Money Shortage in January

Question 1

Menos mal que ya queda poco para febrero

Answer 1

Thank goodness February is nearly here. (Luckily there is little left until February). Menos mal = to express relief. Ya queda poco = There’s not much left

Question 2

Menos mal que …

Answer 2

Thank goodness that …. use indicative tense after that.
¡Menos mal! = As a stand alone expression =Thank Goodness!
Menos mal is also often used in a sentence, followed by “que” and any tense in the indicative.
Eg: Menos mal que has encontrado tu anillo.
Thank goodness you found your ring.

Question 3

Menos mal que ya queda poco para febrero y solo faltan unos días para que me ingresen el sueldo. A mí generalmente se me da bien ahorrar y llegar a fin de mes pero enero siempre me cuesta un montón. Estoy deseando que llegue mi nuevo compañero de piso para empezar a compartir los gastos del alquiler y las facturas. Cuanto más se dividan los gastos de la casa más dinero me sobrará para poder salir y divertirme. Para sobrevivir este mes, puede que tenga que pedir un pequeño adelanto a mi jefe. Sé que algunos de mis compañeros terminarán pidiendo adelantos también. ¡Qué poco nos gusta la cuesta de enero!

Answer 3

It’s a good thing February is just around the corner and there are only a few days left for my salary to be paid. I’m generally good at saving and making ends meet, but January always costs me a lot. I’m looking forward to my new roommate to start sharing the rent and bills. The more you split the expenses of the house, the more money I have left over to be able to go out and have fun. To survive this month, I may have to ask my boss for a small advance. I know some of my peers will end up asking for advances as well. How little we like the cost of January!

Question 4

y solo faltan unos días para que me ingresen el sueldo.

Answer 4

and there are only a few days left until they pay my salary. (and only lacks a few days in order that to me they pay the salary).

Question 5

Faltar tiempo para algo.
Falta un minuto para que empiece la película.
Faltan dos minutos para que empiece la película.

Answer 5

We can use faltar with time phrases to indicate the time between the moment of speaking until when an action takes place.
It lacks one minute till the movie starts. The movie will start in 1 minute.
The movie will start in 2 minutes.
As you can see from the examples, we use “para” before the action/event.

Faltar used with this meaning works the same way as gustar in the sense that we use the verb in the 3rd person singular when the subject (the time phrase) is singular ( e.g. falta un minuto) and the 3rd person plural if the subject is plural (e.g. faltan dos semanas).

If we want to ask someone how long is left for any event, we ask this way:

¿Cuánto [tiempo] falta para terminar el curso?
How long till the end of the course?
You can omit the word “tiempo”:

¿Cuánto falta…? = ¿Cuánto tiempo falta…?

Question 6

A este guiso le falta un poco de sal.
Tengo que ir al supermercado. Me falta fruta y carne.

Answer 6

This stew needs (is lacking) a bit of salt.
I have to go to the supermarket. I need fruit and meat.
We can use faltar to indicate that there is something missing in something/someone, there is a need for something (lacking something).
Notice how we use the indirect object pronouns to indicate who is missing/in need of something (le falta, me falta, os faltan).

Question 7

En esta reunión faltan dos personas.
¿Faltó alguien en la reunión de ayer?

Answer 7

There are two people missing in this meeting.
- Was there anyone missing from yesterday’s meeting?