Spanish GCSE Reading and Grammar-Constance e Imran Episode 22 (learn through a novel)

Spanish GCSE Reading and Grammar – Constance e Imran Episode 22 (Learn Through a Novel)

TOPIC: Spanish Verbs SABER vs CONOCER explained — How to Say “to Know” in Spanish (with Examples & Reading Practice)

In every blog you will always find the same format:

  1. The story episode in Spanish.
  2. The translation into English.
  3. A grammar explanation with examples from the story.

This way you can practise reading, understanding and grammar, all at the same time.

Constance e Imran – Episodio 22

Constance and Imran – Episode 22

Salen del colegio caminando entre risas.
The students leave school, laughing as they walk down the street.

En la esquina, un hombre toca la guitarra.
At the corner, a man is playing the guitar.

—Me recuerda a mi abuelo —dice Imran—. Él tocaba la sitar en Pakistán.
– It reminds me of my grandfather – says Imran. – He used to play the sitar in Pakistan.

—No lo sabía —responde Constance.
– I didn’t know that – answers Constance.

—Pocos lo saben. La tengo en casa, pero no me atrevo a tocarla. Es parte de otra vida, de otro mundo. Además, mi padre dice que la música no es una actividad seria, que te mueres de hambre. Pero soy feliz cuando toco la guitarra.
– Few people know it. I still have it at home, but I don’t dare to play it. It belongs to another life, another world. Besides, my dad says music isn’t a serious activity, that you’ll starve if you try to live from it. But I’m happy when I play the guitar.

—Debe ser bonito conocer tan bien un instrumento —dice Constance.
– It must be nice to know an instrument so well – says Constance.

—Sí —responde Imran con una sonrisa leve—. Por eso toco.
– Yes – replies Imran with a faint smile. – That’s why I play.

—Me gustaría escucharte algún día —dice Constance.
– I’d like to hear you someday – says Constance.

—Tal vez en la playa —contesta él.
– Maybe on the beach – answers Imran.

—Sí —responde ella—, mañana por la mañana salimos temprano para Brighton.
– Yes – she says – tomorrow morning we’re leaving early for Brighton.

📘 GRAMMAR:

Languages are different in some respects. Therefore, you can have one word in English and two in Spanish, or vice versa. Regarding verbs, we have:

  • To be: ser, estar
  • To have: haber, tener
  • To know: saber, conocer

We will study today the last two.

Present tense forms

saber: sé, sabes, sabe, sabemos, sabéis, saben
conocer: conozco, conoces, conoce, conocemos, conocéis, conocen

There are grammatical rules to know when to use one or the other.

SABER

EXAMPLES: sé tocar el piano, sé que estudias español

  • it means to know how to do something or to know something as a fact
  • it is intellectual knowledge
  • it takes time to acquire this knowledge, because we have to learn
  • it is followed by an infinitive (verbal forms ending in -AR, -ER, -IR), pronouns (que, qué, quién, quiénes, cuál, cuáles, cómo, dónde, cuándo, cuánto) or the conditional si:

o I know how to do a paella → sé hacer una paella
o I know where Carmen lives → sé dónde vive Carmen
o I don’t know if I have time today → no sé si tengo tiempo hoy

👉 saber with infinitives, pronouns and si

We can also use this verb followed by the pronoun “algo”, as in:

• Do you know something about John? → ¿Sabes algo sobre Juan?

It is also frequent to use ‘saber’ followed by ‘de’, as in:

• He knows about maths → Sabe de matemáticas
• He knows about politics → Sabe de política

Meaning that a person is a kind of expert in the area.

‘Saber’ has an alternative meaning connected with flavours:

• It tastes like garlic → Sabe a ajo.

Notice that “flavour” is “sabor” in Spanish.

CONOCER

EXAMPLES: conozco ese parque, conozco a María

  • it is visual or sensorial knowledge. I saw or heard something before, and I know it. No need to learn anything.
  • it doesn’t take time; you recognise something or somebody on the spot, simply because you saw it or heard it before.
  • it is followed by nouns (parque, María).

👉 conocer with nouns

If you are not sure about what a noun is, read blog number 49 about types of words.
https://spanishforlondon.com/2025/02/07/49-types-of-words/

In our episode, you find these two examples of “saber” and “conocer”:

Pocos lo saben. Few people know it.
Debe ser bonito conocer tan bien un instrumento. It must be nice to know an instrument so well.

💡 TIP:

Ayer, hoy y mañana (yesterday, today and tomorrow) are adverbs, so they never have an article in front:

Hoy es miércoles. Ayer fue martes. Mañana es jueves.

La mañana is the morning. In this case, it is a noun, so it takes the article la.

When you want to say tomorrow morning, you say mañana por la mañana, obviously!
Mañana por la mañana salimos temprano para Brighton. Tomorrow morning we’re leaving early for Brighton.
And then:
Mañana por la tarde vamos al cine. Tomorrow afternoon we go to the cinema.
Mañana por la noche vamos a comer una pizza. Tomorrow evening we are going to eat a pizza.

Something similar happens with tarde y por la tarde. Take a look:
Tarde and temprano are adverbs, meaning late and early.

It’s too late. Es demasiado tarde.
It’s too early. Es demasiado temprano.

But la tarde means the afternoon. In this case, we have a noun, therefore, we put the article in front.

Find all the episodes here:
Spanish for London — Contents GCSE Spanish

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Contact me at laura@spanishforlondon.com

We post two new episodes every week — keep up with Constance and Imran’s story!

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