Spanish GCSE Reading and Grammar — Constance e Imran Episode 1 (learn through a novel)
- The story episode in Spanish.
- The translation into English.
- A grammar explanation with examples from the story.
La cantina está llena. Hay mesas y voces. Constance está sola en una mesa con agua y un sándwich. En la mesa hay un libro. Imran llega con comida y un cuaderno. No hay mesas libres. Él mira la mesa de Constance.
The canteen is full. There are tables and voices. Constance is alone at a table with water and a sandwich. On the table there is a book. Imran arrives with food and a notebook. There are no free tables. He looks at Constance’s table.
«¿Puedo?», dice Imran.
“May I?” says Imran.
Constance mira el libro.
Constance looks at the book.
«Sí», dice ella.
“Yes,” she says.
Dos silencios. Dos sándwiches. La mesa es pequeña pero la historia es grande y empieza aquí. Y en otra mesa, alguien los mira.
Two silences. Two sandwiches. The table is small, but the story is big, and it starts here. And, at another table, someone is watching them.
In many languages, for example in Spanish, words are divided into feminine and masculine.
This is easy with el niño, la niña (the boy, the girl), but not so easy with el libro, la mesa (the book, the table).
Why is libro masculine and mesa feminine? There is no logic. It’s simply part of the grammar: in Spanish every noun is either feminine or masculine. And if we want to speak Spanish, it’s the first thing we must always remember — especially because this is not the case in English.
General rule:
- Words ending in -a are usually feminine
- Words ending in -o are usually masculine
Let’s look at some examples from our story:
| Feminine words | Masculine words |
|---|---|
| cantina | libro |
| mesa | cuaderno |
| comida | silencio |
In Spanish, singular means one thing, and plural means more than one — similar to English.
From the story:
- hay un libro → there is a book
- no hay mesas libres → there are no free tables
💡 In Spanish, we use just one word —hay— for both there is and there are.
Find all the episodes here: Contents – GCSE Spanish
Highly qualified native teacher with 30 years of experience. One-to-one lessons via Zoom. Contact me at laura@spanishforlondon.com
We post two new episodes every week — keep up with Constance and Imran’s story!
