Nora Crosses the Street: Spanish A1 Reading
A short A1 Spanish story about Nora using a pavement, pedestrian crossing and traffic light on an imaginary walk to school.
El cruce de Nora camino a la escuela
Reading for practice
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Nora and her father follow basic DGT pedestrian guidance on a fictional walk to school. The A1 text models short present-tense sentences and three questions.
Llegan a una calle. Antes del bordillo, los dos paran. Hay un paso de peatones. Tiene líneas blancas anchas en el suelo.
Primero miran a la izquierda. Después miran a la derecha. Al final, miran otra vez a la izquierda.
El semáforo está rojo. Nora y su padre tienen que esperar fuera de la calzada. No empiezan a cruzar.
Después, el semáforo muestra un peatón verde. Pueden pasar, pero miran otra vez. Los coches están parados.
Ellos cruzan en línea recta. Nora camina rápido, pero no corre. La DGT aconseja cruzar así.
En otra calle hay coches aparcados. Nora no cruza entre ellos. Busca un lugar con buena visibilidad.
¿Caminas por la acera? ¿Miras a los dos lados? ¿Esperas el verde para peatones?
About this article
What you'll learn
street vocabulary, sequence words, tener que, hay, present tense questions
Nora and her father follow basic DGT pedestrian guidance on a fictional walk to school. The A1 text models short present-tense sentences and three questions.
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.
camino a la escuela
newon the way to school
Camino a indicates movement toward a destination.
Useful for describing a regular route.
Antes del bordillo
newbefore the curb
The curb is the raised edge between the pavement and the road.
Useful for locating a stopping point.
a la izquierda
newto the left
A la izquierda indicates a direction.
Useful for giving and following directions.
a la derecha
newto the right
A la derecha indicates the opposite direction from left.
Useful for giving and following directions.
en línea recta
newin a straight line
The movement continues without turning to either side.
Useful for describing a route.
Key words
Vocabulary that carries the school-day topic.
Pavement
la acera
pavement
The part of an urban street intended for pedestrians.
A basic word for moving around a town.
Pedestrian crossing
un paso de peatones
a pedestrian crossing
A marked place where pedestrians cross a road.
Essential street vocabulary.
White lines
líneas blancas
white lines
Líneas is the plural of línea; blancas agrees in feminine plural.
Useful for noticing noun and adjective agreement.
Traffic light
el semáforo
traffic light
A light signal that controls when traffic or pedestrians may move.
Essential vocabulary for street crossings.
A green pedestrian figure
un peatón verde
a green pedestrian figure
Here peatón refers to the green human figure shown by the pedestrian signal.
Useful for understanding pedestrian traffic lights.
Parked cars
coches aparcados
parked cars
Vehicles that have been left standing in a parking place.
Useful for describing a street scene.
Grammar in context
Patterns from the text worth noticing after reading.
Question with miras
¿Miras a los dos lados?
Do you look both ways?
The inverted opening mark and the final question mark frame a Spanish question; miras addresses tú.
Useful for asking another person about a habit.
Plural subject with van
Nora y su padre van
Nora and her father go
Nora y su padre is a plural subject, so ir takes the form van.
Useful for matching a verb to two people.
Hay for existence
Hay un paso de peatones
there is a pedestrian crossing
Hay introduces the existence of something and does not change for singular or plural.
Useful for describing what is in a place.
Obligation with tienen que
tienen que esperar
they have to wait
Tener que plus infinitive expresses an obligation; tienen agrees with the plural subject.
Useful for saying what people must do.
Negation with no
no corre
does not run
No goes directly before the conjugated verb corre.
Useful for saying that an action does not happen.
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