id="n57">
57
no habría… si… hubiese: in this text there are many substitutes for this typical or chief form of the condition [si-clause] and conclusion [habría here].
58
medio (or mitad in the sense of medio) seldom has the article.
59
haya: even such words as creer, ver, saber, verbs that usually have que and the indicative, will take the subjunctive after a negative word or sense.
60
hermosa: adjective here for our adverb, as usual with ir, venir, etc. So to a waiter: mi sopa, y ligero [bring] my soup and [bring it] quick.
61
viera, saw: here Latin viderat, had seen, with indicative sense survives, as in Portuguese. Common in Spanish along the border of Portugal.
62
¡No diéronle! and (18, 7) ¡Diéronle! – exclamó con su gramática de Mondoñedo; but Alarcón himself doesn't need to scold Mondoñedo; post-placed pronouns are frequent in Alarcón's own style. The order with the negative is especially noteworthy.
63
medio: This form serves as noun, adjective, or adverb. In line 11 it is adverbial, whereas in line 12 it is substantive.
64
seguida del, followed by: a true passive.
65
sin que… se enterase nadie, without that any one noticed or knew, without any one's noticing.
66
de que, of [the fact] that; so hasta que, till; but según regularly without que.
67
justificola: this order with la at the end is almost a mannerism with Alarcón. Inconsistently, the Academy leaves the marked accent here, but marks the preterit in díjole, as it does all verb forms whose accented syllable, by reason of the post-placing of pronouns, comes to occupy proparoxytonic or anteproparoxytonic position: toma, tómalo, tómatelo; tomar, tomarlo, tomárselo; tomando, tomándolo, tomándoselo, etc.
69
vicio de Pero Grullo: a perogrullada is an explanation of something already clear, a definition of self-evident facts, and repeats the thought in other words without adding anything much. You might as well kill a fellow as scare him to death is a perogrullada. For a whole set of perogrulladas, see Goldsmith's Madam Blaise. Hamlet's Words, words, words is of the same nature, and many times in Hamlet besides: cf. There isn't in all Denmark an infamous man who isn't a great villain, Hamlet I. 3. If the king likes not the comedy, why then he likes it not, perdy, Hamlet III. 2. Or take the phrase attributed to Lincoln: If people like that sort of a thing that is about the sort of a thing they will like. There is also the proverbial phrase in Spanish: Es una verdad de Perogrullo (or Pero Grullo), que a la mano cerrada llamaba puño. Cf. Luis Montoto y Rautenstrauch: Personajes, personas y personillas, etc., Sevilla, 1912, vol. II, pp. 304-5.
70
quebrantarle: the third word for break.
71
por conocer, because he knew.
72
quedó en, agreed: cf. English they left it that way; and German dabei blieb es, so it was settled. The verb quedar means remain, but in the phrase quedar en gets the meaning agree, much as the English words settle [a matter], rest [the case], developed a sense of conclusion or agreement.
73
por si, for fear that = por si acaso.
74
al + infinitive, at nightfall: good example of temporal use of this construction.
75
Serían las tres de la madrugada, It must have been about three A.M.: cf. Yo tendría diez años, I was about ten years old. This form in -ría (conditional) is made up of the infinitive of the verb and the endings of había, and so corresponds in meaning to the use of the future in such a case as ¿Qué hora será? What time do you suppose it is?
76
sinventura, one without luck; so una sinvergüenza, a shameless girl; un sinnúmero, a host of, a lot of; so humorously el sin-hueso, the tongue. sin ventura: printed separately in the 10th edition.
77
dichosísima: like dichosa before: blessed (i.e. confounded).
78
roncaba, si había que roncar, snored if ever there was snoring: cf. nevaba si había que nevar, it snowed if it ever did, in Alarcón's story Moros y Cristianos; Guillermo y Julia reían si había que reír, William and Julia laughed if ever any one did, La Pródiga, p. 193.
79
por no haber, because she had not.
80
occipucio, occiput: Alarcón often playfully throws in an odd or big word, or even slang.
81
habían cruzado, had exchanged: the mother and daughter were discussing the unconscious man. Could observaciones be the subject here?
82
que declarasen, such as might declare: an example of the subjunctive of characteristic; or in a relative clause with an indefinite antecedent.
83
asegurando: segurando in the 10th edition.
84
sentado muy mal, had offended: by the manner of it quite as much as by the word itself, for such words are common.
85
Guía de Forasteros , Strangers' Guide or Directory (giving names and titles, like our Red Books and Blue Books).
86
caiga que caiga, come what may; and later quiera o no quiera, whether or no: subjunctives, used optatively or imperatively.
87
Dejémosle: the pronouns -le and -me are unnecessary, but add a personal touch by showing who is the subject of the following verb.
88
permíteme: the pronouns -le and -me are unnecessary, but add a personal touch by showing
