# The Seven Madmen, Incoherencies Los siete locos · Roberto Arlt · Part Two Source: https://1732studios.com/books/arlt/incoherencias. Data: https://1732studios.com/books/arlt/incoherencias.json. Audio: https://audio.1732studios.com/arlt/.m4a. Los días que sucedieron al secuestro de Barsut, los pasó Erdosain encerrado en el cuarto de una pensión, a la que se trasladó provisoriamente después de liquidar su deuda con la Limited Azucarer Company. The days that followed Barsut's abduction, Erdosain spent shut up in the room of a boardinghouse, to which he had moved provisionally after settling his debt with the Limited Azucarer Company. > Object pronoun doubling a fronted object: The sentence puts «Los días...» first, then repeats it with the pronoun «los»: «Los días... los pasó Erdosain». When a direct object is moved to the front for emphasis, Spanish typically echoes it with a matching object pronoun («los») before the verb — here, literally 'the days... them Erdosain spent'. Le había cobrado terror a la calle. He had come to dread the street. > «cobrarle terror a» — to come to dread: «cobrar» literally means 'to charge / collect', but with an emotion it means 'to take on, to develop' a feeling toward something: «cobrarle terror a la calle» = 'to come to dread the street'. The dative «le» points ahead to «a la calle», the thing the terror is directed at. No pensaba nunca en el proyectado secuestro de Barsut, y hasta dejó de visitar al Astrólogo. He never thought about the planned abduction of Barsut, and he even stopped visiting the Astrologer. > «dejar de» + infinitive: «dejar de» plus an infinitive means 'to stop / quit doing' something: «dejó de visitar» = 'he stopped visiting'. Don't confuse it with plain «dejar» ('to leave / let'); the «de» is what turns it into ceasing an action. Se pasaba el día en la cama, con los puños apoyados en la almohada y la frente aplastada sobre éstos. He spent the day in bed, with his fists propped on the pillow and his forehead crushed down on them. > Reflexive «pasarse» for spending time: The pronominal «pasarse el día / el tiempo» means 'to spend the whole day / one's time' doing something, with the «se» adding a sense of the time being wholly given over to it. The imperfect «pasaba» marks it as a repeated, ongoing habit across these shut-in days. Otras veces permanecía horas con los ojos clavados en la pared, por la que le parecía trepaba una delgada neblina de sueño y de desesperación. At other times he would remain for hours with his eyes fixed on the wall, up which, it seemed to him, a thin mist of sleep and despair was climbing. > Dropped «que» after «parecer»: Normally one says «le parecía que trepaba una neblina» ('it seemed to him that a mist was climbing'). In literary prose Arlt drops the conjunction «que», embedding «le parecía» almost like an aside: 'up which, it seemed to him, a mist was climbing'. Durante aquel período no pudo nunca reconstruir el semblante de Elsa. During that period he was never able to reconstruct Elsa's face. > Preterite of «poder» — a failed effort: «pudo» is the preterite of «poder». In the negative it reports a specific, bounded failure: «no pudo nunca reconstruir» = 'he was never (once) able to reconstruct' — he tried, over that whole stretch, and could not. The imperfect «podía» would instead describe a general inability rather than these concrete attempts. –Se había alejado tan misteriosamente de mi espíritu, que me costaba un gran esfuerzo recordar los rasgos de su fisonomía. –She had withdrawn so mysteriously from my spirit that it cost me a great effort to recall the features of her face. > «costar» — to take effort: Beyond 'to cost money', «costar» means 'to take / require' effort: «me costaba un gran esfuerzo recordar» = 'it cost me a great effort to remember', i.e. 