Spanish GCSE Reading and Grammar-Constance e Imran Episode 24 (learn through a novel)

Spanish GCSE Reading and Grammar – Constance e Imran Episode 24 (learn through a novel)

TOPIC: Spanish Verb ESTAR explained — The Complete Beginner’s Guide (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 24

Constance and Imran – Episode 24

Están en una pizzería de Brighton, frente al mar. El aire huele a sal y a masa recién hecha. Están cansados, pero contentos. Maya mira por la ventana. En la calle, un grupo de jóvenes reparte folletos.

They are in a pizzeria in Brighton, facing the sea. The air smells of salt and freshly baked dough. They are tired but happy. Maya looks out the window. In the street, a group of young people are handing out leaflets.

—¿Qué están haciendo? —pregunta.

—What are they doing? —she asks.

Daniel se levanta y observa.

—Están hablando sobre vivienda y pobreza. Es una campaña local.

Daniel stands up and watches.

—They are talking about housing and poverty. It’s a local campaign.

Constance lo mira.

—¿Y te interesa?

—Mucho. Me gusta entender por qué unas personas tienen tanto y otras nada. Creo que quiero estudiar sociología. Porque si queremos cambiar algo, primero tenemos que entenderlo.

Constance looks at him.

—And are you interested?

—Very much. I like understanding why some people have so much and others have nothing. I think I want to study sociology. Because if we want to change something, we first have to understand it.

—Si quieren, podemos hablar con ellos —propone Maya.

Y salen juntos, con el sonido del mar detrás.

—If you want, we can talk to them —suggests Maya.

And they walk out together, with the sound of the sea behind them.

📘 GRAMMAR:

👉 I will explain estar first, simply because we use this verb in only 3 scenarios.

👉 Remember very well these 3 cases. If you are in front of one of them, use estar. Otherwise, use ser. So simple!

  1. Whenever you want to say where is something or somebody:
    Están en una pizzería de Brighton. They are in a pizzeria in Brighton.

  2. When you are using the Continuous Tenses:
    Están hablando sobre vivienda y pobreza. They are talking about housing and poverty.

  3. When something is the result of an action or the result of a process:
    Están cansados, pero contentos. They are tired but happy.
    – están cansados porque caminaron mucho, they are tired because they walked a lot: result of an action
    – el bebé está muerto, the baby is dead, either because he was ill or somebody killed it: result of a process (a disease) or result of an action

And remember: nothing to do with permanent or non permanent situations. This is absolutely wrong. Remember that I explained this extensively in episode 23.

💡 TIP:

👉 When you want to express a condition, the most common way is using si, meaning IF.

👉 Notice that this word doesn’t carry an accent, whereas sí, meaning YES, takes one. They are pronounced in the same way.

Si quieren, podemos hablar con ellos. IF YOU WANT, WE CAN talk to them.

You can say many things using this structure:

  • Si tengo tiempo, voy a ir al cine. IF I have time, I am going to the cinema.
  • Si puedo, voy a jugar al tenis hoy por la tarde. IF I can, I am going to play tennis today in the afternoon.

Find all the episodes here: Spanish for London — 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!

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