TOPIC: Spanish GCSE Grammar – Regular Present Tense Verbs (como, bebes, aprende)
Welcome to episode 5 of our story “Constance e Imran”. In every blog you will always find the same format:
- The story episode in Spanish.
- The translation into English.
- A grammar explanation with examples from the story.
This way you can practise reading, understanding and grammar, all at the same time.
EPISODIO 5 – ¿Qué es una vida? (Episode 5 – What is a life?)
Jason dice con desprecio:
«Estudias, lees, aprendes… ¿y qué? Igual terminas pobre.»
Jason says with contempt:
“You study, you read, you learn… and what? You still end up poor.”
Imran responde con rabia:
«Estudio porque quiero respeto. Leo porque quiero futuro.»
Imran replies angrily:
“I study because I want respect. I read because I want a future.”
Constance lo mira fijo:
«Y si todo esto es para trabajar y morir aburrido, ¿eso es vida?»
Constance looks at him firmly:
“And if all this is just to work and die of boredom, is that life?”
Hace una pausa. La clase está en silencio. Constance sigue:
«¿Y si lo que amas es tocar música en la calle? ¿Por qué matar tus sueños con un trabajo que odias? ¿Y qué te hace más feliz: ganar mucho dinero o hacer lo que amas?»
She pauses. The class is silent. Constance continues:
“What if what you love is playing music in the street? Why kill your dreams with a job you hate? And which makes you happier: earning a lot of money, or doing what you love?”
Nadie contesta. Solo se escucha el ruido del reloj.
No one answers. Only the sound of the clock can be heard.
GRAMMAR:
Let’s continue with the Regular Simple Present. In the last episode, we saw verbs ending in AR, and now, we will discuss verbs ending in ER. If you compare the two groups, it’s basically the same, but here we have E instead of A.
«Estudias, lees, aprendes… ¿y qué? Igual terminas pobre.»
APRENDER: to learn
APREND-
For only one person, you have:
yo aprendO, I learn
tú aprendES, you learn
él aprendE, he learns
ella aprendE, she learns
For more than one person, you have:
nosotros, nosotras aprendEMOS, we learn
vosotros, vosotras aprendÉIS, you all or you both learn
ellos, ellas aprendEN, they learn
And it’s the same with all the regular verbs ending in ER. Example:
LEER: to read
LE-
yo leO
tú leES
él leE
ella leE
nosotros, nosotras leEMOS
vosotros, vosotras leÉIS
ellos, ellas leEN
Imran aprende en clase. Imran learns in class.
Constance lee un libro. Constance reads a book.
Here you have a video made by me explaining more:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5tkObfogB0&t=1s
TIP: porque y por qué
«Estudio porque quiero respeto. Leo porque quiero futuro.»
These are tricky words, because they are very similar.
¿Por qué estudias? Porque quiero respeto.
Why do you study? Because I want respect.
Notice that the stress is in another place: por QUÉ, PORque. The pronunciation is clearly different.
Find all the episodes here: https://spanishforlondon.com/2025/08/29/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!
