Here we are. A couple of pints. Great. Neck oil, yeah? As requested. So, what did you get up to this weekend? Well... Funny story, actually. I befriended this panda, discovered he had a beautiful singing voice, taught him how to harmonise. We got a record deal, went on tour, went platinum in Basingstoke, then broke up due to creative differences. Right. So that's why there's a panda giving you the finger from across the street, then.
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Hola a todos y bienvenidos a Coffee Break Spanish. Yo soy Marc. Hola y yo soy Pablo. ¿Qué tal Pablo? Muy bien, con mucha ilusión y con muchas ganas. Welcome to the Coffee Break Spanish recording studio. We're delighted to have you here and you're a recent recruit for Coffee Break Spanish, a new member of the team.
You may recognize Pablo from our Coffee Break Club videos or indeed our Friday emails, but we'll tell you more about that later. What we need to do now is talk about scenes from the Coffee Break Spanish Café. Pablo, ¿puedes explicarnos un poco lo que es SINS este proyecto? Bueno, pues es un proyecto que a mí me gusta muchísimo y trata sobre todas las historias que ocurren en un bar. No hay nada más español que un bar, yo creo.
the word bar in English. Un bar is a café, it's somewhere where you would go for a coffee, somewhere you'd go to catch up with the latest news that's happening around the village. Exactamente. En un bar también puedes tomarte un café perfectamente. Claro, claro, claro.
Okay, so what's happening is that we're going to follow the events that take place in this cafe. We'll get to know some of the locals, we'll get to know some of the regulars, and we'll get to see a little bit of life in this Spanish-speaking town. Exactly. In each episode we're going to read all the chapter, then we're going to talk a little bit about the language, about the grammatical, everything that there is in the text.
Sí, porque hay un montón de cosas. Y luego al final vamos a volver a leer el capítulo, a escuchar el capítulo una vez más. Me parece perfecto. Pues vamos allá, ¿no? Venga. Scenes from the Coffee Break Spanish Café, capítulo uno. ha amanecido un poco gris, y como cada mañana sobre las ocho y media, el bar estaba bastante lleno de gente desayunando.
En una de las mesas de la terraza estaban Carmen, Miriam y Pilar, tres de las enfermeras del hospital de al lado. Aunque haga frío, siempre prefieren sentarse fuera. dicen que es para que les dé el aire, que están mucho tiempo en el hospital. Pero además es porque Pilar, la mayor de las tres, siempre se toma... un café afuera para ver a la gente qué pasa. Tenían cara de cansadas, pero se las veía relajadas y aliviadas, así que estaba claro que habían terminado.
Me acerqué a tomarles la comanda y pregunté por las demás. Algunas libraban hoy y otras se había ido a casa a descansar. Miriam, la más joven, parecía un poco preocupada. Al preguntarles cómo había ido la noche, me contaron que Miriam metió un poco la pata, pero fue. tan solo un error de cálculo. Al solicitar el pedido de material lo hizo doble y la jefa de enfermería le echó una buena bronca.
Las otras dos amigas se reían porque un celador nuevo muy guapetón le ayudó a hacer la devolución del material extra. Y aprovechó para pedirle su móvil. Miriam se sonrojó y parecía que no se le quitaba el disgusto. Cuando pidieron la cuenta, le llevé un trozo de tortilla en una cajita para llevar. Le dije que esperaba que la tortilla de la tía Isa la ayudase a olvidar el mal trago. Creo que le sentó muy bien, me sonrió y me lo agradeció de corazón.
Bueno, antes de empezar, Marc, te tengo que confesar que me encanta la historia porque me parece muy guay y creo que les va a gustar muchísimo a nuestros oyentes. Estoy de acuerdo, sí. But I mean, for me, it's something that's really real. It feels, I can imagine it happening. I can imagine life like this in a little village in Spain. What we'll do now is go through each sentence and then talk about the language in the sentence and then...
Look at further examples and so on. So Pablo, can you begin, please? Okay, so we'll take it line by line here. El día ha amanecido. This is from the verb amanecer, which means to dawn. Exacto, sí. What's the noun, the dawn?
Amanecer, el amanecer también. So it's a noun and a verb, the infinitive form. So el día ha amanecido, the day... has started or just it started because we're talking about a recent event here is we're still in that morning the day started a little gray the day dawned a little gray And just like every morning, about half past eight, the bar was quite full of people.
