The Ciclovía of Bogotá: Sunday streets without cars
Interviews on the Sunday ciclovía in Bogotá, with encantar, gustar, preferir and odiar followed by an infinitive. Spanish A2.
La ciclovía de Bogotá: una mañana en calles sin carros
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A reporter interviews people on the ciclovía of Bogotá, the programme that clears cars from more than a hundred kilometres of streets on Sundays and public holidays. The text works through the pronouns me, te, le, nos and les with gustar and encantar, and adds preferir and odiar in their ordinary conjugation, all followed by an infinitive, then sets them against the gerund in sigo caminando and llevamos una hora bailando. The interviewees are invented; the ciclovía and the recreovía are real.
En algunos puntos hay clases de baile y de ejercicio al aire libre, con instructor y con música. Esa parte tiene su propio nombre: la recreovía.
La ciclovía y la recreovía son reales. Los nombres y las respuestas de esta entrevista son inventados.
Reportera: Buenos días, señora. ¿Qué le gusta hacer aquí los domingos?
Amparo: A mí me encanta caminar despacio y saludar a los vecinos. Odio madrugar entre semana, pero el domingo me levanto contenta.
Reportera: ¿Y viene sola?
Amparo: Vengo con mi hija. A ella le encanta patinar, así que va adelante y yo sigo caminando detrás.
Reportera: ¿Y ustedes, niños? ¿Qué les gusta hacer aquí?
Los mellizos: ¡A nosotros nos encanta bajar por la carrera Séptima sin carros! Es una de las calles más conocidas de la ciudad y hoy es nuestra.
Reportera: ¿Y tú, Julián? ¿Prefieres correr o montar bicicleta?
Julián: Yo prefiero correr. Mi hermano prefiere montar bicicleta, porque no le gusta correr: dice que le duelen las rodillas.
Reportera: Allá suena la música muy fuerte.
Instructora: Es la recreovía. Llevamos una hora bailando y la gente sigue llegando. A los adultos mayores les encanta venir temprano; a los jóvenes les gusta más la clase del final.
Reportera: Señor, usted vende jugo de mora aquí. ¿Le gusta trabajar los domingos?
Efraín: Me interesa vender, claro, pero además me encanta conversar. Aquí casi nadie tiene prisa.
A las dos de la tarde vuelven los carros y las calles cambian otra vez. Hoy hay programas parecidos en muchas ciudades de América, con otros nombres y otros horarios.
¿Qué te gusta hacer un domingo por la mañana? ¿Prefieres caminar o montar bicicleta? ¿A tus amigos les encanta salir temprano o prefieren dormir?
About this article
What you'll learn
Preference verbs with the infinitive: me, te, le, nos and les encanta; prefiero; odio. Also the gerund after seguir and llevar.
A reporter interviews people on the ciclovía of Bogotá, the programme that clears cars from more than a hundred kilometres of streets on Sundays and public holidays. The text works through the pronouns me, te, le, nos and les with gustar and encantar, and adds preferir and odiar in their ordinary conjugation, all followed by an infinitive, then sets them against the gerund in sigo caminando and llevamos una hora bailando. The interviewees are invented; the ciclovía and the recreovía are real.
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.
cierra al tráfico
newcloses to traffic
Cerrar algo al tráfico is to shut a street so that cars cannot use it. The preposition is a: cerrar al tráfico, and later abrir al tráfico when the cars come back.
City notices, radio traffic reports and news about races or parades all use this phrase.
al aire libre
newoutdoors, in the open air
A fixed phrase: al aire libre, always with al and never in the plural. Un concierto al aire libre, una piscina al aire libre, comer al aire libre.
It is the normal way to say outdoor in Spanish, where English uses an adjective.
entre semana
newon weekdays
Entre semana means Monday to Friday. It takes no article and no plural: trabajo entre semana. Its opposite in this article is el domingo, and more generally el fin de semana.
Timetables, shop signs and invitations divide the week exactly this way.
tiene prisa
newto be in a hurry
The noun prisa goes with the verb tener: tengo prisa, no tengo prisa, casi nadie tiene prisa. In much of Latin America you will also hear estar apurado, a different word for the same idea.
It is one of the tener expressions, beside tener hambre, tener sueño and tener frío.
montar bicicleta
newto ride a bike
This text is set in Colombia, where people usually say montar bicicleta with no preposition. In Spain the usual form is montar en bicicleta, and in Argentina, Chile and Uruguay you mostly hear andar en bicicleta. All three are correct in their own place.
