Episodio 2: Vocabulario importante
This is the vocabulary you will need to retell the story in classroom discussions and speak about aspects of the story in comparison to your own life. The words in bold in the reading appear below. For grammar explanations and translations of other words, also see the Reading Help section below.
el, la empleado(a) |
the employee |
el gobierno |
the government |
perder |
to lose (han perdido= they have lost) |
el trabajo |
the job |
el taller |
the workshop |
deber |
should, ought to (often followed by the infinitive) |
aprender (a) |
to learn (to) (often followed by the infinitive) |
escribir a máquina |
to type |
obtener |
to get |
su vida |
her life |
conocer |
to meet, to get to know |
el mundo |
the world |
encantador |
charming |
tomar una decisión |
to make a decision |
llegar |
to arrive (the opposite of salir) |
Ignacio planea la boda con mucho detalle. Es muy organizado, el empleado perfecto para la burocracia del gobierno. Desafortunadamente1, Sira y su madre han perdido2 sus3 trabajos porque el taller de Doña Manuela se cerró4. Sira debe aprender a escribir a máquina para obtener el certificado de secretaria. En realidad, ella no quiere ser secretaria ni5 pasar el resto de su vida con Ignacio.
Desafortunadamente1 = unfortunately; han perdido2 = have lost (present perfect: haber + participle -ado, -ido (or irregular forms: e.g. escribir = escrito, hacer = hecho): it is used to describe something that has happened in a recent past, or to talk about general life experiences: he viajado, has viajado, ha viajado, hemos viajado, habéis viajado, han viajado); sus3 = their (possessive adjectives: they are used to show that something belongs to somebody: mi(s), tu(s), su(s), nuestro(a,os,as), vuestro(a,os,as), su(s)); se cerró4 = closed (impersonal se: it is used when the subject (who does the action) is unknown or not relevant; it is equivalent to “someone, one”: E.g. Se habla español = Spanish is spoken/ Someone speaks Spanish); no… ni5 = neither...nor...
Sira conoce a Ramiro Arribas, un hombre que quiere conocer1 el mundo con ella. Es muy diferente de Ignacio en todos los aspectos: es impetuoso, espontáneo, dinámico y encantador. Sira toma una decisión muy importante que va a cambiar2 su vida y la de su madre. Es una decisión que las3 separa.
Unos meses después, otro hombre misterioso, y muy importante, llega a la vida de Sira.
conocer1 = to know (conocer = to get to know a person, a culture or a place or to meet someone for the first time. In the present, the yo form is irregular: conozco, conoces, conoce, conocemos, conocéis, conocen); va a cambiar2 = it is going to change (expression ir a + infinitive = to be going to + infinitive: it is used to express the near future: voy, vas, va, vamos, vais, van a + Inf); las3 = them ((direct object pronoun: it replaces the part of the sentence that answers the question what? or whom?: me, te, lo, la, nos, os, los, las)