'I found it very hard to remember'. The dative «me» marks whom it cost. Luego dormía o cavilaba. Then he would sleep or brood. > «cavilar» — to brood, to ruminate: «cavilar» means to turn something over and over in the mind, to brood or fret obsessively. It is darker and more anxious than simply «pensar» (to think) — the right word for Erdosain's circling, sleepless rumination. Trató, aunque inútilmente, de preocuparse de dos proyectos que consideraba importantes: el cambio electromagnético para máquinas de vapor, y el de una tintorería de perros, que lanzaría al mercado canes de pelambre teñido de azul eléctrico, bull–dogs verdes, lebreles violetas, foxterriers lilas, falderos con fotografías de crepúsculos a tres tintas en el lomo, perritas con arabescos como tapices persas. He tried, though uselessly, to busy himself with two projects he considered important: the electromagnetic conversion for steam engines, and that of a dog dye-works, which would launch onto the market hounds with coats dyed electric blue, green bulldogs, violet greyhounds, lilac fox terriers, lapdogs with three-color photographs of sunsets on their backs, little bitches with arabesques like Persian tapestries. > «tratar de» + infinitive: «tratar de» plus an infinitive means 'to try to' do something: «trató de preocuparse» = 'he tried to concern himself'. The pronominal «preocuparse de» here is not 'to worry' but 'to take an interest in / occupy oneself with' the two schemes. Estaba tranquilo: una tarde se durmió y tuvo este sueño: Sabía que era novio de una de las infantas. He was calm: one afternoon he fell asleep and had this dream: He knew he was engaged to one of the infantas. > «dormirse» vs «dormir»: Plain «dormir» means 'to sleep'; the pronominal «dormirse» means 'to fall asleep' — the entering of sleep, not the state. The preterite «se durmió» captures that single moment one afternoon when he dropped off. Este suceso acompañado del hecho de ser lacayo de su majestad, Alfonso XIII, le regocijaba inmediatamente, pues los generales le rodeaban, haciéndole intencionadas preguntas. This event, together with the fact of being a lackey of His Majesty Alfonso XIII, delighted him at once, for the generals surrounded him, putting pointed questions to him. > «regocijar» — to delight, to gladden: «regocijar» means to fill with «regocijo» — keen joy or glee. «le regocijaba» = 'it filled him with glee', a stronger, more elated word than simple «alegrar» (to make happy). Un espejo de agua mordía los troncos de los árboles siempre florecidos en blanco mayor, mientras que la infanta, una niña alta, tomándole del brazo, le decía ceceando: A mirror of water gnawed at the trunks of the trees, forever in full white bloom, while the infanta, a tall girl, taking him by the arm, said to him with a lisp: –¿Me amáis, Erdosain? –Do you love me, Erdosain? > «vos amáis» — the deferential plural: «amáis» is the «vosotros»/«vos» form used here as a formal, archaic second person — the courtly 'thou' of royalty addressing a subject. Note this is NOT Argentine «voseo» (which would be «¿Me amás?»); the old-fashioned «amáis» belongs to the dream's storybook Spain. Erdosain, echándose a reír, le contestó con grosería a la infanta: un círculo de espadas brilló ante sus ojos y sintió que se hundía, cataclismos sucesivos desgajaron los continentes, pero él hacía muchos siglos que dormía en un cuartujo de plomo en el fondo del mar. Erdosain, bursting out laughing, answered the infanta coarsely: a circle of swords flashed before his eyes and he felt himself sinking, successive cataclysms tore the continents apart, but he had been sleeping for many centuries in a wretched little lead chamber at the bottom of the sea. > «echarse a» + infinitive: «echarse a» plus an infinitive marks the sudden start of an action: «echarse a reír» = 'to burst out laughing', «echarse a llorar» = 'to burst into tears'. It is more abrupt than simply beginning to do something. > «hacía ... que» for ongoing past duration: «hacía + time + que + imperfect» expresses how long something had already been going on: «hacía muchos siglos que dormía» = 'he had been sleeping for many centuries'. Both verbs sit in the imperfect because they describe a state still in progress at that past moment. Tras del vidriado ventanuco iban y venían tiburones tuertos, furiosos porque sufrían de almorranas, y Erdosain se regocijó silenciosamente, riéndose con