Learn how to update family in Spanish when their loved one is in respiratory distress. To help us with this dialogue, we are joined by Nacho Caballero, founder of the online Spanish school, La Comunidad.
In the member lessons, we practice the vocabulary and key phrases from the clinical dialogues. We also delve into the grammar. Support the podcast! Sign up for a course or become a premium member.
Learn more Spanish for Covid.
LEVEL - ADVANCED
La Comunidad
1:34Before we begin the clinical dialogue, I talk (in Spanish) about my experience in La Comunidad, Nacho’s online Spanish school for intermediate to advanced Spanish speakers. Here’s the video I mention, made by members of La Comunidad.
Diálogo
4:10If you are listening to this through the podcast feed, click post link at the bottom of these show notes to watch the video for this lesson.
M: ¿Bueno?
D: Hola, buenas. Llamo del Unity Hospital. ¿Hablo con la señora Martínez?
M: Sí, soy yo.
D: Encantado, señora Martínez. Soy el doctor Caballero. Me encargo de la atención de su marido, Daniel y quería informarla sobre cómo está yendo su tratamiento.
M: Muchas gracias por llamar, doctor. ¿Cómo está Daniel?
D: Se encuentra relativamente bien, pero hoy le estuvo costando más esfuerzo respirar y sus niveles de oxígeno en sangre bajaron. Le administramos oxigenoterapia a través de una cánula nasal de alto flujo. Y aun así, sus niveles de oxígeno no se recuperaron del todo.
M: ¿Qué quiere decir? ¿Tuvieron que intubarlo? ¿Se va a morir?
D: Tenemos muchas esperanzas de que mejore y supere esta enfermedad. Pero tuvimos que ponerle un respirador de tipo BiPAP para darle más apoyo respiratorio.
A diferencia de la intubación, este respirador proporciona una ventilación mecánica no invasiva. El aire se introduce en los pulmones a través de una mascarilla facial bien ajustada.
Hace mucho ruido y puede ser un poco incómodo. Sin embargo, suele dar buenos resultados en pacientes a los que les cuesta respirar por su cuenta, como en el caso de Daniel.
M: Entonces, ¿no tienen que intubarlo?
D: No le hace falta intubación en este momento. Con la ayuda de BiPAP, ahora está estable y vamos a hacer todo lo posible para que siga así.
M: Muchísimas gracias, doctor.
D: No hay de qué. Es un honor cuidar a Daniel. Nos cae muy bien a todos. Su actitud es muy positiva y tiene un gran sentido del humor.
M: Que Dios le bendiga, doctor. A usted y a todos los que están atendiendo a Daniel. Se lo agradezco de todo corazón.
D: Lo importante ahora es que Daniel está evolucionando bien. No se preocupe, que la volveré a llamar en cuanto tengamos alguna novedad.
M: Sí, por favor. Llámeme cuando quiera. Buenas noches, doctor.
D: Buenas noches, señora Martínez.
Preguntas y Respuestas
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Gracias por escuchar y gracias a Nacho Caballero, fundador de La Comunidad.
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Thank you for this excellent episode. I really love the method of asking a native speaker other natural/common ways to phrase things.
One thing I have consistently struggled with as a native English speaker is the use of pronominal verbs. What he said about “reducirse” made total sense–that as it is not transitive in this case, then the pronominal form is used (“los niveles se redujeron”), but I find this difficult to put into practice on the spot.
Is the general rule that if there are two forms of a verb that have similar meanings, pronominal and regular, that if there is no direct object to follow (ie, the verb is not transitive), the pronominal form should be used? With the use of “bajar” in this case the pronominal form was not used, but is that because bajarse has a separate meaning and so not a parallel situation? Thanks
Hey Katie! This is an excellent question. The topic of pronominal vs non-pronominal is super tricky because there are no hard and fast rules, just patterns which some verbs follow and others do not. Here are two quotes from my favorite grammar book:
“One important use of pronominal verbs is to show that a verb is intransitive….With a few important exceptions, Spanish marks the intransitive meaning of an otherwise transitive verb by making it pronominal”
“But a number of nonpronominal verbs have both a transitive and an intransitive meaning. Thus we can say, ‘arranca el ordenador/ la computadora’ (start up the computer) and ‘el ordenador/ la computadora arranca’ (the computer is starting up), ‘lo/ le suspendieron en francés’ (they failed him in French) and ‘suspendió en francés’ (s/he failed in French)…”
— A New Reference Grammar of Modern Spanish (Routledge Reference Grammars) by John Butt, Carmen Benjamin
https://a.co/8dsFt9H
So basically, when a verb can ONLY be transitive in its non-pronominal form (e.g. REDUCIR), it becomes intransitive in its pronominal form. However, some verbs can be both transitive and intransitive in their non-pronominal forms. BAJAR y DISMINUIR just happen to be two such verbs and were included on a list of such verbs in John Butt’s book.
I see you are a Spanish Grammar member! If you’re interested, I did a 5-part series on pronominal verbs, which I refer to as reflexive verbs here.
I could add about 10 more lessons to this series, as the topic of pronominal vs non-pronominal is vast, but this is a start.
I am so glad you liked the style of this lesson. I plan to do more with my teachers from Latin America, as well.
Molly