The Sunday series
Pablo and his sister start one episode of Aquí no hay quien viva. They stay for one argument on the stairs. In the series the Madrid building is at calle Desengaño, number 21.
La serie del domingo
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, . , , 21. . . , . .
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: ¿ ? .
. . . . , .
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, . . . .
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About this article
What you'll learn
Connected sentences in the present about one Sunday on the sofa: a real comedy, one episode, and one argument.
Pablo and his sister watch one episode of Aquí no hay quien viva, a Spanish comedy on Antena 3 from 2003 to 2006, with five seasons. The story is in a Madrid apartment building. Inside the series that building is at calle Desengaño, number 21, and most of it happens on the stairs and inside the flats. They stay because one loud argument turns into help.
After reading
Article learning block
Phrases, words, grammar, and quick practice from this text.
Phrases for training
Add useful phrases to SRS or mark them as already known.
Aquí no hay quien viva
newyou cannot live here
A fixed expression, learned as one block. Word for word it says «here there is nobody who could live», so a literal translation fails.
It is the title of the series and a phrase Spaniards really use about noise and chaos.
¿Qué tal?
newhow are you? how is it going?
A short greeting. Spaniards say «¡Hola! ¿Qué tal?» more often than the longer «¿Cómo estás?».
The quickest way to greet a neighbour or a shop assistant.
¿Qué pasa aquí?
newwhat is going on here?
Here pasar means to happen, not to pass by.
The question that opens almost every scene in the series.
No pasa nada
newit is nothing, no problem
A double negative: no + nada. In Spanish that is the correct form, not a mistake.
The polite answer to an apology or a small problem.
¡Qué va!
newno way! not at all!
An emphatic no. Learn it whole: a word for word translation does not work.
A very common spoken reaction that textbooks rarely show.
Hasta luego
newsee you later
The standard goodbye. Spaniards say it even to strangers in a shop.
The most universal way to say goodbye in Spain.
la reunión de la comunidad
newthe residents meeting
La comunidad here is not community in general: it is all the residents of one building.
A Spanish everyday institution, and the engine of the whole series.
Key words
Vocabulary that carries the school-day topic.
Neighbours
vecinos
neighbours
Vecino is a male neighbour, vecina a female one. The endings -o and -a mark gender.
The key word of the text, repeated in every paragraph.
Building
edificio
apartment building
Edificio is a block of flats. A private house is casa.
You need edificio and casa apart to say where you live.
Stairs, stairwell
escalera
the stairs, the stairwell
Escalera means both the stairs and the whole stairwell of a building.
The place where Spanish neighbours meet most often.
Noise
ruido
noise
The text has del ruido, that is de + el ruido: de merges with el into del.
Noise is the eternal subject of neighbour disputes and of the series.
Older, elderly
mayores
older, elderly
A false friend: mayor means older in age, not major or bigger.
Señora mayor is the polite way to say elderly lady.
They argue
discuten
they argue, they quarrel
A false friend: discutir means to argue, not to discuss. For discuss use hablar de or comentar.
It is what the neighbours mainly do, and a classic learner mistake.
Grammar in context
Patterns from the text worth noticing after reading.
hay: there is, there are
Hay familias con hijos
there are families with children
Hay never changes: the same form for singular and plural (hay un problema, hay familias). No definite article follows it.
Hay appears more than ten times in this text: it is the main structure of the article.
Reciprocal se: se ven
Los vecinos se ven cada día
the neighbours see each other every day
Here se marks a reciprocal action: they see one another. Compare ve (sees somebody) with se ven (see each other).
This is how relationships between people are described: se ven, se hablan, se saludan.
Present tense: habits
Los españoles usan estas frases todos los días
Spaniards use these phrases every day
The present tense here describes a habit, not the current moment. Markers: cada día, todos los días, una vez al mes.
The whole article uses it: it is the basic form for talking about routines.
Questions with tú
¿Vives en un edificio o en una casa?
do you live in a block of flats or in a house?
The tú forms: vives, hablas, ves. A question always sits between two marks: ¿ at the start and ? at the end.
These are the forms you actually ask a person with, and the article closes with them.
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