Pepito, the dinosaur from Cuenca (Spanish A1)
Lucía goes to the museum in Cuenca to see Pepito's hump. Concavenator was found at Las Hoyas in 2003, and two tall spines make the back look hunched.
Pepito, el dinosaurio de Cuenca
Tap any word to see its translation
, . . , , .
, . .
. . . . 125 , . .
2003. . . . . , .
.
« », . « . ».
. : , . , . . . .
. . .
. . , .
Keep reading with translations
Create a free account: 7 days of Pro, then 20 word translations a day or a paid plan.
About this article
What you'll learn
Present tense for the visit, past for the animal's life, querer, ser and estar, and words such as fósil, hueso and museo.
Lucía wants to see the bones, not a drawing, so her father takes her to the Museum of Paleontology of Castilla-La Mancha in Cuenca. The dinosaur is Concavenator corcovatus, also called Pepito. It was a medium-sized carnivore about six meters long and lived about 125 million years ago at Las Hoyas, then a wetland. Paleontologists found it in 2003. The skeleton is almost complete, the bones are still joined, and the foot and tail show marks of skin and muscle. Two vertebrae carry very tall spines that look like a hump. Concavenator means hunter of Cuenca, and corcovatus refers to that back. Some scientists think small bumps on one arm held feather-like structures. Lucía finds the two tall spines.
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.
se llama
newis called
Use «se llama» to give the name of a person, animal or thing.
It helps you ask for and give names.
hace unos 125 millones de años
newabout 125 million years ago
«Hace» plus a time period says how long ago something happened.
It is useful for talking about the distant past.
de tamaño medio
newmedium-sized
It describes something that is neither very large nor very small.
A useful expression for describing size.
parecida a una joroba
newsimilar to a hump
«Parecido a» introduces a comparison between two things.
It helps explain a shape through a familiar image.
Key words
Vocabulary that carries the school-day topic.
fósil
fósil
fossil
Preserved remains, impressions, or traces of past life in a geologic context.
A core word for talking about paleontology.
humedal
humedal
wetland
Land where water covers the soil or is at or near the surface for at least part of the year.
Useful for describing nature and habitats.
esqueleto
esqueleto
skeleton
The set of bones that supports an animal or human body.
Useful for describing bodies and fossil remains.
vértebras
vértebras
vertebrae
The bones that together form the spine.
It helps describe an animal's skeleton.
espinas
espinas
spines
Here it means the tall bony projections of the vertebrae.
In anatomy texts, the meaning depends on context.
réplica
réplica
replica
A copy of an object or animal made for display.
Common in museums and exhibitions.
Grammar in context
Patterns from the text worth noticing after reading.
hay un museo de fósiles
hay un museo de fósiles
there is a fossil museum
«Hay» says that something exists or is present in a place.
It helps describe what a city or room contains.
está el fósil
está el fósil
the fossil is located
«Estar» gives the location of a specific, already identified object.
It lets you say where something is.
sus huesos están unidos
sus huesos están unidos
its bones are joined
The adjective «unidos» is masculine plural to agree with «huesos».
It helps you match adjectives with nouns.
lo llaman Pepito
lo llaman Pepito
they call him Pepito
The pronoun «lo» replaces the masculine noun «el dinosaurio».
It helps avoid repeating the same noun.
¿Te gustan los dinosaurios?
¿Te gustan los dinosaurios?
Do you like dinosaurs?
«Gustan» is plural because «los dinosaurios» is the grammatical subject.
It helps you ask correctly about preferences.
Read a book in Spanish
All A1 books
Comments
Log in to leave a comment
LoginNo comments yet. Be the first!