Lucía Works on Sunday at a Café (A1)
On Sunday morning in Logroño, Lucía wants lunch with her parents, but she works at a café. Her free day is Tuesday. She hears finde and thinks about sábado and domingo.
Trabajar los fines de semana
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About this article
What you'll learn
Present tense and querer: weekend work, fin de semana, and a person who wants Sunday lunch with her family.
Lucía is already at a café in Logroño on Sunday morning. She wants the family table, but she works weekends and rests on Tuesday. The shop next door is closed, a friend says finde, and she stays to serve another family.
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.
tiempo libre para descansar
newfree time to rest
A noun phrase plus para + infinitive, which states what the time is for.
The pattern behind every sentence about what you do with your free time.
algunas personas deben trabajar el sábado o el domingo
newsome people have to work on Saturday or Sunday
Deber + infinitive expresses obligation: deben trabajar, they have to work. Days of the week take el and no preposition.
The main way Spanish says someone has to do something, and it appears three times in this text.
derecho a descansar
newthe right to rest
Derecho takes the preposition a before an infinitive: derecho a descansar, derecho a votar.
A fixed preposition you learn together with the noun.
muchas tiendas pequeñas
newmany small shops
In Spanish the adjective normally goes after the noun: tiendas pequeñas, not pequeñas tiendas. It also copies the gender and number of the noun: tienda pequeña, tiendas pequeñas.
Both rules of the Spanish adjective in three words, and English puts them the other way round.
Hay que organizar las tareas de casa
newyou have to organise the housework
Hay que + infinitive is impersonal: it says the thing must be done without naming who does it. Deber names a person, hay que does not.
The everyday way to give advice or state a rule in Spanish.
disfrutar del tiempo de ocio
newto enjoy leisure time
Disfrutar takes de, and de + el contracts to del. El ocio is free time seen as leisure.
The contraction is compulsory: de + el is always del. Two things only look like exceptions: names that carry the article (vengo de El Salvador) and the stressed pronoun él (el libro de él).
Key words
Vocabulary that carries the school-day topic.
The weekend
el fin de semana
the weekend
In the plural only fin changes: los fines de semana. Los fin de semanas is a common learner error.
One of the few Spanish compounds where the first word carries the plural.
Schedule
horario
schedule, timetable, opening hours
El horario is masculine: horario de trabajo is a work schedule, horario de apertura is opening hours.
One word covers timetable, work schedule and opening hours.
To rest
descansar
to rest, to have time off
Regular -ar verb: descanso, descansas, descansa. The noun is el descanso.
The verb the whole text turns on, and it is completely regular.
Advantage
la ventaja
advantage, upside
Feminine noun; in the text it appears as algunas ventajas. Its opposite is la desventaja.
Half of the pair you need to weigh anything up.
Disadvantage
la desventaja
disadvantage, downside
The prefix des- reverses the meaning, exactly as in desorden or desempleo.
Learn the prefix and dozens of opposites come for free.
Employer
el empleador
employer
The ending -or names the one who acts. The other side is el empleado, the employee.
The same -or pattern gives you trabajador, vendedor and conductor.
El puente (long weekend)
el puente
the bridge; a long weekend
Un puente is literally a bridge. When a public holiday falls on a Tuesday or a Thursday, many people also take the working day between it and the weekend off, and the whole run of free days is called el puente.
A false friend on the calendar: the word for bridge is also the word for a long weekend, and hacer puente means to take one.
Grammar in context
Patterns from the text worth noticing after reading.
Present for habits
Normalmente el fin de semana es tiempo libre
usually the weekend is free time
Spanish uses the plain present for what is normally true; normalmente marks it as the usual case.
There is no separate habitual tense, so this present does the job.
Sin embargo (however)
Sin embargo, algunas personas deben trabajar
however, some people have to work
Sin embargo opens the sentence and is followed by a comma. It contrasts with what was just said.
The written connector for however; in speech people usually say pero.
Impersonal se
se paga más dinero
more money is paid
Se + third person reports an action with no named agent: se paga, it is paid; se trabaja, people work. The verb agrees with the thing: se paga el plus, se pagan las horas.
Standard in rules, signs and descriptions of how things are done.
Aunque + subjunctive
aunque sea entre semana
even if it is midweek
Aunque takes the subjunctive when the speaker treats the fact as already known or unimportant: aunque sea entre semana. With new information it takes the indicative: aunque es lunes.
Learn aunque sea as a ready-made chunk: it appears three times in this text and means even if it is.
Poder: o becomes ue
Muchos trabajos no pueden parar
many jobs cannot stop
In the present tense the o of poder becomes ue wherever the stress falls on it: puedo, puedes, puede, pueden. Nosotros and vosotros keep the o: podemos, podéis. Dormir (duermo) and volver (vuelvo) change the same way.
The first real trap for a beginner: puedo is looked up under poder, not under pue. Cerrar does it with e and ie, as in cierran el domingo.
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