The stone forest
By the Guadalquivir, Lucía crosses the Patio de los Naranjos and looks for her sister among the columns of the Mezquita, once a mosque and now a cathedral.
El bosque de piedra
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About this article
What you'll learn
Present tense of a walk (camina, cruza, busca, llama) and the contrast antes fue / hoy es.
Lucía walks with her sister Marta beside the Guadalquivir in Córdoba, in Andalusia, in southern Spain. Before the door they pass the Patio de los Naranjos, and Marta goes in first. The building was a mosque and is a cathedral today, and both histories remain in the same place. Inside, Lucía cannot find the way among hundreds of columns, like a stone forest, calls Marta through the noise of other visitors, and finds her behind a column.
After reading
Article learning block
Phrases, words, grammar, and quick practice from this text.
Phrases for training
Add useful phrases to SRS or mark them as already known.
en el sur de España
newin the south of Spain
En el sur de España marks where the region is located.
Core phrase for describing a place on the map of Spain.
Hace mucho, mucho tiempo
newa long, long time ago
Hace mucho, mucho tiempo opens events in the distant past. Repeating mucho makes the distance greater.
The standard opening of a simple story or a history text.
llegaron en barco
newthey arrived by boat
Llegaron en barco is the preterite of a completed arrival. Note en + means of transport: en barco, en tren, en coche.
Says how the Phoenicians and Greeks reached Andalusia, and gives you the transport pattern.
época musulmana
newthe Muslim period
Época musulmana names the Al-Andalus era in the text.
Key historical term in the article.
poco a poco
newlittle by little
Poco a poco shows a slow, step-by-step process.
Describes the gradual Reconquista in the article.
mezcla de muchas culturas
newa mix of many cultures
Mezcla de muchas culturas sums up Roman, Muslim and Christian heritage.
Main idea of the closing paragraph.
Hoy vamos a hablar de Andalucía
newtoday we are going to talk about Andalusia
Hoy vamos a hablar de + topic opens a lesson or an article. Vamos a + infinitive is the near future: we are going to talk.
Reusable opening line for any topic you want to introduce.
Key words
Vocabulary that carries the school-day topic.
Kings
reyes
kings
El rey is a king. Words ending in a consonant add -es in the plural: rey, reyes. In the text, los reyes cristianos come from the north.
A core word of any history text, and the -es plural pattern.
Monuments
monumentos
monuments
Un monumento antiguo is an old building or ruin that has survived. Note the order: the noun comes first, the adjective after (monumentos antiguos).
Appears three times in the text, including in the closing questions.
Mosques
mezquitas
mosques
Una mezquita is a Muslim place of worship. The most famous one in Andalusia is the mezquita of Cordoba.
Key word of the Al-Andalus section and of the closing questions.
Reconquista
Reconquista
the Reconquista
The long period in which the Christian kingdoms of the north took back the lands held by the Muslims in the south. It ended in Granada in 1492.
The key historical term of the article, still used in everyday Spanish.
Roads
carreteras
roads
Una carretera is a road between towns. In the text the Romans build ciudades, puentes y carreteras.
An everyday travel word that you cannot guess from English.
Food
comida
food
La comida is food in general, and also the midday meal, which is the main one of the day in Spain.
One of the first words you need in any Spanish-speaking country.
Cities
ciudades
cities
Una ciudad is a city; the plural is ciudades. The text names Cordoba, Seville and Granada.
Very frequent word and the plural model for nouns ending in -d.
Grammar in context
Patterns from the text worth noticing after reading.
Ser: describing a place
Es una región muy bonita
it is a very beautiful region
Es (from ser) + noun + adjective. Ser gives a lasting quality, and in Spanish the adjective follows the noun: una región bonita.
The basic way to say what a place is like.
Preterite: llegaron
Después llegaron los romanos
then the Romans arrived
Llegaron is the preterite of llegar: one finished event in the past, third person plural (ellos). The ending -aron marks all regular -ar verbs.
The main past tense of the historical events in this text.
Imperfect: vivía
la gente vivía en Andalucía
people lived in Andalusia
Vivía is the imperfect of vivir: a lasting situation in the distant past, with no end date. Careful: la gente is singular in Spanish, so the verb is vivía, never vivían.
Sets the background before the dated events, and shows the singular agreement of la gente.
Había: there was, there were
Había muchos jardines, palacios y mezquitas
there were many gardens, palaces and mosques
Había is the past of hay. One single form for singular and plural: había un jardín, había muchos jardines.
The usual way to list what existed in a place at a given time.
Ser in the past: fue, fueron, eran
Andalucía fue muy rica y muy importante
Andalusia was very rich and very important
Ser is irregular in the past. Fue and fueron close a finished period (fue un año importante, fueron muy importantes). Eran and era describe how things were over a stretch of time (eran muy grandes, era el puerto principal).
These forms appear nine times in this text: without them a history page in Spanish is unreadable.
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