So the bar was quite full of people having breakfast. The verb to have breakfast, desayunar. There we've got a gerund form, haven't we? Eso es, es el equivalente to... ING forms in English. Okay, so desayunando. The verb is an ER verb, so desayunar. Entonces quitamos el final, AR, y añadimos... Ando. Ando. So it's translating having breakfast or breakfasting, literally. Okay, let's continue on.
tres de las enfermeras del hospital de al lado. Okay, so we're seeing here some of the characters in the story, first of all, Carmen, Miriam y Pilar. And they are sitting en una de las mesas de la terraza on one of the tables on the terrace. And who are they, Pablo? Well, they are the three nurses who work in the hospital that is next to this bar. En el hospital de al lado. So when you describe something that's next to something, it's al lado. Exacto. Let's continue.
Aunque haga frío, siempre prefieren sentarse fuera. Dicen que es para que les dé el aire, que están mucho tiempo en el hospital. Okay, aunque haga frío. A first subjunctive of our story. So, aunque haga frío, although it's cold. Now, what's going on here? Even if it's cold. Even when it's cold. Then we're going to formulate a hypothesis, something that may occur or may not. So for this, we need our beloved subjuntive. Perfect. Aunque haga frío…
That's a hypothesis. It's not this particular situation, because if we were talking about this morning, even though it's cold this morning, because we know it's cold, there's no hypothesis there. However... even if it's cold, even on the days that it's cold, aunque haga frío, even if it's cold, siempre prefieren sentarse fuera. They always prefer to sit outside.
And then they say, dicen que es para que les dé el aire. It's because they, well, it's kind of because they can be in the fresh air. Literally, we say, so that the... air gives to them. And that sounds a little bit strange, doesn't it? Yeah, absolutely. So how would we say, I want to get some air? Quiero que me dé el aire. To me. Yes, so the structure is completely different. So they say outside. Prefieren sentarse fuera. They prefer to sit outside. Dicen que es para que les dé el aire.
to get some ear because they want to get some ear. maybe they're feeling a little bit overwhelmed being in the hospital the whole time and it's good to get some fresh air because they're in the hospital for a long time. And that K there is a really interesting K because it's taking the role of Would you say that that's something that we would be more likely to see in written Spanish?
I would say yes, but it is not strange, depending on the context, if it is a more formal context, a conference or something like that, it is also possible to listen to it. Perfect, perfect. Okay, let's continue on. Pero además es porque Pilar, la mayor de las tres, siempre se toma un café afuera para ver a la gente que pasa. Y me encanta esto porque podríamos decir la más vieja.
Pero suena un poquito mal educado, entonces decimos la mayor. So we could say la más vieja, the oldest, but la mayor just sounds a little nicer. Siempre se toma un café afuera. So she always has a coffee while she's... kind of watching people go by. I think she's a little bit nosy. Un poco cotilla, creo. Cotilla, a great word. So is that like a gossip, someone who likes kind of being nosy and seeing what's going on? Yes, exactly. Just before we move on, this idea of se...
Toma un café. It's not just toma un café. We make it reflexive because it adds a little, doesn't it? Sí, es para darle más énfasis. Suena un poquito mejor. Y yo creo que lo usamos más. So we're talking about a biscuit, a cake, a cookie kind of thing, and you're saying me. Y ocurre con muchísimos verbos. Es una peculiaridad del español. Okay, so she always has her coffee outside because she likes watching people going by. Let's go on.
Okay, so we're talking about three ladies again, Carmen, Miriam y Pilar. Tenían cara de cansadas. So literally they had the face of tired people. Pero se las veía relajadas. But they were also looked relaxed. Pablo, that's an interesting verbal construction there or a grammatical construction. Can you tell us about it? Sí, porque tenemos el C impersonal. ¿Por qué?
Who sees them? Yeah, exactly. One sees them or they are seen. Exactamente. It's not specified. Y luego tenemos las, which is the direct object pronoun that replaces... Please, it's them. But I'm not saying that it's me. Yeah. I'm kind of like distancing myself. Okay. So you could have said it. Te veo contento. Te veo contento. So in that situation you're saying, I see you as happy today. You look happy.