Choosing the local form is what makes you sound like you belong there.
Key words
Vocabulary that carries the school-day topic.
madrugar
madrugar
to get up very early
One Spanish verb covers a whole English phrase: madrugo los lunes, hay que madrugar. The related noun is la madrugada, the hours before dawn.
You need it for any conversation about work, school or travel, and there is no shorter way to say it.
los días festivos
los días festivos
public holidays
Un día festivo is a day when offices and schools close. In Colombia people often drop the noun and say just un festivo. The related word fiesta can mean a party, and in Spain also an official holiday.
Opening hours are often written as de lunes a viernes, domingos y festivos, so the word tells you whether the place is open that day.
los mellizos
Los mellizos
the twins
Mellizos and gemelos both mean twins. When speakers separate the two, gemelos are the identical ones and mellizos the ones who need not look alike. In everyday speech many people use mellizos for both.
Family words come up in the first minutes of any conversation, and this pair has no single English equivalent.
el carro
los carros
the car
In Colombia, Central America and the Caribbean the everyday word is el carro. In Spain it is el coche, and in Argentina, Chile and Uruguay el auto. In Mexico both carro and coche are common. All of them are understood everywhere; the text keeps the Colombian one.
Cars come up constantly, and the word you pick tells people where you learned your Spanish.
jugo de mora
jugo de mora
blackberry juice
La mora is a dark berry close to the blackberry, and jugo de mora is one of the common fruit juices in Colombia. Note the word for juice: jugo in Latin America, zumo in Spain.
Ordering a drink is the first thing you do in a new country, and the menu word changes with the country.
los adultos mayores
los adultos mayores
older people, senior citizens
This is the polite term used in signs, buses and official notices across Latin America. Los viejos sounds rude in that context, and la tercera edad is another neutral option.
You meet it on priority seats and at ticket windows before you ever meet it in a book.
Grammar in context
Patterns from the text worth noticing after reading.
A mí me encanta caminar
A mí me encanta caminar
I love walking
Encantar names the person with a pronoun: me, te, le, nos, les. The a mí in front only adds emphasis, and the me cannot be dropped. The verb stays singular because its subject is the infinitive: me encanta caminar, and in the same text a nosotros nos encanta bajar.
It is the shape of every sentence about what you like, so getting the pronoun right matters more than the vocabulary.
¿Qué les gusta hacer aquí?
¿Qué les gusta hacer aquí?
What do you all like doing here?
The pronoun follows who you are talking to. To several people, ustedes and les: ¿Qué les gusta hacer aquí? To one person you call tú, it is te: ¿Qué te gusta hacer un domingo por la mañana? To one person you call usted, it is le: ¿Qué le gusta hacer aquí los domingos? All three questions are in this text. In Spain a fourth form, os with vosotros, is also used; in Colombia ustedes covers every plural.
Asking someone what they like is the point of the whole pattern, and the pronoun is what changes.
Yo prefiero correr: infinitive, not gerund
Yo prefiero correr
I prefer running
After verbs of liking and preferring (gustar, encantar, preferir, odiar, detestar, interesar) Spanish uses the infinitive: prefiero correr, me encanta caminar, odio madrugar. English says I prefer running with -ing, and that pattern does not carry over. The Spanish gerund is correct after other verbs, and this text uses it three times: sigo caminando, la gente sigue llegando and llevamos una hora bailando. Estar and continuar behave the same way.
It is the mistake English speakers make the moment they start saying what they like.
no le gusta correr
no le gusta correr
he does not like running
Two things to see here. The no goes before the pronoun: no le gusta, never le no gusta. And doler works like gustar: the verb agrees with the thing, not with the person. One infinitive is singular, so le gusta correr; las rodillas is plural, so le duelen las rodillas.
Gustar, encantar, doler and interesar all share this shape, so one rule buys you four verbs.
Llevamos una hora bailando
Llevamos una hora bailando
We have been dancing for an hour
Llevar plus a length of time plus a gerund says how long something has been going on: llevamos una hora bailando, llevo dos años estudiando español. Spanish keeps the present tense where English needs have been. Seguir takes a gerund too, with the sense of still: la gente sigue llegando.
This is how you answer how long have you been here, which is asked of every visitor.
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