risitas del hombre que no quiere ser oído. Beyond the little glazed window one-eyed sharks came and went, furious because they suffered from hemorrhoids, and Erdosain rejoiced in silence, laughing with the little chuckles of a man who does not want to be heard. > «tuerto» — one-eyed: «tuerto» means one-eyed, blind in one eye. It seeds the dream's running image: in the next sentence every fish in the sea is «tuerto» and Erdosain is Emperor of the City of the One-Eyed Fish. Ahora todos los peces del mar estaban tuertos, y él era Emperador de la Ciudad de los Peces Tuertos. Now all the fish of the sea were one-eyed, and he was Emperor of the City of the One-Eyed Fish. Una muralla eterna circundaba el desierto a la orilla del mar, el cielo verde se oxidaba en los ladrillos del muro, y en las paredes de las torres rojas, las olas entrechocaban miríadas de peces gordos y tuertos, monstruosos peces ventrudos enfermos de lepra marina, mientras que un negro hidrópico amenazaba con el puño a un ídolo de sal. An eternal rampart girded the desert at the sea's edge, the green sky rusted in the bricks of the wall, and against the walls of the red towers the waves dashed myriads of fat, one-eyed fish, monstrous potbellied fish sick with a marine leprosy, while a dropsical black man shook his fist at an idol of salt. > «entrechocar» — to dash together: «entrechocar» means to knock or dash one thing against another — the prefix «entre-» ('between') adds the sense of mutual collision. Here the waves hurl the fish against each other and against the towers. Otras veces, Erdosain evocaba tiempos pasados y en los que había previsto los sucesos actuales, como le dijera aquella noche al capitán. At other times Erdosain would summon up past days, days in which he had foreseen the present events, as he had told the captain that night. > «-ra» imperfect subjunctive as a pluperfect: «dijera» is the «-ra» imperfect subjunctive of «decir», but in older literary Spanish it often replaces the pluperfect indicative «había dicho»: «como le dijera aquella noche» = 'as he had told him that night'. This narrative use is common in Arlt's prose. Sufrimientos sordos, merodeos en torno de una realidad que ahora le hacia decir: Muffled sufferings, prowlings around a reality that now made him say: > «sordo» — dull, muffled: Beyond 'deaf', «sordo» describes a sound or sensation that is muffled, dull, deadened — «sufrimientos sordos» are sufferings without a sharp voice, a low, inarticulate ache. –Tenía razón, no me equivocaba. –I was right, I was not mistaken. > «tener razón» — to be right: «tener razón» (literally 'to have reason') is the fixed idiom for 'to be right / correct'. The imperfect «tenía» here looks back on a settled past truth: 'I was right (all along)'. Así, recordaba que una noche conversando con Elsa, ésta, en un momento de sinceridad, le confesó que de haber sido soltera, no se habría casado, sino que hubiera tenido un amante. Thus he recalled that one night, while talking with Elsa, she, in a moment of frankness, confessed to him that, had she been single, she would not have married, but would have taken a lover. > «de» + infinitive as a condition: «de» plus a (perfect) infinitive expresses a condition, equivalent to an 'if' clause: «de haber sido soltera» = 'if she had been single', 'had she been single'. It pairs naturally with the conditional-perfect results that follow («no se habría casado»). > Two ways to say 'would have': Both «se habría casado» (conditional perfect) and «hubiera tenido» («-ra» pluperfect subjunctive) translate as 'would have...'