Hide and Seek: Spanish Story for Beginners (A1)
Learn Spanish with a children's story about hide and seek in the schoolyard. Level A1: movement verbs, reflexive verbs and the numbers one to ten. Read with instant translation.
El juego del escondite
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Children play hide and seek in the schoolyard, and one of them falls asleep on the piano. Level A1, for beginners. You will learn movement verbs (esconderse, correr, encontrar), the numbers one to ten, and the personal a in front of people. The story ends with three questions for you to answer in Spanish.
Sofía cuenta hasta diez con los ojos cerrados:
Sofía:
¡Uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, seis, siete, ocho, nueve, diez! ¡Os voy a encontrar a todos!
Carlos corre y se esconde detrás del árbol.
Lucía se esconde detrás de un banco.
Tomás, muy travieso, decide esconderse en la clase de música.
Sofía (gritando):
¡Voy! ¡Ya voy!
Sofía busca por todo el patio. Encuentra a Carlos en dos minutos y a Lucía en cinco minutos, pero no encuentra a Tomás.
Después de diez minutos, todos los niños gritan:
Lucía:
¡Tomás! ¡Sal ya! ¡El juego ha terminado!
Pero nadie responde.
Sofía abre la puerta de la clase de música y ve a Tomás dormido sobre el piano.
Sofía (riendo):
¡Profe! ¡Tenemos un nuevo músico dormilón!
La profesora María entra y dice:
Profesora María:
Tomás, esto no es una siesta, es un juego.
Tomás (medio dormido):
Profe… estaba escondido… y me dormí un poquito…
Toda la clase se ríe.
Profesora María:
Bueno, chicos, hoy aprendemos algo importante: si te escondes demasiado bien, ¡te pierdes el final del juego!
Ahora te toca a ti:
¿Juegas al escondite con tus amigos?
¿Dónde te escondes en casa?
¿Cuentas hasta diez o hasta veinte?
About this article
What you'll learn
movement verbs, reflexive verbs, numbers one to ten, place prepositions, game phrases
Children play hide and seek in the schoolyard, and one of them falls asleep on the piano. Level A1, for beginners. You will learn movement verbs (esconderse, correr, encontrar), the numbers one to ten, and the personal a in front of people. The story ends with three questions for you to answer in Spanish.
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.
por la tarde
newin the afternoon
Tells when the action happens.
Useful for simple stories.
con los ojos cerrados
newwith eyes closed
Describes how Sofia counts.
Adds a simple detail to an action.
Os voy a encontrar a todos
newI am going to find you all
Voy a encontrar expresses a near intention.
Useful for plans and games.
detrás del árbol
newbehind the tree
Detrás del shows a place behind something.
Useful for locations.
El juego ha terminado
newThe game has ended
Says that an activity is finished.
Useful for games and classes.
Key words
Vocabulary that carries the school-day topic.
Yard
patio
yard / playground
Here it means the school yard.
Common for school and play settings.
School
colegio
school
Colegio means a school for children.
Basic education vocabulary.
Game
escondite
hide-and-seek
A game where some hide and one looks for them.
Key word for the story.
Personality
travieso
mischievous
Describes a child who makes playful trouble.
Useful for describing people.
Sleepyhead
dormilón
sleepyhead
Someone who sleeps a lot or falls asleep easily.
Playful person description.
Grammar in context
Patterns from the text worth noticing after reading.
Reflexive verb
Lucía se esconde
Lucía hides
Se esconde is the present tense of esconderse. The pronoun se shows that Lucía hides herself.
The text uses this verb four times: se esconde, esconderse, escondido, te escondes.
Negation with nadie
Pero nadie responde
But nobody answers
Nadie means nobody. When nadie comes before the verb, Spanish adds no extra negative word: Nadie responde.
Lets you say that no one does something, with one negative instead of two.
Command form
Sal ya
Come out now
Sal is the tú command of salir. It is irregular: it does not take the usual -e ending.
Short commands like Sal, Ven and Ten come up constantly in spoken Spanish.
Stem-changing verbs
Sofía cuenta hasta diez
Sofía counts to ten
In contar the o becomes ue in the present: cuenta. The same change hits jugar (juegan) and encontrar (encuentra).
These forms look nothing like the dictionary word, so a verb you already know is easy to miss.
The personal a
no encuentra a Tomás
she does not find Tomás
Spanish puts a in front of a person who receives the action: encuentra a Carlos, ve a Tomás, encontrar a todos.
Dropping this a is one of the most common beginner mistakes, and English has nothing like it.
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