Spanish GCSE Reading and Grammar-Constance e Imran Episode 29 (learn through a novel)
- The story episode in Spanish.
- The translation into English.
- A grammar explanation with examples from the story.
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Caminan por la playa en silencio. Imran va delante, con los pies descalzos. Piensa.
They walk along the beach in silence. Imran goes ahead, barefoot. He thinks.
Durante la cena, mi padre siempre me dice que debo ser médico o ingeniero para ganar dinero. Dice que la música no te alimenta. Pero cuando estoy tocando la guitarra, siento que la vida respira conmigo. El ruido del mundo desaparece. No hay notas equivocadas, solo caminos distintos.
During dinner, my father always tells me I must become a doctor or an engineer to earn money. He says music doesn’t feed you. But when I’m playing the guitar, I feel that life breathes with me. The noise of the world disappears. There are no wrong notes, only different paths.
A veces pienso que un curso de economía o de ciencias sería para mí una maldición. No porque sea difícil, sino porque mataría lo poco que soy.
Sometimes I think that a course in economics or science would be a curse for me. Not because it’s difficult, but because it would kill what little I am.
Mi abuelo tocaba la sitar. La tengo en casa, quieta, cubierta de polvo. Me pregunto si él también tuvo que elegir entre el deber y el deseo. Tal vez la toque algún día. Cuando ya no me dé miedo sonar como yo mismo.
My grandfather used to play the sitar. I have it at home, still and covered in dust. I wonder if he also had to choose between duty and desire. Maybe I’ll play it someday—when I’m no longer afraid to sound like myself.
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This is a very easy tense, because it is very similar to the English Present Continuous. You can learn more here:
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https://spanishforlondon.com/2025/03/18/54-present-continuous/
You only need to remember that we use estar and not ser for this tense:
Estoy hablando: I am talking
Estás comiendo: you are eating
Está escribiendo: he, she is writing
But of course, we also have irregular verbs in this tense, and this will be the topic for episode 30.
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Languages, languages! They are connected in amazing ways, that’s why I love linguistics. Invasions, migrations, imperialism, bilingual families, borders between countries, and the list goes on. England was invaded by the Romans, who spoke Latin, and later by the Normans, who spoke French. As a result, we have a huge amount of words with Latin roots. Since Spanish is a Latin language, many words are naturally similar in both languages. There is a fantastic book about this: “NTC’s Dictionary of Latin and Greek Origins. A comprehensive Guide to the Classical Origins of English Words” by Bob and Maxine Moore.
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As I said, we have many cognates (words that have the same Latin root and the same meaning):
To repeat, repetir
To complete, completar
So, when you see some words that are extremely similar, in many cases you know the meaning. But unfortunately, we have also false cognates. Take ‘éxito’: you think that you can recognise it, because it sounds like ‘exit’. Well, sorry to disappoint you:
Éxito: success
Exit: salida
In our episode, you have two more examples:
Dinner: cena
Dinero: money
Course: curso
Curse: maldición
Remember that you have more about this topic in episode number 27:
https://spanishforlondon.com/2025/12/02/spanish-gcse-reading-and-grammar-constance-e-imran-episode-27-learn-through-a-novel/
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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!