. Spanish freely uses the «-ra» subjunctive as a stand-in for the conditional perfect in the result of an unreal condition, so the two clauses sit comfortably side by side. Erdosain le preguntó: Erdosain asked her: –¿En serio decís eso? –Do you mean that seriously? > Argentine «voseo»: «decís» is the «vos» form of «decir» — Buenos Aires Spanish uses «vos» instead of «tú», with its own present-tense endings («vos decís», «vos tenés», «vos sos»). This is the everyday voice of the novel's couple, in contrast to the dream's courtly «amáis». De la otra cama, terca, Elsa respondió: From the other bed, stubborn, Elsa answered: –Sí, hombre, tendría un amante... ¿para qué casarse?... –Yes, man, I'd have a lover... what's the point of marrying?... > «¿para qué?» — to what end?: «¿para qué?» asks about purpose — 'for what / to what end?', not 'why' as cause («¿por qué?»). «¿Para qué casarse?» = 'What would be the point of marrying?' — challenging the very purpose of marriage. Fenómeno curioso: Erdosain tuvo súbitamente la sensación del silencio de la muerte, un silencio paralelo como un féretro a su cuerpo horizontal. A curious phenomenon: Erdosain suddenly had the sensation of the silence of death, a silence lying parallel to his horizontal body like a coffin. > Preterite of «tener» for a sudden event: «tuvo» is the preterite of «tener». Though «tener» usually names a state, in the preterite it marks the onset of one: «tuvo súbitamente la sensación» = 'he suddenly got / was struck by the sensation' — a thing that happened in an instant, not a lasting condition. Posiblemente en aquel instante, en él se destruyó todo el amor inconsciente que el hombre siente por una mujer, y luego le permitirá afrontar situaciones terribles, que serían insoportables de no haber sucedido previamente aquel fenómeno. Possibly in that instant there was destroyed in him all the unconscious love that a man feels for a woman, which would later let him face terrible situations that would be unbearable had that phenomenon not occurred beforehand. > Passive-impersonal «se»: «se destruyó todo el amor» uses the pronominal «se» to state that the love was destroyed without naming an agent — 'all the love was destroyed', 'all the love came undone'. The verb agrees with «todo el amor», which sits after it as the grammatical subject. > Negative «de» + infinitive condition: As with «de haber sido», «de no haber sucedido aquel fenómeno» packs a negative 'if' into an infinitive: 'had that phenomenon not happened', 'if that phenomenon had not happened beforehand'. Le parecía ahora encontrarse en el fondo de un sepulcro, pensó que jamás vería la luz, y en ese silencio liviano y negro que colmaba la habitación se movían los fantasmas despertados por la voz de su esposa. It now seemed to him that he was at the bottom of a tomb; he thought he would never see the light again, and in that light, black silence that brimmed the room moved the phantoms awakened by his wife's voice. > Conditional as future-in-the-past: «vería» is the conditional of «ver». After a past reporting verb («pensó que...»), the conditional expresses a future seen from that past moment: «pensó que jamás vería la luz» = 'he thought he would never see the light'. Más tarde, explicando esos momentos, recordó que se mantenía inmóvil, en la cama, temeroso de romper el equilibrio de su enorme desdicha, que aplomaba definitivamente su cuerpo horizontal en la superficie de una angustia implacable. Later, explaining those moments, he recalled that he kept himself motionless, in the bed, afraid of breaking the balance of his enormous misery, which pinned his horizontal body once and for all onto the surface of an implacable anguish. > Adjective + «de» + infinitive: Many adjectives of feeling take «de» before an infinitive to name what the feeling is about: «temeroso de romper» = 'afraid of breaking'. Compare «deseoso de» (eager to), «capaz de» (capable of). Su corazón latía pesadamente. His heart beat heavily. Parecíale que cada sístole diástole tenía que vencer la presión de una elástica masa de fango. It seemed to him that each systole and diastole had to overcome the pressure of an elastic mass of mire. > Enclitic pronoun on a conjugated verb: «Parecíale» is «le parecía» with the pronoun attached to the end of the verb — an older literary word order. It means the same thing, 'it seemed to him', but tacking the «le» on (an enclitic) gives the prose its slightly archaic, formal cadence. > «tener que» + infinitive — obligation: «tener que» plus an infinitive expresses necessity or obligation: «tenía que vencer» = 'had to overcome'. The imperfect «tenía» casts