
Spanish dialogue with translation · B2 · 14 lines
Eso no es libre albedrío, es debilidad That's not free will, it's weakness
Comic · 14 panels

- Lucía
Ese descubrimiento que ha leído Ana da que pensar. Si la memoria lo cambia todo, ¿soy la misma persona que hace diez años?
That discovery Ana read about makes you think. If memory changes everything, am I the same person I was ten years ago?

- Pablo
Yo, si tuviera que responder ya, diría que sí: sigo igual de despistado que entonces.
If I had to answer right now, I'd say yes: I'm still as scatterbrained as I was back then (man speaking).

- Ana
Hasta cierto punto, sí. Pero no estoy de acuerdo en que seas la misma, Lucía: tú misma contaste que hace diez años no podías ni oler el queso azul.
To some extent, yes. But I don't agree that you're the same, Lucía: you told us yourself that ten years ago you couldn't even stand the smell of blue cheese.

- Lucía
Eso es el gusto, no la persona. Dicho de otro modo, cambio de manías, pero sigo siendo yo.
That's taste, not the person. In other words, my little habits change, but I'm still me.

- Diego
Al fin y al cabo, seguro que lo único que no ha cambiado en diez años es que siempre quieres tener la razón.
After all, I'm sure the only thing that hasn't changed in ten years is that you always want to be right.

- Pablo
Diste en el clavo, Diego. Esto ya es filosofía de sobremesa; yo pongo en duda que alguien pueda razonar con el estómago lleno. Por cierto, la cena estaba muy buena.
You hit the nail on the head, Diego. This is already after-dinner philosophy; I question whether anyone can reason on a full stomach. By the way, dinner was really good.

- Lucía
No te salgas por la tangente, Pablo. ¿La cena estaba buena de verdad o es una mentira piadosa? La tortilla estaba seca, y lo sabes.
Don't change the subject, Pablo. Was dinner really good, or is that a white lie? The tortilla was dry, and you know it.

- Diego
Prefiero una mentira piadosa a una verdad que duela. Ana, dile que estaba rica.
I prefer a white lie to a truth that hurts. Ana, tell her it was delicious.

- Ana
Yo creo que a veces es lo más amable que se puede decir, aunque Lucía no esté de acuerdo.
I think sometimes it's the kindest thing you can say, even if Lucía doesn't agree.

- Lucía
No lo estoy. Yo no mentiría ni por amor: la verdad, si se dice con cariño, no ofende a nadie.
I don't agree. I wouldn't lie, not even for love: the truth, if you say it kindly, doesn't offend anyone.

- Pablo
A mí me pasó algo similar con Raquel: me dijo que mi karaoke tenía mucho sentimiento. Si eso era mentira, que me mienta toda la vida.
Something similar happened to me with Raquel: she told me my karaoke had a lot of feeling. If that was a lie, let her lie to me my whole life.

- Ana
Y ya que estamos, ¿existe el libre albedrío, o estaba escrito en las estrellas que íbamos a discutir esta noche?
And while we're at it, does free will exist, or was it written in the stars that we were going to argue tonight?

- Diego
Yo, como buen filósofo, elijo, sin que nadie me obligue, repetir de postre.
As a true philosopher, I choose, without anyone forcing me, to have seconds of dessert (man speaking).

- Lucía
Eso no es libre albedrío, Diego, es debilidad. Y el destino ya sabía que fregarías tú.
That's not free will, Diego, it's weakness. And fate already knew you'd be the one doing the dishes.
Grammar for this text
Opinions around the dinner table (more in the unit's grammar).
- Si tuviera que responder ya, diría que sí — si + the -ra form, and the conditional diría in the main part: "if I had to…, I'd say…." No estoy de acuerdo en que seas la misma — after "I don't agree that" comes the subjunctive seas. hace diez años no podías ni oler el queso azul — ni makes the negative stronger: "you couldn't even stand the smell of…."
- Diste en el clavo — "you hit the nail on the head"; No te salgas por la tangente — "don't change the subject": Lucía says this to Pablo, who has moved from the argument to praising the dinner. yo pongo en duda que alguien pueda razonar con el estómago lleno — poner en duda que + subjunctive, like dudar que: "I doubt anyone can reason on a full stomach."
- una mentira piadosa — a white lie, a small untruth told so as not to hurt someone. una verdad que duela — "a truth that hurts": after a noun, que + subjunctive, because it's any truth of that kind, not a specific one. aunque Lucía no esté de acuerdo — aunque + subjunctive: "even if Lucía doesn't agree." Yo no mentiría ni por amor — the conditional, "I wouldn't lie," and ni again: "not even for love."
- Si eso era mentira, que me mienta toda la vida — que + subjunctive as a wish: "then let her lie to me." Y ya que estamos — a conversational link: "and while we're at it." estaba escrito en las estrellas que íbamos a discutir — "it was written in the stars"; ir a in the past: "we were going to argue." el destino ya sabía que fregarías tú — the conditional as the future seen from the past: "fate already knew you would do the dishes."
Words and grammar of the unit: Argue about memory and beliefs.
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