But when you say se te ve contento, it's like, ah, Mark seems happy today. One sees Mark happy today. Mark's happy every day, Pablo. Come on. But we're talking here about the three ladies. They looked relaxed. Relieved? Yes. Turno de noche, turno de día, turno de mañanas, turno de tardes. So, so far, we've met three people who are in the bar and the cafe. We're going to meet more, but we're going to take a short break now and we'll be back in just a moment.
In each episode of the Scenes from the Coffee Break Cafe podcast, you'll enjoy listening to the story and our discussion of key words and phrases from each chapter. But what if you could explore the language even further and take your learning to the next level? That's where the Scenes online course comes in.
For every chapter, you'll get comprehensive lesson notes, a video version of the reading, exercises, vocabulary and even spotlight videos that help break down the key expressions and grammar points with additional examples. It's the perfect way to deepen your understanding and get even more from the story. To access this wealth of learning resources, visit coffeebreaklanguages.com slash scenes.
Here we are. A couple of pints. Great. Neck oil, yeah? As requested. So, what did you get up to this weekend? Well... Funny story, actually. I befriended this panda, discovered he had a beautiful singing voice, taught him how to harmonise. We got a record deal, went on tour, went platinum in Basingstoke, then broke up due to creative differences. Right. So that's why there's a panda giving you the finger from across the street, then.
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Your future has a beginning, a foundation. You plant the seed, you start the story. Join a university as committed to the future as you are. A university that stands for change and welcomes all. York St John University. A future made by you and us. Search York St John University to book your place on an open day. Okay, so we're in the bar. We're learning about Carmen Miriam in Pilar. And let's find out more about what's happening in our scene from the Coffee Break Café. Venga.
Me acerqué a tomarles la comanda y pregunté por las demás. A tomarles la comanda. To take their order. So to take to them the order. O tomarles nota también. Y pregunté por las demás. And I asked about the others. So when you preguntar por alguien, you're asking for someone. You're asking for someone in that sense. After someone, about someone. Okay, so this is a really good use of this verb, librar. Me encanta. So when you librar, you are...
Getting the day off. You're taking the day off. Okay. Por ejemplo, hoy libro. Bueno, no libro porque estoy aquí, pero te puedo preguntar, Mark, ¿mañana libras? No, mañana trabajo. Some were taking the day off today. Y otra, and another one, se había ido a casa a descansar. So this is irse, when you go off, when you leave somewhere. So se había ido a casa a descansar.
That's something I think as learners we find quite difficult. And I think the most obvious example is the difference between vamos and vamonos. Pablo, can you explain those differences? Sí, suena un poco extraño decir solo vamos. Si estás en un sitio con un grupo de gente y todos os vais, decimos mayoritariamente vámonos. Es lo mismo si yo digo… Yep.
So when you just say, voy a casa, literally it means I am going to the house, I'm going home. But you really are leaving one place and going to another place. And that's when we make it reflect. Are you leaving already? Pero si te pregunto, vas ya? So that's exactly what we're seeing here with Otra se había ido a casa a descansar. She had gone home to rest. Perfecto. ¿Seguimos?
Miriam, la más joven, parecía un poco preocupada. So Miriam, la más joven, the youngest. Sí, y aquí podríamos decir también la menor, because earlier we said… La mayor. Yes, so mayor and menor worked together, and la más vieja and la más joven perhaps were direct. But Miriam, la más joven, the youngest, parecía un poco preocupada. She seemed a little worried. Al preguntarles cómo había ido la noche, me contaron que Miriam metió un poco la pata, pero fue tan solo un error de cálculo.
Okay, there's quite a lot going on here. So when we see AL plus an infinitive, it means on doing something or when I did something. Al preguntarles cómo había ido la noche. On asking them. How had gone the night? So when I asked them how the night shift went. Mark, and here we have an example of COMO with accent. I don't know if you've noticed. Yes, yes. So here we've got COMO with an accent, which makes it look like a question word.
And the reason for this is actually it's an indirect question. Una pregunta indirecta, sí. So what happened was the narrator asked them how the night went. I would say, ¿Cómo ha ido la noche? How did the night go? But because we're talking about it in the past, we're recounting what happened. So we put the verb further back into the past, into the pluperfect.
cómo había ido la noche, and that cómo has to keep the accent because it's still part of this indirect question. When I asked them how the night had gone, let's go on. Me contaron que Miriam metió un poco la pata. So they told me, me contaron, que Miriam mette un poco la pata. So meter la pata is a lovely expression. It means to put your foot in it, to make a mistake. So Miriam...
