Swimming in Summer: Spanish story (A1)
Inés wants to reach the yellow buoy on the Málaga coast. The beach flag is yellow, so she swims where her feet still touch the sand. A1 reading.
Natación en verano
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About this article
What you'll learn
Present tense, querer plus an infinitive, and beach words: bandera, boya, bañador, hacer pie.
Inés spends August at her grandmother's on the Málaga coast and wants to swim out to a buoy with her brother Rafa. The flag is yellow: green means a good day to swim, yellow means caution, red means stay out. She swims only along the shore, where she can stand. Clear present-tense Spanish for A1.
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.
hace mucho calor
newit is very hot
Spanish uses hace for the weather: hace calor, hace frío, hace sol. Never uses es or está here.
The phrase that starts every conversation about summer.
boca abajo
newface down
Boca abajo is face down and boca arriba is face up (literally mouth down and mouth up). You swim boca abajo in crol and boca arriba in espalda.
One pair of expressions covers both swimming positions, and any way of lying down.
traje de baño
newswimsuit, bathing suit
El traje de baño is swimwear; in Spain people also say bañador. Watch the ñ: baño means bath, and bano is not a Spanish word at all.
The one thing you cannot swim without, and a reminder that ñ is a separate letter.
Ponte protector solar
newput on sunscreen
Ponte is the tú command of ponerse. In an affirmative command the pronoun is glued to the end of the verb: pon + te.
The first thing anyone tells you on a Spanish beach.
la bandera roja
newthe red flag
Spanish beaches fly three flags: verde means you can swim, amarilla means take care, roja means swimming is forbidden.
You are expected to read this flag before you go into the sea in Spain.
No nades solo
newdo not swim alone
The safety rule of the whole text. No nades is the negative command of nadar, and solo here means on your own.
The one sentence to remember from the safety section.
Key words
Vocabulary that carries the school-day topic.
Swimming pool
piscina
swimming pool
La piscina is a pool. Almost every town in Spain has a piscina municipal, the town pool, and many of them open only for the summer months.
Where most people in Spain actually swim.
Beach
playa
beach
La playa is the beach. The sea is not the same everywhere in Spain: cold with big waves on the northern Cantabrian coast, warmer and calmer on the Mediterranean.
The second place to swim, and the difference decides where people go.
Swimming goggles
gafas de natación
swimming goggles
Las gafas de natación protect your eyes from chlorine and salt. Gafas is always plural in Spanish, like glasses in English.
Basic kit, and an example of a noun that has no everyday singular.
Front crawl
crol
front crawl, freestyle
The four styles in Spanish are el crol, la espalda, la braza and la mariposa. Crol is the fastest and the one beginners start with.
Four words cover every swimming style you will hear at a pool.
Lifeguard
socorrista
lifeguard
In Spanish you shout ¡Socorro! when you need help, and the person who comes is the socorrista.
The word for help and the word for lifeguard share a root: both are worth knowing before you swim.
Towel
toalla
towel
Una toalla is a towel. Para secarse means in order to dry yourself: the reflexive -se stays attached to the infinitive.
Everyday word plus the reflexive infinitive pattern.
Grammar in context
Patterns from the text worth noticing after reading.
Present habit: van a la piscina
Muchas personas van a la piscina
many people go to the pool
Van is the present of ir for ellos: what people usually do. Para + infinitive gives the reason: para refrescarse, to cool down.
Habitual present plus the para + infinitive pattern, both used all through the text.
Ser: nadar es un deporte
Nadar es un deporte divertido
swimming is a fun sport
An infinitive can be the subject of a Spanish sentence: nadar es un deporte. Ser then links it to a noun or an adjective.
Lets you say what any activity is: leer es útil, cocinar es divertido.
Hay: there is, there are
Hay diferentes lugares donde puedes nadar
there are different places where you can swim
Hay is one single form for both there is and there are: hay una piscina, hay diferentes lugares. It never changes for number.
The first way to say what exists in a place.
Negative command: no entres
No entres al agua muy rápido
do not go into the water too fast
The negative tú command is not the affirmative form with no in front. Entras becomes no entres, nadas becomes no nades, corres becomes no corras: an -ar verb takes -es and an -er or -ir verb takes -as.
Every safety rule in this text is a negative command, and the swapped ending is exactly what learners get wrong.
Command with an attached pronoun: sécate
sécate bien con la toalla
dry yourself well with the towel
In an affirmative command the reflexive pronoun is glued to the end of the verb, and a written accent appears: seca + te = sécate, moja + te = mójate, cambia + te = cámbiate, pon + te = ponte.
Four commands in this text carry an attached pronoun; without the rule they look like unknown words.
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