“Un Patito” (Little Duckling) is a simple children’s song in Spanish, which makes it a good place to start brushing up on your Spanish. One of the special memories of my childhood is of my mother singing “Un Patito” to me, of us singing it together, of singing it with my sister, in many different times and places. Even as an adult, I find myself singing it from time to time, when no kids are around, simply because it’s a happy thing to do.

Lyrics (Lyrics) of “El Patito” in Spanish:

Lyrics of “A Duckling”:

1. I have a duckling

2. That my mom bought me

3. He knows how to sing, he knows how to dance

4. And when the sun goes down

5. The sad duckling is

6. Don’t come

7. And the poor thing will get sick

Note: In line 7, my mother always substituted “will get sick” for the fatal “will die” from the original song; (which means to die).

Here is a close general translation:

The general translation from Spanish to English is made to sound like a native English speaker, to give you an idea of ​​the feeling, the mood, the meaning of the original piece. Some translations are made to sound poetic in the second language, with the end result varying greatly from the original. This translation is very close to Spanish.

“The Duckling” lyrics

1. I have a duckling

2. That my mother bought me.

3. He knows how to sing and he knows how to dance.

4. When the sun goes down,

5. The duckling gets sad.

6. Loses appetite, no longer eats,

7. And the poor thing gets sick.

Here is the word-for-word translation:

A translation with word-for-word correspondence sounds terrible, because the way we express ourselves in different languages ​​varies. However, it is a worthwhile exercise if you want to learn the structure and expression of sentences in Spanish. Practicing this type of exercise will help you, when you want to translate something backwards; from English to Spanish.

Lyrics [lyrics] of [of] “A [one] duckling [duckling]”:

1 one [one] duckling [duckling] I’ve got [have] me [I]

2 What [which] medium [my] breast [mother] me [for me] understand [bought]

3. knows [it knows] sing [to sing], to know [it knows] bail [to dance],

4. And [And] when [when] a [itself] put [puts] the [the] I usually [sun]

5. The [the] duckling [duckling] sad [sad] it is [is]

6.Not [no] I like it[eat] Already[anymore]

7. And [and] the [the] poor [poor little one] a [itself]ill [becomes sick]

To truly enjoy the Spanish children’s song “Un Patito”, you would have to listen to it in my mother’s happy singsong voice. However, I hope that these lyrics and translations are helpful in improving your command of Spanish.