Volcán y magma

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About this article

Level A1 Reading focus

What you'll learn

Volcano and rock words (cráter, magma, lava, basalto, obsidiana), the verbs llamarse and convertirse, and tan ... que.

Elena lives in Tenerife and wants to know what is inside Teide, the highest mountain in Spain. Her uncle shows her a rough black stone. She learns that a volcano like Teide has a crater, that magma is rock so hot it turns liquid, and that magma outside the volcano is called lava. The stone is basalt, a black rock formed when lava cools. Obsidian is volcanic glass, and museums in Mexico have Aztec obsidian knives with a very fine edge, sharper than many metal knives. The word volcán comes from Vulcano, the Roman god of fire, and an island in Italy still has that name. Some volcanoes sleep and can wake, so some experts watch them day and night. Others are extinct: scientists believe they will not wake. Popocatépetl, near Mexico City, is active and sometimes smokes. The Hawaiian islands rise from huge volcanoes that begin on the ocean floor. An eruption is dangerous and can also make new land.

After reading

Article learning block

Phrases, words, grammar, and quick practice from this text.

15 items

Phrases for training

Add useful phrases to SRS or mark them as already known.

Este agujero se llama cráter

new

this hole is called a crater

Se llama is llamarse, the verb Spanish uses for what something is named. It is not the hole calling itself: the se here simply means is called.

The standard way to introduce a name: este agujero se llama cráter, esa isla se llama Vulcano.

Dentro del volcán hay magma muy caliente

new

inside the volcano there is very hot magma

Hay means there is and there are, and it never changes: hay magma, hay volcanes, hay un lago. Use estar instead when you say where a known thing is.

Hay is one Spanish form covering two English ones, and learners keep trying to make it plural.

huelen mal, como a huevos podridos

new

they smell bad, like rotten eggs

Oler a says what something smells of: huele a café, huelen a huevos podridos. Oler is irregular and also picks up an h: huelo, hueles, huele, olemos, oléis, huelen.

A very common verb, with a stem change and an unexpected h.

Fluye por las laderas del volcán

new

it flows down the sides of the volcano

La ladera is the sloping side of a mountain. Fluir is irregular: the i becomes y in fluye, just as in construye and destruye.

Two things at once: a word you cannot guess, and a spelling change that hits many -uir verbs.

desde hace muchos años

new

for many years now

Desde hace plus a length of time goes with the present tense in Spanish, where English uses a perfect: no hacen erupción desde hace muchos años means they have not erupted for many years.

Spanish keeps the present here; translating the English perfect literally produces a wrong sentence.

Key words

Vocabulary that carries the school-day topic.

The summit

la cima

the top of a mountain

La cima is the very top of a mountain. Do not confuse it with la cumbre (also a summit, and a summit meeting) or with encima (on top of).

Three similar-looking words with different jobs, and this is the concrete one.

Magma

magma

molten rock inside the Earth

El magma is melted rock while it is still underground. The moment it reaches the surface the same substance changes name and becomes lava. Watch the gender: el magma is masculine, like el problema, el tema and el clima.

Half the article rests on this distinction, and Greek -ma nouns are masculine.

Lava

lava

magma once it reaches the surface

La lava is the same molten rock as magma, but outside the volcano. When it cools it hardens into black rock such as basalt.

The pair magma and lava is the fact a reader can repeat tomorrow.

Melted

derretida

melted, molten

Derretida is the participle of derretir (to melt). The e becomes i in derrito, derrites, derrite, like pedir and repetir.

A whole family of -ir verbs behaves this way, so one card covers many.

Rough

áspera

rough to the touch

Áspero and áspera describe a surface that scratches: roca áspera, piel áspera, una voz áspera. Its opposite is suave.

A touch word you meet constantly and cannot guess from English.

Hole

agujero

hole, opening

Un agujero is a hole in something. Related everyday words: un agujero en el calcetín, la aguja (needle), agujerear (to make holes).

Common everyday noun, and the article uses it to define cráter.

Grammar in context

Patterns from the text worth noticing after reading.

The highest mountain in Spain

la montaña más alta de España

the highest mountain in Spain

The superlative is el or la plus más plus the adjective, and the group that follows takes de, not en: la montaña más alta de España, el volcán más activo de Chile.

Learners reach for en here because English says in; Spanish always uses de.

So hot that it becomes liquid

tan caliente que se hace líquido

so hot that it becomes liquid

Tan plus an adjective plus que states a cause and its result: tan caliente que se hace líquido. With a noun you use tanto: tanto calor que.

One frame gives you cause and consequence in a single sentence.

They are going to wake up

van a despertar

they are going to wake up

Ir a plus an infinitive is how Spanish usually talks about the future in speech: van a despertar, voy a leer. The forms are voy, vas, va, vamos, vais, van.

Far more common in everyday Spanish than the one-word future tense.

It turns into black rough rock

se convierte en roca negra y áspera

it turns into black, rough rock

Convertirse en plus a noun means to turn into something else. Compare the three se verbs in this text: se llama (is named), se hace (becomes plus adjective), se convierte en (turns into plus noun).