The Blue Notebook and the Train | A2
Read an A2 Spanish train journey about returning a notebook. Practise station vocabulary and telling a story in the past.
El cuaderno azul y el tren
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About this article
What you'll learn
Station vocabulary, travel purpose, preterite, imperfect, salida, and llegada
The narrator travels to the city to return a notebook to a cousin. The text explains the difference between salida and llegada on a timetable.
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.
viajé en tren a la ciudad
newI travelled by train to the city
Viajé is the first person preterite form of viajar. En tren names the means of transport.
Useful for telling someone about a completed journey.
para llevarle un cuaderno azul
newto take her a blue notebook
Le means to her in this sentence. Para plus an infinitive expresses purpose.
Useful when you explain why you travel or go somewhere.
Llegué a la estación
newI arrived at the station
Llegué is the first person preterite form of llegar.
Useful for describing the end of a journey.
Miré mi billete una vez más
newI checked my ticket one more time
Miré is the first person preterite form of mirar. Una vez más means one more time.
Useful for narrating a small completed action.
Mientras esperaba
newwhile I was waiting
Mientras introduces an action in progress. Esperaba is the imperfect form of esperar.
Useful for setting the background of a past story.
guardé mi mochila bajo el asiento
newI put my backpack under the seat
Guardé is the first person preterite form of guardar. Bajo names a location.
Useful for describing where you placed an object.
Key words
Vocabulary that carries the school-day topic.
departure
Salida
departure
On a timetable, salida indicates that a train leaves.
Useful for reading station information.
arrival
llegada
arrival
On a timetable, llegada indicates that a train arrives.
Useful for reading station information.
platform
andén
platform
El andén is the place next to the track where people wait to board a train.
Specific vocabulary for a train station.
ticket
billete
ticket
A billete is a ticket for a journey.
Useful when buying or checking transport tickets.
train car
vagón
train car
A vagón is one section of a train for passengers or services.
Useful for understanding a train layout.
loose sheet
hoja suelta
a loose sheet of paper
Hoja suelta means a sheet of paper that is not attached to a notebook.
Useful for describing papers and notebooks.
Grammar in context
Patterns from the text worth noticing after reading.
Regular preterite in -é
El sábado pasado viajé en tren
I travelled
Viajé is the first person singular preterite of viajar. The ending -é marks a completed action.
Useful for telling a completed story in the past.
Reflexive verb in the preterite
Me senté junto a la ventana
I sat down by the window
Me senté is the first person preterite of sentarse. The pronoun me comes before the conjugated verb.
Useful for narrating a completed reflexive action.
Imperfect for a repeated habit
Ella iba a una clase de dibujo cada sábado
She used to go to a drawing class every Saturday
Iba is the imperfect form of ir. Cada sábado marks a repeated past action.
Useful for describing a past habit.
A past time expression
a las nueve y diez
at nine ten
A las plus a time places an event at a specific time.
Useful for putting events in order.
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