su canto.

The bird was completely engrossed in its song.

Al final de la melodía una nota muy alta lo obligó a elevarse unos centímetros para alcanzarla.

Nearing the end, he raised himself a few inches to reach a very high note.

La alcanzó.

He succeeded.

La interpretación había sido magistral y el ave estuvo tan complacida con su arte que hizo una caravana para agradecer la ovación de un público inexistente.

It had been a masterful performance, and the bird was so pleased with it that he took a deep bow on his branch, as if to receive the ovation of a non-existent audience.

Entonces escuchó un disparo y al instante sintió una bola de fuego pasar así de su cuerpo.

Suddenly a shot sounded, and the bird felt a ball of fire grazing him.

Al percatarse del peligro emprendió veloz el vuelo hacia un establo cercano, entró en él, se ocultó detrás de una vaca pinta y guardó silencio.

Acutely aware of the danger, he quickly flew to a nearby barn and kept very still behind a black and white cow.

El cazador era un sujeto tenaz y fue tras el ave.

The hunter was a persistent type and followed the bird into the barn.

Se metió en el establo, buscó a su presa, no pudo dar con ella y pensó que había escapado.

He looked for his prey but could not find it. He concluded that the animal had escaped, and indeed it seemed that the bird had, so to speak, flown the coop.

Parecía que el pájaro iba a salvarse, pero la vaca tuvo ganas de cagar y cagó.

At that moment, the cow felt an urge and lifted its tail.

La primer descarga rozó al ave y le salpicó las patitas.

The first charge barely hit the bird and splashed across its legs.

La segunda le salpicó las alas.

The second spattered across its wings.

Luego la vaca se movió y la tercer descarga cayó plena encima del pájaro que, indignado, levantó el vuelo dispuesto a vengarse del rumiante a picotazos.

For the third charge, the cow moved her rear end, and it buried the target from bottom to top. The bird shook its feathers indignantly and flew up with the intention of exacting some sort of revenge by pecking the ruminant.

El cazador lo vio y disparó su escopeta nuevamente.

The hunter spotted him and fired his rifle.

Un segundo después el pájaro cayó al suelo, cubierto de mierda y muerto.

A second later, the bird fell to the ground, covered in cow poop and dead as a doornail.

—Cuando te estén cagando no te muevas —concluyó mi abuelo y se puso a inventar un vals en el violín.

‘If they pile a load of shit on top of you, keep quiet,’ my grandfather concluded his wise lesson, and began a new waltz on his violin.

Mi tío, el borracho, no dijo nada.

My drunken uncle refrained from commenting.

Yo, con el salvavidas en la cintura, iba a preguntar si el cazador se había llevado al pájaro pues la historia no decía nada al respecto y yo no lo hubiera recogido embarrado de mierda, pero en ese instante llegaron mi madre, mi tía la presumida, y mis dos primas.

I, with my life jacket around my shoulders, was about to ask if the hunter had taken the bird, because the story said nothing about that and I personally would not have picked it up while it was covered in cow poo. But at that moment my mother, my smug aunt and my two nieces arrived.

Al verlas supe que habría problemas y así fue.

When I saw them I immediately knew there was going to be trouble.

Una de las detestables, pensé que se trataba de la mayor, corrió hacia mí para quitarme el salvavidas, pero le di un empujón antes de que lo consiguiera.

One of the unsympathetic ones, I thought it was the oldest, ran up to me to grab my life jacket, but I shoved her away before she could grab it.

Ella, como todas las niñas a las que empujabas frente a su mamá, se dejó caer y comenzó a llorar.

Like all girls if you push them in front of their mother, she let herself fall and started to cry.

Mi madre me jaló la oreja y me ordenó le ofreciera una disculpa a Elena.

My mother pulled my ear and demanded I apologize to Elena.

Yo abrí la boca para decir que ni la había empujado tan fuerte, que ella se había dejado caer, sin embargo guardé silencio porque con la boca abierta me entró más luz al cerebro y recordé la historia del pájaro.

I opened my mouth to protest that I had not even pushed her that hard, that she had let herself fall, but I shut up in time, because with my mouth open, more light came into my brain and I remembered the story of the bird.

Ignoro cuánto tiempo y luz necesité para entender la lección oculta, que luego supe se llamaba moraleja, en las últimas palabras de mi abuelo.

So I kept my mouth shut. How much time and light it took me to understand the hidden lesson (later I understood they call it the moral of a story) in my grandfather’s words, I don’t remember.

Sólo sé que dije: “lo siento” y devolví el salvavidas a mi prima, que era la menor.

I only remember saying, “I’m sorry,” and giving the life jacket back to my youngest niece.

Mi madre quedó complacida, mi tía la presumida quedó satisfecha.

My mother was happy, my smug aunt was pleased.

Mi abuelo sonrió.

My grandfather smiled.

El violín sonó un Re orgulloso.

From the violin came the sound of a proud D.

Mi prima arrojó el salvavidas sobre la mesa de la sala, tomó a su hermana de la mano y se la llevó a jugar en el inmenso jardín.

My niece threw the life jacket on the living room table, took her sister by the hand and pulled her outside to play in the big garden.

Como siempre me dejaron confundido, sin saber cuál era Elena y cuál María Virginia, porque, desde antes de nacer, eran gemelas idénticas.

As always, I was left confused, wondering for the umpteenth time which of the identical twins was Elena and which was María Virginia.

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