Beginner Spanish short essay
Does this short essay about my most interesting vacation sound correct.
In English: Two years ago I had to go to Miami for a wedding. My cousin was getting married to her boyfriend of 7 years. This was the first wedding I attended as an adult and also my first time in Miami. When I arrived to Miami I went to the beach. The beach was amazing! The sun was shining, the people were beautiful, and the ocean was calm. The night before the wedding I went to a club and met a lot of different people. We danced until two in the morning. The next day my cousin and her boyfriend got married. It was a beautiful ceremony. The whole family laughed and drank and had a great time. That was my most interesting vacation.
My translation: Spanish: Hace dos años tuve que ir a Miami para una boda. Mi primo se casaba con su novio de 7 años. Esta fue la primera boda que asistí como un adulto y también mi primera vez en Miami. Cuando llegué a Miami fui a la playa. La playa era increíble! El sol brillaba, la gente era hermosa, y el océano estaba tranquilo. La noche antes de la boda fui a un club y conocí a mucha gente diferente. Bailamos hasta las dos de la mañana. Al día siguiente mi primo y su novio se casaron. Fue una ceremonia hermosa. Toda la familia se rió y bebió y pasamos un tiempo estupendo. Esas fueron mis vacaciones más interesantes.
2 Answers
I made too few corrections. Your Spanish is very good:
Hace dos años tuve que ir a Miami para una boda. Mi prima se casaba con su novio de 7 años. Esta fue la primera boda a la que asistí siendo adulta y también fue mi primera vez en Miami. Cuando llegué a Miami fui a la playa. ¡La playa era increíble! El sol brillaba, la gente era hermosa, y el océano estaba tranquilo. La noche antes de la boda fui a un club y conocí a mucha gente diferente. Bailamos hasta las dos de la mañana. Al día siguiente mi prima y su novio se casaron. Fue una ceremonia hermosa. Toda la familia se rió y bebió y pasamos un tiempo estupendo. Esas fueron mis vacaciones más interesantes.
I would change your penultimate sentence, but merely for reasons of style:
Toda la familia reía y bebía; realmente pasamos un tiempo estupendo.
There is a post here in Spanishdict on Reir vs reirse
Very good...I could only see a couple things I would change. There may be a few other things that I'm sure some other members will point out.
First of all...are you talking about a gay wedding? Primo is a male cousin and novio is boyfriend. I'll assume that you meant to say prima for female cousin and novio for boyfriend. If it's the other way around...or it really is a gay wedding you know how to fix it now. (novia is girlfriend)
- Mi prima se casaba con su novio....this would mean that she had already married him ...maybe even several times in the past. There are several choices for saying what you want to say correctly. Here's a couple:
Mi prima estaba por casarse con su novio. This means that your cousin was about to marry her boyfriend...I think it would work fine.
Or... Mi prima pensaba (or planeaba) casarse con su novio. This would mean that your cousin was planning to marry her boyfriend. (even using pensaba...pensar + infinitive is usually translated as planning to....rather that thinking about)
Or...possibly the simplest way...Mi prima iba a casarse con su novio. (I assume you have learned IR + infinitive for informal or near future) iba + a + infinitive is usually translated as "was going to + infinitive) similar to what you said in English. It might be the best choice with your English text and your teacher is a stickler for tight translation.
A minor point, but I noticed that you used llegué (preterite) and fui (preterite) in the same sentence with cuando. If you really got off the plane and immediately went to the beach, this might be OK. (two preterites are normally used for two events that follow each other very quickly) Another option would be: Después de llegar a Miami, me fui a la playa. (After arriving in Miami, I went to the beach.)
Earlier you wrote: Esta fue la primera boda que asistí como un adulto. This is OK...but I would say: Esta sería la primera boda que he asistido. (This would be the first wedding that I have attended) Or Esta era la primera boda que asistiría. (This was the first wedding that I would attend) (Era rather than fue emphasizes that you are just sort of setting the background of the story....fui & fue are used more to call out specific things WHEN they happened in the story.
The advice in the prior paragraph applies only if you are expected to know something about perfect and conditional tenses. If you are, changing things up a bit would help to demonstrate your knowledge of alternative tenses.
Again...very good job...and good luck with your Spanish...you're on your way.
