Rhythmic Gymnastics: The Pink Ribbon
A Spanish A1 story. A girl wants her pink ribbon to stay off the floor until the short music ends. She looks at the clock, the ribbon falls, and the second try lands on her arm.
Gimnasia rítmica
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About this article
What you'll learn
Present tense, the verb querer, and simple words for a ribbon, music, and a gym.
In an empty gym, a girl wants the long pink ribbon to stay off the floor until a short piece of music ends. She looks at the wall clock, the ribbon hits her foot and the floor, and the coach says to watch the ribbon. The second time she takes three slow steps, keeps the stick in her hand, and the ribbon falls on her black sleeve. The coach gives no score.
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.
empiezan a practicar
newthey start practising
Empezar a plus an infinitive says that an action begins: empiezan a practicar. The a is obligatory and adds no meaning of its own.
The same pattern returns later in the text: las niñas aprenden a trabajar en equipo.
practican con el aparato
newthey practice with the apparatus
Practican con el aparato: practicar plus con plus the rope, hoop, ball, clubs or ribbon.
Describes daily training after the warm-up.
hacen calentamiento
newthey do warm-up
Hacen calentamiento uses hacer + noun for a regular action.
First training step before working with apparatus.
moverse con la música
newmove with the music
Moverse con la música: the pronominal verb moverse plus con la música. After debe the pronoun joins the infinitive: debe moverse.
Core idea of rhythmic gymnastics: the gymnast follows the music.
trabajar en equipo
newwork as a team
Trabajar en equipo follows aprender a plus infinitive.
Social skill for group performances.
al mismo tiempo
newat the same time
Al mismo tiempo links two actions: bailan and hacen ejercicios.
Useful time marker for parallel actions.
participan en los Juegos Olímpicos
newtake part in the Olympic Games
Participan en los Juegos Olímpicos: participar + en + event.
Phrase about Spanish gymnasts at international level.
tienen cinco o seis años
newthey are five or six years old
Spanish gives age with tener plus a number plus años, literally to have years, where English uses to be.
Your own age works the same way: tengo ocho años, never soy ocho años.
Key words
Vocabulary that carries the school-day topic.
Ribbon
cinta
ribbon
La cinta is one of the five rhythmic gymnastics apparatus: a long strip of fabric on a stick.
Basic word from the apparatus list.
Apparatus
aparato
apparatus / equipment
Aparato is the rope, hoop, ball, clubs or ribbon the gymnast performs with.
One word that covers all five pieces of equipment.
Warm-up
calentamiento
warm-up
Calentamiento prepares the body before the main training.
Word from the daily training routine.
Competitions
competiciones
competitions
Competiciones is the plural of competición: official tournaments and shows.
Word from the section about performing.
Hoop
aro
hoop
El aro is the hard circle the gymnast rolls, throws and jumps through.
One of the five apparatus, and not guessable from English.
Clubs
mazas
clubs
Las mazas always come as a pair, one in each hand.
The only apparatus the gymnast holds two of.
Grammar in context
Patterns from the text worth noticing after reading.
Present: empiezan (e > ie)
empiezan a practicar gimnasia rítmica
many girls start practicing
Empezar changes e to ie in the stem: empiezan, not empezan. The endings stay regular.
The same e to ie change is in tienen and pierde. A second family changes o to ue: volar gives vuelan, also in this text.
Ser: es un deporte
La gimnasia rítmica es un deporte muy bonito
rhythmic gymnastics is a very beautiful sport
Ser links the subject to a noun: la gimnasia rítmica es un deporte. The adjective muy bonito comes after the noun, not before it.
Spanish keeps the article la before a general subject, where English drops it.
Ser + adjective
Las gimnastas necesitan ser flexibles y fuertes
gymnasts need to be flexible and strong
Necesitan ser + flexibles y fuertes: ser describes lasting qualities.
Ser (not estar) for athlete characteristics.
Preterite: ganó
Carolina Pascual ganó la medalla de plata
Carolina Pascual won the silver medal
Ganar is a regular -ar verb: gano in the present, ganó in the preterite. The accent marks both the past and the stressed syllable.
One accent separates gano (I win) from ganó (she won).
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