Metió un poco la pata. She had made a bit of a mistake. Pero fue tan solo un error de cálculo. But it was just an error of calculation. It was just a mistake of calculations. Exacto. And what was this error of calculation, Pablo? So, al solicitar el pedido de material, when she was ordering the material or on ordering the material, that seemed a plus the infinitive. Lo hizo doble. The double of it. She basically ordered twice the number that she should have. Y me encanta doble porque puede ser.
Have you got a doppelganger? Yeah, a double bed. O un adverbio, lo hizo doble. Yeah, so she did it double the time that she should have. Okay. Y la jefa de la enfermería le echó una bronca. And the head of the nurses or the head of the infirmary le echó una bronca. So echar a alguien una bronca means to give someone into trouble. To give someone a row or to tell someone off.
Okay, so echar una bronca and just watch the le because we see here le echó una bronca. She gave to her a row. Exacto, el pronombre de complemento indirecto. And it wasn't just a row or a telling off, it was a good telling off, una buena bronca. Pero pobrecilla, todos podemos tener un despiste. Exacto, exacto. Okay, let's continue on. Las otras dos amigas se reían porque un celador nuevo muy guapetón le ayudó a hacer la devolución del material extra y aprovechó...
Para pedirle su móvil. Uyuyuy, que salseo. Yeah, some more cotilleo here, I think. Salseo is like gossip. Excellent. So let's go back and work through this. So the other two friends, they were laughing. Why were they laughing? Because... Un celador nuevo muy guapetón. Un celador is a porter in a hospital.
Muy guapetón. So guapo means good looking, but what's guapetón? Aún más. Guapetón o guapetona. It highlights more how handsome or pretty someone is. Okay, so a really good looking new porter. Sí. So he helped her. a hacer la devolución to do the return, so to return the material or to return the goods. Refund as well. Y aprovechó para pedirle su móvil. And someone took advantage of this to ask someone else for their number. Who's doing what?
El celador es el que aprovecha para pedirle el teléfono. Exactamente, porque como fue él quien la ayudó, también él le pidió. I don't know, maybe something will happen here. I guess this is the cotilleo del bar, ¿no? Exacto, ya veremos. So let's continue. Miriam se sonrojó y parecía que no se le quitaba el disgusto. Okay, so Miriam se sonrojó. Sonrojarse is a nice verb, isn't it?
El color rojo, que es exactamente lo que pasa when we blush. When we blush, yes. So sonrojarse, to blush. We've got rojo in there, or roja. Sonrojarse. So Miriam says sonrojo. She blushed. y parecía que no se quitaba el disgusto. And it seemed that she wasn't getting over the upset, basically. Cuidado con esta palabra. Porque parece otra cosa en inglés, pero no lo es. Yeah, so disgusto is a false friend. It doesn't mean disgust. It's just annoyance. So basically here...
Miriam, she's quite embarrassed, but she's also maybe a little bit put out by this teasing that's happening, I think. Entre la bronca de la jefa, el flirteo, oligoteo, está un poco… Okay, let's continue on. Okay, so this is the bar owner. who's of course our narrator, but they clearly know their customers well. Yeah, I think so. So, when they asked for the bill, Le llevé un trozo de tortilla. I took her a piece of tortilla. And that's le to her.
Pretend it tends to take a piece of tortilla, a piece of tortilla, Spanish omelet, of course. Or a slice, yes. En una cajita para llevar. In a little box to take away. Y aquí tenemos el diminutivo ita. Pero, por ejemplo, en mi pueblo diríamos cajica. In some other parts they might say cajilla. There's a lot of variation.
In here. It's the first part of the word that counts in a sense. Whatever comes after it. It's like, eat that eco, whatever. Okay. So I gave her a little piece. I took her a little piece of tortilla to make her feel better. Okay. So I told her that I hoped... That the tortilla of la tía Isa, so Aunt Isa's tortilla, le ayudase a olvidar el mal trago. That it would help her. We've got a nice imperfect subjunctive there. Literally, to forget the...
bad swallowing, maybe to take away the bad taste in her mouth. Sí, es una expresión muy curiosa. It's nice, though. But we've also got la ayudase. We could have said la ayudara. Sí, las dos formas son correctas en el imperfecto del subjuntivo. And it's there, the subjunctive is there because of esperar qué. Exacto, eso es el desencadenante o trigger del subjuntivo aquí. So, Le dije, I told her, que esperaba que, that I hoped that, la tortilla de la tía Isa...