it as a continuous, laboring condition of each heartbeat. Y era inútil que desde allí él intentara mover las manos para alcanzar el sol que estaba más arriba. And it was useless for him to try, from there, to move his hands to reach the sun that was higher up. > Subjunctive after an impersonal judgment: Impersonal value judgments like «es/era inútil que» ('it is/was useless that') trigger the subjunctive in the clause that follows: «era inútil que intentara» = 'it was useless for him to try'. «intentara» is the imperfect subjunctive of «intentar». Y la voz de la esposa repetía aún en sus oídos: And his wife's voice still repeated in his ears: –No me hubiera casado. –I would not have married. Tendría un amante. I'd have a lover. > Conditional «tendría» — 'I would have': «tendría» is the conditional of «tener»: 'I would have'. Together with «no me hubiera casado» it states the unreal alternative life she imagines — not marrying, taking a lover instead. Y esas palabras, que para ser pronunciadas no habían requerido sino el espacio de dos segundos de tiempo, estarían ahora resonando toda la vida en él. And those words, which to be uttered had required no more than the space of two seconds of time, would now go on resounding inside him all his life. > «no ... sino» — nothing but: «no ... sino» means 'nothing but / only': «no habían requerido sino dos segundos» = 'had required nothing but two seconds', 'had taken only two seconds'. «sino» here marks the sole exception to the negation, distinct from «pero» ('but, however'). Cerró los ojos. He closed his eyes. Las palabras estarían toda la vida en él, arraigadas en su entraña como un crecimiento de carne. The words would be in him all his life, rooted in his gut like a growth of flesh. > «arraigar» — to take root: «arraigar» means to take root, from «raíz» (root). The past participle «arraigadas» makes the words plant-like, sunk into «su entraña» (his innermost being, his guts) — an organic, bodily image of an unforgettable wound. Y sus dientes rechinaron. And his teeth gnashed. Quería sufrir más aún, agotarse de dolor, desangrarse en un lento chorrear de angustia. He wanted to suffer still more, to exhaust himself with pain, to bleed himself out in a slow trickling of anguish. > «desangrarse» — to bleed out: «desangrarse» (from «sangre», blood) is to bleed out, to drain of blood. The pronominal «se» makes it self-directed — Erdosain wants to bleed himself dry, to be emptied, by anguish. Y con las manos pegadas a los muslos, tieso como un muerto en su ataúd, sin volver la cabeza, reteniendo el galope de su respiración, preguntó con voz sibilante: And with his hands pressed to his thighs, stiff as a dead man in his coffin, without turning his head, holding back the gallop of his breathing, he asked in a hissing voice: > «tieso» — rigid, stiff: «tieso» means rigid, stiff, taut. «tieso como un muerto en su ataúd» = 'stiff as a dead man in his coffin' — the corpse imagery of the whole scene tightening around his living, paralyzed body. –¿Y lo hubieras querido? –And would you have wanted him? > «-ra» pluperfect subjunctive for 'would have': «hubieras querido» is the «-ra» pluperfect subjunctive of «querer», used here for the conditional perfect: 'would you have wanted / loved him?'. The clitic «lo» is the masculine direct object — the imagined lover. –¿Para qué?... ¡Quién sabe!... Sí; si era bueno, ¿por qué no? –What for?... Who knows!... Yes; if he was good, why not? > «¡Quién sabe!» — Who knows!: «¡Quién sabe!» is a fixed exclamation, 'Who knows! / Who can say!', used to shrug off certainty. Note «por qué» (two words, with accent) is 'why', as opposed to «porque» ('because') — Elsa answers his torment with airy indifference. –¿Y dónde se hubieran visto? –And where would the two of you have met? > Reciprocal «se» — each other: Here «se» is reciprocal rather than reflexive: «se hubieran visto» = 'they would have seen / met each other'. The «-ra» pluperfect subjunctive again does the work of the conditional perfect in this unreal question. Porque en tu casa no iban a tolerar eso. Because at your house they weren't