no te vuelvas á meter con semejante gente," I advise thee, friend, not to meddle in future with such people. "No te metas en negocios agenos," do not interfere with the affairs of others. OBSERVATION. When there is a noun in the sentence denoting the means whereby the action of the verb is effected, it may be governed with con, de, or á, according to the following rules:---ist, If the noun signify the instrument or weapon with which the action was done, it requires con before it; as, "El le mató con el pie," he killed him with the foot, "con un puñal," with a poniard;" "con un martillo," with a hammer. 2d, If the noun be the name of the injury or blow given with the weapon or instrument, it requires to be preceded by de or con when used in the singular number, and by a when in the plural; as, "El le mató de or con un puntapié," he killed him with a kick; “á puntapies,” with kicks; “de or con una puñalada,"* with a stab of a poniard; "à puñaladas," by several stabs with a poniard; "de or con un martillazo," with the blow of a hammer; "a martillazos," by giving several blows with a hammer. EXERCISES. That man who fulfils his duty, and acts (according cumplir obrar segun to) the precepts of our Holy Mother, the church, will *It is a peculiarity of the Spanish language that, by adding the syllable azo, ado, &c. to the name of an object, the compound word thus formed, is then expressive of a blow with the object itself. For instance: tintero, inkstand-tinterazo, a blow with an inkstand;-libro, book-librazo, a blow with a book;---cañon, gun--cañonazo, a shot with a gun;---cuchillo, a knife---cuchillada, a stab, or a blow with a knife. with caresses, a fault caricia costumbre as reprehensible as it is per per nicious to the children. How many persons of (un nicioso niño ir questionable character,) did not the negroes in St. reprehensible conducta Santo Domingo kill with blows, with stabs, and (in the most atrocious manner that ever was heard un modo mas atroz que ninuguno de los que antes se of before,) from 1791, to 1801. They threw a Verbs implying motion to, towards or from a place, govern the noun denoting whence the motion proceeds with de, the noun which shows its direction with ά; and the noun expressing the space through which it passes with por; example: "Fuéron de Londres à Chelsea, por el parque," they went from London to Chelsea, through the park. "Vengo de la comedia, y me voi adonde estuve anoche, y donde pienso quedarme hasta mañana,” I come from the play, and am going whither I was last night, and where I think I shall stay till to morrow. Note 1. When we mean to denote only the place to which the moving body seems directed, we use hácia or para, instead of á; as, "Va hacia el Parque, pero no creo que llegue allá," he is going towards the park, but I don't imagine he will reach it. “Salió para Londres," he set out for London. Note 2. The verb volver is also used before an infinitive, when we mean to denote the repeating of the action implied in the infinitive; as, "Volví á leer la carta," I read the letter over once "Volverá á pedirlo," he will ask for it again. "Volvímos á entrar en la casa," 29 we re-entered the house. more. The following verbs belong to the above rule: Abalanzarse á los peligros, Abordar una nave á otra, Apelar á otro tribunal, Ladearse á tal parte, To rush on danger. To bring one ship along side of To appeal to another court. To dart forwards at the battle. To vibrate towards such a side. To incline to such a side. To attend the meeting. EXERCISES. The promptitude with which men sometimes pass presteza pasar from the bitterest grief to the greatest joy, is eight minutes in its progression from the sun to the minuto sol earth; in this short space of time traversing' se tierra corto espacio travesar veral millions of miles. Through (how many) dangers milla por cuantos peligro did not the great American hero pass, and he always héroe (came out) of them without the least injury. He sin menor daño salir was going towards Rome, when (he was attacked) by a asaltar gang of (highwaymen.) Columbus went to the courts cuadrilla ladron Colon of England and Portugal (to inform) them of the dar noticia existence of a new world, and he was, in both, heard ecsistencia (las dos) OBSERVATION ON gustar AND faltar. There are two neuter transitive verbs in the Spanish language, gustar and faltar; which, when translated into English by to like, and to want, or to be in want of, the sentence requires a different construction from that which the student would at first imagine. As by means of the preposition a, (which, when those parts of grammar are used in the above sense, is absolutely necessary,) their action is transmitted to him that forms the nominative case, which nominative case must, in Spanish, be the objective; and the Spanish objective, the English nominative. Thus, for instance: "I like him," él me gusta á mí. [that is, he pleases me.] "I want books," me faltan libros. [that is, to me books are necessary.] This kind of sentence begins generally with the preposition á, and if it govern the third person, the additional pronoun le or les, is employed. [See the second and third paragraphs of page 262;] as, "A Dios no le falta lógica, ni la usa," God neither rants logic, nor uses it. "A los hombres siempre les falta algo," men are always in want of something. "A ellos no les gustó el daño," they did not like the evil. The verb pesar, to be sorry for, or to, has this same peculiarity, with this exception, that it is only used before an infinitive with the preposition de, [of;] as, for example, “A mí me pesa de haherlo hecho," I am sorry to have done it. EXERCISES. When men have all they wanted before, new wants falta arise. I did not like the manner in which they nacer modo treated him. The audience liked the orator. The tratar auditorio poor are always in want of riches; and the rich frequently want (muchas veces) riqueza charity. It is not those who caridad have sublime genius and profound erudition that men like the most, but those who have the best heart and the greatest judgment. The fortress was in want of provisions, and surrendered to the besiegers. He víveres entregarse sitiador who is sorry for having committed wrong, is gene rous, and hecho may - become good. poder (llegar á ser) daño Seeing the many viendo |