La ayudase a olvidar el mal trago. So I said to her that I hoped that Auntie Isa's tortilla would help her forget the bad experience. Perfecto. Creo que le sentó muy bien. So it seems to have worked. I think it went down well. I think it worked. That's, of course, sentar bien. So to sit well with something, ideally. Or to take something well, si. I think she took it well. Me sonrió. She smiled at me. And she thanked me from the bottom of her heart.
So we're clearly seeing that there are customers in the bar, in the cafe, who are known well to the owner of the cafe, the person who's narrating this story. And as the story develops, we'll see more of this through the subsequent chapters. Yes, yes, I'm wishing. Also, I imagine exactly this bar in any city. Perfecto. Pues lo que vamos a hacer ahora es reescuchar el texto una vez más. Y ahora que hemos hablado un poco de toda la gramática del vocabulario un poco, pues ya todo tendrá más sentido.
scenes from the coffee break spanish café capítulo uno el día ha amanecido un poco gris y como cada mañana sobre las ocho y media El bar estaba bastante lleno de gente desayunando. En una de las mesas de la terraza estaban Carmen, Miriam y Pilar, tres de las enfermeras del hospital de al lado aunque haga frío siempre prefieren sentarse fuera dicen que es para que les dé el aire que están mucho tiempo en el hospital pero además
Es porque Pilar, la mayor de las tres, siempre se toma un café afuera para ver a la gente qué pasa. Tenían cara de cansadas, pero se las veía... relajadas y aliviadas, así que estaba claro que habían terminado su turno de noche. Me acerqué a tomarles la comanda y pregunté por las demás. Algunas libraban hoy y otras se habían ido a casa a descansar. Miriam, la más joven, parecía un poco preocupada al preguntarles cómo había ido la noche.
Me contaron que Miriam metió un poco la pata, pero fue tan solo un error de cálculo. Al solicitar el pedido de material, lo hizo doble. Y la jefa de enfermería le echó una buena bronca. Las otras dos amigas se reían porque un celador nuevo, muy guapetón, le ayudó a hacer la devolución. del material extra. Y aprovechó para pedirle su móvil. Miriam se sonrojó y parecía que no se le quitaba el disgusto. Cuando pidieron la cuenta,
le llevé un trozo de tortilla en una cajita para llevar. Le dije que esperaba que la tortilla de la tía Isa la ayudase a olvidar el mal trago. Creo que le sentó muy bien, me sonrió y me lo agradeció de corazón. Pues ya está Pablo, tu primer podcast.
Sí, me lo he pasado muy bien y estoy muy intrigado por cómo continúa la historia. Perfecto. Now, if you're listening to the podcast version of this, then you may be interested to know that we have a premium version of our course, which includes lots of bonus materials. to help you get into all of the language included in the texts in more detail. And of course, also practice it with exercises. And you can find that at coffeebreaklanguages.com slash scenes.
If, of course, you're already in the Coffee Break Academy using this course, then we would suggest that you move on and work through the additional materials for this chapter. See, don't forget that we also share more Spanish tips and tricks and help you build your language skills even more every week in our free newsletter. Now, to access this, just go to coffeebreakspanish.com.
and sign up there. Perfecto. Pues muchas gracias, Pablo. De nada, Marc. Y muchas gracias a todos vosotros, nuestros oyentes. Y hasta la próxima. Hasta la próxima. Adiós. You have been listening to a Coffee Break Languages production for the Radiolingua Network. Copyright 2025, Radiolingua Limited. Recording copyright 2025, Radiolingua Limited. All rights reserved.
I'm always up before the birds and the kids. Good to think Costa Express is always up too. Early starts are easier with great coffee. And if I grab one for Bob, I might even get some decent company. Large cappuccino for the bloke who's half asleep. Oh, you legend. Now that's a proper coffee. Should kick in Justin Sanford to remember which end of the screwdriver to use. Costa Express. Quality coffee.
Every time. Your future has a beginning. A foundation. You plant the seed, you start the story. Join a university as committed to the future as you are. A university that stands for change and welcomes all. York St John University. A future made by you and us. Search York St John University to book your place on an open day.