going to put up with that. > «ir a» + infinitive in the imperfect: «ir a» plus an infinitive is the 'going to' future; in the imperfect («iban a tolerar») it becomes a future-in-the-past — 'they were (not) going to tolerate'. It projects what would have happened from a past vantage point. –En algún hotel. –In some hotel. –¡Ah! –Ah! Callaron, pero ya Erdosain la veía en la firme desdicha de su vida, avanzar por la acera de una calle empedrada con lascas de río. They fell silent, but Erdosain already saw her, in the firm misery of his life, advancing along the sidewalk of a street cobbled with river slabs. > «callar» — to fall silent: «callar» is to fall silent, to stop speaking. The preterite «callaron» marks the single moment the talk broke off: 'they fell silent'. (Pronominal «callarse» often carries the sense 'to shut up / hush'.) Ella se adelantaba por la ancha vereda. She moved forward along the wide pavement. Un tul oscuro le cubría la mitad del semblante, y encaminándose hacia el lugar donde la conducía el deliberado deseo, avanzaba con rápidos y seguros pasos. A dark veil of tulle covered half her face, and making her way toward the place where her deliberate desire was leading her, she advanced with quick, sure steps. > Dative of possession with body parts: Spanish marks the owner of a body part with a dative pronoun rather than a possessive: «le cubría la mitad del semblante» = literally 'covered to her half the face', i.e. 'covered half her face'. The «le» tells us whose face, so no «su» is needed. Y deseoso de martirizar aún lo poco de esperanza que le quedaba, Erdosain continuó, con una sonrisa falsa que ella no podía distinguir en la oscuridad, y la voz suave, para que Elsa no reparara en el furor que estremecía sus labios: And eager to torment even the little hope that remained to him, Erdosain went on, with a false smile she could not make out in the dark, and a soft voice, so that Elsa would not notice the fury that trembled on his lips: > «para que» + subjunctive of purpose: «para que» ('so that') always takes the subjunctive: «para que Elsa no reparara» = 'so that Elsa would not notice'. «reparara» is the imperfect subjunctive of «reparar» (here 'to notice, to take note of'). –¿Ves? –You see? Así es lindo, en un matrimonio, poder hablar de todo con una confianza de hermanos. That's how it's nice, in a marriage, to be able to talk about everything with the trust of brother and sister. > «lindo» — lovely, nice: «lindo» means pretty, lovely, nice — extremely common in River Plate speech where another dialect might say «bonito» or «bueno». «Así es lindo» = 'that's how it's lovely', a falsely warm note in Erdosain's cruel game. Y, decíme, ¿te hubieras desnudado ante él? And, tell me, would you have undressed in front of him? > «vos» affirmative command: «decíme» is the «vos» imperative of «decir» plus the attached pronoun «me»: 'tell me'. The «vos» command keeps the stress on the final syllable («decí», «contá», «mirá»), unlike the «tú» imperative «dime». –¡No digas estupideces! –Don't talk nonsense! > Negative command uses the subjunctive: Negative commands are formed with the present subjunctive: «no digas» = 'don't say'. (The affirmative «vos» command would be «decí»; for the negative, Spanish switches to the subjunctive «digas» regardless of «tú»/«vos».) –No; decíme: ¿te hubieras desnudado? –No; tell me: would you have undressed? –¡Y... claro! –Why... of course! > «¡claro!» — of course: «¡claro!» means 'of course! / sure!'