Closing a small suitcase for Seville (A1)
Someone wants to close a small suitcase for Seville. The coat stays out because summer is very hot, and they want to see the Giralda if it is open.
La maleta pequeña
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About this article
What you'll learn
The present tense and querer for deciding what fits in a suitcase.
Seville is in Andalusia. The Giralda is the cathedral tower, and its lower part is the old minaret of a mosque. The way up uses ramps. On many streets the oranges are bitter and are used for marmalade. In the end the small suitcase closes.
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.
Necesito hacer la maleta
newI need to pack the suitcase
Necesito + infinitive says what you need to do. Hacer la maleta is the fixed Spanish phrase for packing; Spanish makes the suitcase rather than packing it.
The normal way to say you have to get ready before a trip.
Solo voy tres días
newI am only going for three days
Spanish gives the length of a trip with the plain verb plus the number, with no preposition: voy tres días. Solo means only.
Lets you say how long you are travelling for.
Solo necesito lo esencial
newI only need the essentials
Lo + adjective makes an abstract noun: lo esencial is the essential things. Spanish uses lo here, never el or la.
A common way to talk about what really matters.
Quiero ver la Giralda
newI want to see the Giralda
Quiero + infinitive says what you want to do. Quiero comes from querer, whose stem e becomes ie. The Giralda is the bell tower of Seville cathedral.
The basic pattern for saying what you want to visit or do.
para aprovechar el espacio
newto make use of the space
Para + infinitive gives the purpose of an action. Aprovechar means to make good use of something you already have.
Useful whenever you explain why you do something.
Por si acaso
newjust in case
Por si acaso stands on its own at the end of a sentence and explains a precaution you have taken.
Very common in everyday speech and when travelling.
Es mejor estar preparada
newIt is better to be prepared
Es mejor + infinitive gives advice. Estar is used, not ser, because being prepared is a state. Preparada ends in -a because the narrator is a woman.
A simple way to give advice or close an idea.
Key words
Vocabulary that carries the school-day topic.
Suitcase
maleta
suitcase
La maleta is a suitcase. The same root gives maletín, a briefcase, and maletero, the boot of a car.
One word opens two more you meet at every airport.
Wardrobe
armario
wardrobe, closet
El armario is the wardrobe where clothes are kept. Spanish uses the same word for a kitchen cupboard.
Everyday home vocabulary you meet constantly.
Wheels
ruedas
wheels
Una rueda is a wheel. The plural ruedas covers suitcase castors, car tyres and bicycle wheels alike.
Describes how luggage and vehicles move.
Handle
asa
handle
El asa is the handle you hold or pull. Asa is feminine, but in the singular it takes el and un because it begins with a stressed a: el asa, un asa, but las asas.
The same rule explains el agua and el aula.
Toiletry bag
neceser
toiletry bag
El neceser is the small bag for toothbrush, shampoo and creams. Spanish borrowed the word from French nécessaire.
The word you need at any hotel or airport security queue.
Sunscreen
protector solar
sunscreen
Protector solar is sunscreen. In Spain you will hear crema solar just as often for the same thing.
Essential in southern Spain, where the sun is strong.
Carry-on luggage
equipaje de mano
carry-on luggage
Equipaje de mano is the bag you take into the cabin. Equipaje stays singular in Spanish even when you carry several bags.
Airport vocabulary you cannot avoid.
Grammar in context
Patterns from the text worth noticing after reading.
Irregular yo: pongo, tengo, veo
Pongo tres camisetas de algodón
I put in three cotton T-shirts
Poner, tener and ver take the normal endings for tú and él, but their yo form is irregular: pongo, tengo, veo. The text uses all three.
Three of the most frequent verbs in Spanish, and yo is the person you speak in most.
Ser or estar
Es ligera
It is light
Ser says what something is: es ligera, es azul, Sevilla es una de las ciudades más calurosas. Estar says a state or a place: está bien, estoy lista, Sevilla está en Andalucía. Both appear in this text, a few lines apart.
The distinction Spanish learners get wrong most often, shown here as a direct contrast.
Adjective agreement
ropa fresca y cómoda
fresh and comfortable clothes
Ropa is feminine singular, so both adjectives end in -a: fresca, cómoda. Note that ropa stays singular in Spanish where English says clothes.
An adjective always copies the gender and number of its noun.
Asking with tú
¿Qué llevas siempre en el equipaje de mano?
What do you always carry in your hand luggage?
The whole text runs in yo until the last lines, where it turns to tú: viajas, llevas, quieres. A Spanish question opens with the inverted mark and needs no auxiliary such as do.
Turns reading into speaking: you can answer these three questions out loud.
Stem change: puedo, pienso, quiero
No puedo llevar todo
I cannot take everything
Poder, pensar and querer change their stem vowel when the stress falls on it: poder gives puedo, pensar gives pienso, querer gives quiero. The infinitive hides the change, so puedo can look like a different verb.
Without this rule a reader who knows poder will not recognise puedo.
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