Spanish GCSE Reading and Grammar — Constance e Imran Episode 15 (learn through a novel)
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.
El salón está lleno de fotos: Grecia, Estambul, Buenos Aires.
—Tu abuela ha viajado más que Google Maps —bromea Imran.
—Y todavía no puedo quedarme quieta —responde ella.
Constance cuenta brevemente lo ocurrido. Eleanor escucha sin interrumpir.
—Querido —dice al final—, en la Atenas de Sócrates esto ni siquiera habría sido un tema. Lo problemático no es lo que sientes, sino cómo lo mira una sociedad limitada.
—Es complicado. Mi familia no entiende.
—Las familias rara vez entienden al principio —responde Eleanor—, pero pueden aprender con el tiempo. Porque cada generación rompe algo para poder elegir su propia ruta.
Imran suspira.
—¿Y si el precio es demasiado alto?
Eleanor sonríe.
—Si no destruyes un prejuicio, él termina rompiéndote a ti.
Imran baja la cabeza.
—Entonces… ¿tengo que elegir ya?
The living room is full of photos: Greece, Istanbul, Buenos Aires.
—Your grandmother has travelled more than Google Maps —jokes Imran.
—And I still can’t keep still —she replies.
Constance briefly explains what happened. Eleanor listens without interrupting.
—My dear —she says at last—, in Socrates’ Athens this wouldn’t even have been a topic. The problem isn’t what you feel, but how a limited society looks at it.
—It’s complicated. My family doesn’t understand.
—Families rarely understand at first —replies Eleanor—, but they can learn over time. Because every generation breaks something in order to choose its own path.
Imran sighs.
—And what if the price is too high?
Eleanor smiles.
—If you don’t destroy a prejudice, it ends up breaking you.
Imran lowers his head.
—So… do I have to choose now?
In episode 14, we started working with irregular verbs in the Present Tense. Do you remember this?
📘 In Spanish, some verbs change their stem vowel in the present tense.
When the stem has E, it often changes to ie — except in the nosotros and vosotros forms.
If you don’t remember this, go back one episode!
Look at the new group of verbs now:
📘 In Spanish, some verbs change their stem vowel in the present tense.
When the stem has O, it often changes to ue — except in the nosotros and vosotros forms.
It is exactly the same. The only difference is that we have other vowels. Take a look:
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| yo | vuelvo | I come back |
| tú | vuelves | you come back |
| él, ella, usted | vuelve | he or she comes back, you (formal) come back |
| nosotros, nosotras | volvemos | we come back |
| vosotros, vosotras | volvéis | you all or you both come back |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes | vuelven | they, you all or you both (formal) come back |
Here is the example from our episode:
“Las familias rara vez entienden al principio, pero pueden aprender con el tiempo.”
This is only one example, but this irregularity affects many verbs. Some of them are:
| Poder | Encontrar | Dormir | Mover |
|---|---|---|---|
| puedo | encuentro | duermo | muevo |
| puedes | encuentras | duermes | mueves |
| puede | encuentra | duerme | mueve |
| podemos | encontramos | dormimos | movemos |
| podéis | encontráis | dormís | movéis |
| pueden | encuentran | duermen | mueven |
I made this video, where you have the whole explanation. This covers episodes 14, 15 and 16.
When you need to contrast ideas, you can use three forms:
- PERO: but
“No entiendo ahora, PERO lo entenderé luego.” – “I don’t understand now, BUT I’ll understand later.” - SIN EMBARGO: however
“No hablo muy bien español. SIN EMBARGO, estoy aprendiendo mucho.” – “I don’t speak Spanish very well. However, I’m learning a lot.” - NO OBSTANTE: nevertheless
“Ya conozco los verbos regulares. NO OBSTANTE, todavía no conozco todos los irregulares.” – “I already know the regular verbs. Nevertheless, I still don’t know all the irregular ones.”
Eleanor said: “Las familias rara vez entienden al principio, pero pueden aprender con el tiempo.”
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!