. The leading «¡Y...!» is a colloquial filler ('Well...', 'Why...') that, with «claro», gives an offhand, obvious-sounding 'Well, of course!' — devastating in its casualness. ¡No me iba a estar vestida! I wasn't going to stay there dressed! > «estar» + participle for a state: «estar» plus a past participle describes a resulting state, not an action: «estar vestida» = 'to be (in the state of being) dressed', 'to have one's clothes on'. With «no me iba a estar vestida» she scoffs at the idea of keeping them on. Si de un hachazo le hubieran partido la columna vertebral, no quedaría más rígido. Had they split his spine with one axe-blow, he would not have lain more rigid. > «-azo» — a blow with: The suffix «-azo» names a blow struck with the root noun: «hacha» (axe) → «hachazo» (an axe-blow). The same pattern gives «martillazo» (hammer-blow), «portazo» (door slam) — a single, violent stroke. La garganta se le resecó como si por ella entrara un viento de fuego. His throat went dry as if a wind of fire were passing through it. > «como si» + imperfect subjunctive: «como si» ('as if') always takes the imperfect (or pluperfect) subjunctive: «como si entrara un viento de fuego» = 'as if a wind of fire were passing through'. It frames a hypothetical, unreal comparison. Su corazón apenas latía; por sobre los sesos sintió correr una neblina que se le escapaba por los ojos. His heart barely beat; over his brains he felt a mist run that was escaping him through the eyes. > Perception verb + bare infinitive: Verbs of perception («sentir», «ver», «oír») take a plain infinitive where English uses a participle: «sintió correr una neblina» = 'he felt a mist run / running'. The thing perceived («una neblina») is the subject of that infinitive. Caía en el silencio y la oscuridad, se sumergía en la nada por un muelle descendimiento, mientras que la firme parálisis de su carne cúbica subsistía para que la sensación de la pena se estampara más profundamente. He was falling into silence and darkness, sinking into nothingness by a soft descent, while the firm paralysis of his cubic flesh held on so that the sensation of grief might be stamped more deeply. > «muelle» — soft, yielding (adjective): Here «muelle» is not the noun 'wharf/spring' but the adjective 'soft, yielding, languid': «un muelle descendimiento» = 'a soft, gentle descent'. «descendimiento» is a rare nominalization of «descender» — a 'descending', a coming-down. Calló, y, sin embargo, él hubiera querido sollozar, arrodillarse ante alguien, levantarse en ese instante, vestirse e ir a dormir en el atrio de alguna casa, en el umbral de una ciudad desconocida. He fell silent, and yet he would have wanted to sob, to kneel before someone, to get up that very instant, to dress and go sleep in the entryway of some house, on the threshold of an unknown city. > «y» becomes «e» before an i-sound: The conjunction «y» ('and') changes to «e» before a word beginning with the i-sound, to avoid two i-sounds colliding: «vestirse e ir» = 'to dress and go'. (Similarly «o» becomes «u» before an o-sound.) Enloquecido, gritó Erdosain: Crazed, Erdosain shouted: > «enloquecer» — to drive/go mad: «enloquecer» means to drive mad or to go mad (from «loco», mad). The participle «enloquecido» = 'maddened, crazed' — and «loco» is, of course, the word in the novel's own title, «Los siete locos», 'The Seven Madmen'. –¿Pero te das cuenta... te das cuenta de lo horrible de esto, de lo espantoso que me has dicho? –But do you realize... do you realize the horror of this, the dreadfulness of what you've told me? > «darse cuenta de» — to realize: «darse cuenta de» is the everyday idiom for 'to realize, to grasp': «¿te das cuenta?» = 'do you realize?'. Note the «de» before the thing realized — «darse cuenta de lo horrible» = 'to realize the horror'. > «lo» + adjective — the ... quality: Neuter «lo» plus an adjective forms an abstract noun: «lo horrible de esto» = 'the horrible(ness) of this', 'how horrible this is'. Likewise «lo espantoso» = 'the dreadful thing / how dreadful'. ¡Yo debía matarte! I ought to kill you! > «deber» + infinitive — obligation: «deber» plus an infinitive expresses moral obligation: «debía matarte» = 'I ought to / should kill you'. (Distinct from «deber de» + infinitive, which marks supposition: 'I must be...'