The brain keeps working, a Spanish A1 story
Pablo wants ten new words for class, but his forehead hurts. He sleeps, and in the morning one word is still there.
El cerebro trabaja
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About this article
What you'll learn
Present tense, a short si clause, and words for the head, sleep, a notebook and class.
Pablo wants ten new words before class, but the list falls apart and his forehead hurts. He remembers that the brain is inside the skull and does not itself feel pain. His sister tells him to sleep. He leaves the notebook open on the word ventana. While he sleeps, the brain does not fully rest. In the morning that word is still there, and he takes only that one.
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.
El cerebro es el órgano más importante del cuerpo humano
newthe brain is the most important organ of the human body
Ser says what something is: el cerebro es el órgano. Más importante is the comparative, and the article el turns it into the superlative: el órgano más importante.
The pattern el or la + noun + más + adjective is how Spanish says the most anything.
controla todo lo que hacemos
newcontrols everything we do
Controla is controlar in the third person singular. Todo lo que means everything that: lo que is the pair you use when no noun follows.
Lo que turns up constantly in Spanish: todo lo que hacemos, lo que vemos, lo que quieres.
se encarga del equilibrio y la coordinación
newit takes care of balance and coordination
Encargarse is always reflexive and always followed by de: se encarga de algo. De plus el contracts to del, which is why the text has del equilibrio.
Encargarse de is the everyday way to say who is responsible for what, in an office as much as in a body.
se comunican entre sí
newthey communicate with each other
Here se is reciprocal, not reflexive: the neurons act on one another, not on themselves. Entre sí makes that explicit.
Spanish uses the same se for to oneself and for to each other, so entre sí is what removes the ambiguity.
nos permite pensar, aprender, recordar y sentir emociones
newit allows us to think, learn, remember and feel emotions
Nos is the indirect object pronoun, to us. Permitir a alguien hacer algo is followed by a plain infinitive, and a chain of infinitives does not repeat the main verb.
Dejar works the same way: nos deja pensar. Careful with ayudar, which needs a before the infinitive: nos ayuda a pensar.
dormir bien es esencial para aprender
newsleeping well is essential in order to learn
A Spanish infinitive can be the subject of a sentence, where English uses the -ing form: dormir bien es esencial, sleeping well is essential.
Never use an -ando form as a subject: fumar es malo, not fumando es malo.
mantener la mente activa
newkeep the mind active
Mantener + noun + adjective means to keep something in a state: mantener la mente activa, mantener el cerebro sano. The adjective agrees with the noun.
The pattern works with any pair: mantener la casa limpia, mantener la calma.
Key words
Vocabulary that carries the school-day topic.
Brain
el cerebro
the brain
El cerebro is the brain. It is masculine, and it gives the adjective cerebral, as in el tronco cerebral.
The central word of the text and the root of both cerebelo and cerebral.
Neurons
neuronas
neurons
Una neurona, dos neuronas: feminine. The text counts eighty-six thousand million of them.
Watch the false friend: English billion is Spanish mil millones, while un billón in Spanish is a million millions.
Cerebellum
El cerebelo
cerebellum
The cerebellum sits behind and below the rest of the brain and looks after balance and coordination. Its name is Latin for little brain.
An easy hook: cerebelo looks like cerebro because it is the small one at the back.
Memory
la memoria
memory
La memoria is the faculty; un recuerdo is a single memory. Spanish keeps them apart: tengo buena memoria, tengo un recuerdo bonito.
English uses one word for both, so this pair is a frequent mistake.
Balance
equilibrio
balance
El equilibrio is physical balance, and the verb that goes with it is mantener: mantener el equilibrio.
The same word covers the balance of a budget or of an argument.
The senses
los sentidos
the senses
Los cinco sentidos are la vista, el oído, el olfato, el tacto and el gusto. Careful: sentido also means meaning, as in no tiene sentido.
One word with two everyday jobs: a sense organ and the sense of a sentence.
Brainstem
El tronco cerebral
the brainstem
Tronco is a trunk, of a tree or of a body, and cerebral is the adjective from cerebro. Together they name the part that keeps breathing and the heartbeat going.
It shows how Spanish builds terms: the noun first, the adjective after it.
Grammar in context
Patterns from the text worth noticing after reading.
Ser + adjective
es increíblemente complejo y poderoso
it is incredibly complex and powerful
Ser links a subject to what it is: el cerebro es complejo. Both adjectives are masculine singular because they describe el cerebro.
Ser for what something is; estar for how it happens to be right now.
Present tense: -ar verbs
guarda información en forma de recuerdos
it stores information as memories
Guardar is a regular -ar verb. Drop the -ar and add -o, -as, -a, -amos, -áis, -an: guardo, guardas, guarda.
Controlar, procesar, regular and formar all appear in this text and all follow the same endings.
Para + infinitive: purpose
Para mantener el cerebro sano
in order to keep the brain healthy
Para plus an infinitive answers what for. At the head of a sentence it states the goal, and the main clause gives the means.
With the same subject, never put a conjugated verb after para: para mantener, not para mantenemos.
Tener for parts and amounts
El cerebro tiene tres partes principales
the brain has three main parts
Spanish uses tener where English often says to be made up of: tiene tres partes, tiene ochenta y seis mil millones de neuronas. Tener is irregular: tengo, tienes, tiene.
Tener also carries age and physical states: tengo veinte años, tengo hambre.
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