Welcome
to Vol. 76 of the Spanish Online Newsletter! Part of the Spanish
Learning Blog - your weekly lessons with mp3 files, as well
as links to Spanish travel spots and more. The audio newsletter
appears to be a success - ¡qué bueno! Last week's
reading was a bit difficult, but this week's should be easier.
We also have a grammar pointer to go with the reading, looking
at the difference between the imperfect and preterite past verbs
in Spanish. On the homepage of www.instaspanish.com you'll find
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Alright! So let's get down to today's reading, and grammar topic,
which is going to be a quick look at the difference between using
the imperfect or ongoing past tense, and the preterite past tense.
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This week we have a slightly easier listening
comprehension reading, and a grammar pointer to go with it.
Spanish Reading and Listening Comprehension
Exercise #2
 Click
to hear an mp3 of the reading below (5.5MB)
From the The Project Gutenberg EBook of Zalacaín El
Aventurero, by Pío Baroja published in 1913 in Madrid, Spain.
CAPÍTULO PRIMERO (continuación)
CÓMO VIVIÓ Y SE EDUCÓ MARTÍN ZALACAÍN
En
el frente de la decrépita y pobre
casa, un agujero
indicaba dónde estuvo en otro tiempo el escudo, y debajo
de él se adivinaban, más bien que se leían,
varias letras
que componían una frase latina: _Post funera virtus vivit_.
En este caserío nació y pasó los primeros
años de su
infancia Martín Zalacaín de Urbia, el que, más
tarde,
había de ser llamado Zalacaín el Aventurero; en este
caserío soñó sus primeras aventuras y rompió los
primeros
pantalones.
agujero
indicaba
estuvo
escudo
se adivinaban
componían
nació
pasó
infancia
soñó
rompió
|
hole
indicated, was indicating
was
shield
could guess, could be guessed
made up, were forming
was born
passed
infancy
dreamt
tore
|
Let's look at the past tense verbs found
in the reading, and see what we can learn from them.
se adivinaban |
all of these words have a meaning
that shows an ongoing or repeated condition or something
that happened over a period of time |
componían |
indicaba |
se leía |
|
|
estuvo |
All of these words indicate something that
happened at a specific point in the past, and is completely
finished |
nació |
pasó |
rompió |
soñó |
Worksheet/Activity:
Imperfect
vs. Preterite
Quiz: Reading
and Verbs
Hangman: Past Verbs
and Vocabulary
Click
to hear an mp3 quiz activity (3.6MB)
|