.) ¡Sos una perra! You're a bitch! > «sos» — «vos» form of «ser»: «sos» is the Argentine «vos» form of «ser»: «vos sos» = 'you are' (where «tú eres» would be standard). One of the most recognizable markers of porteño speech. ¡Yo debía matarte, sí, matarte! I ought to kill you, yes, kill you! ¿Te das cuenta? Do you realize? –¡Pero qué te pasa! –But what's the matter with you! > «¿qué te pasa?» — what's wrong with you?: «pasarle algo a alguien» is 'for something to happen to someone'. «¿Qué te pasa?» = 'What's happening to you? / What's the matter with you?' — the dative «te» marks the person affected. ¿Estás loco? Are you mad? –Vos has deshecho mi vida. –You've wrecked my life. > «deshacer» — to undo, to wreck: «deshacer» (the «des-» reversal of «hacer», 'to make') means to undo, take apart, ruin. Its irregular past participle is «deshecho»: «has deshecho mi vida» = 'you have undone / wrecked my life'. Ahora sé por qué no te me entregabas, ¡y me has obligado a masturbarme! Now I know why you wouldn't give yourself to me, and you've forced me to masturbate! > Stacked pronouns «te me»: «entregarse» is 'to give oneself'; «no te me entregabas» stacks two clitics — reflexive «te» ('yourself', 2nd person vos) and dative «me» ('to me', 1st person): 'you wouldn't give yourself to me'. The order is reflexive-before-indirect: «te me». > «obligar a» + infinitive: «obligar a» plus an infinitive means 'to force / compel to do': «me has obligado a masturbarme» = 'you have forced me to masturbate'. Many verbs of compulsion and beginning take «a» before their infinitive. ¡Sí, a eso! Yes, to that! Me has hecho un trapo de hombre. You've made a rag of a man out of me. > «un trapo de hombre» — a wreck of a man: «trapo» is a rag, a worthless scrap of cloth. «un trapo de hombre» means 'a wreck / wretch of a man' — the «X de Y» pattern ('a rag of a man') uses the first noun to insult the second. Debía matarte. I ought to kill you. El primero que venga podrá escupirme en la cara. The first man who comes along will be able to spit in my face. > Subjunctive for an unspecified person: «venga» is the present subjunctive of «venir». When the antecedent is indefinite — not a known person but 'whoever comes', 'the first one who may come' — the relative clause takes the subjunctive: «el primero que venga» = 'the first one who comes / whoever comes first'. ¿Te das cuenta? Do you realize? Y mientras yo robo y estafo, y sufro por vos, vos... sí, vos estás pensando en eso. And while I steal and swindle, and suffer for you, you... yes, you are thinking about that. > «estafar» — to swindle: «estafar» is to swindle, to cheat someone out of money — the very crime that opens the novel, when Erdosain is caught embezzling. «robo y estafo» = 'I steal and swindle', the labors he claims to bear for her sake. ¡En que te hubieras entregado a un hombre bueno! About how you'd have given yourself to a good man! ¿Pero te das cuenta? But do you realize? ¡Un hombre bueno! A good man! ¡Así, un hombre bueno! Just like that, a good man! –¿Pero estás loco? –But are you mad? Rápidamente se vestía Erdosain. Quickly Erdosain was dressing. > «vestirse» — to get dressed: The pronominal «vestirse» means 'to dress oneself, to get dressed' (vs. transitive «vestir», 'to dress someone'). The imperfect «se vestía» shows the action in progress: 'he was getting dressed'. –¿Dónde vas? –Where are you going? Echóse a cuestas el sobretodo; después inclinándose sobre la cama de la mujer, exclamó: He threw the overcoat on over his shoulders; then, leaning over the woman's bed, he exclaimed: > Enclitic pronoun + «a cuestas»: «Echóse» is «se echó» with the pronoun attached (enclitic), an older literary order: 'he flung onto himself'. «a cuestas» means 'on one's back / shoulders', so «echóse a cuestas el sobretodo» = 'he threw the overcoat on over his shoulders'. –¿Sabes adonde voy? –Do you know where I'm going? A un prostíbulo, a buscarme una sífilis. To a brothel, to go catch myself syphilis. > «a» + infinitive of purpose; ethical dative: The «a» + infinitive states purpose ('to go and look for'): «a buscarme una sífilis» = 'to go and get myself syphilis'. The «me» is an ethical/benefactive dative — 'for myself', heavy with self-destructive spite as Erdosain storms out. --- Source text: public domain (Roberto Arlt, d. 1942). English translation: © 2026 1732 Studios, LLC — original draft, pending editorial review. NOTE: this is a minimal seed excerpt to make the app target runnable; full verified content is authored through the content pipeline.