📖LearnModule 10 · Lesson 5 of 30Independent User · CEFR B1 + B2 mastery, and the C1 bridgeUnit 1 · Los tres pasados, en contraste
Resumir una historia
Module 10 of the free Spanish course (CEFR B1 + B2 mastery, and the C1 bridge), lesson 5 of 30: . On this page: 8 words with their genders and respellings, the rule, a watch-out line, the conjugation table and the audio — the study notes behind the workbook's QR.
The words
Spanish
English
Say it
un hombre pierde su trabajo
a man loses his job
oon OHM-breh PYEHR-deh soo trah-BAH-hoh
la trama
the plot
lah TRAH-mah
el personaje
the character in a story
ehl pehr-soh-NAH-heh
el desenlace
the ending
ehl deh-sehn-LAH-seh
decidir
to decide
deh-see-DEER
en presente
in the present tense
ehn preh-SEHN-teh
apasionante
gripping
ah-pah-syoh-NAHN-teh
ella decide irse
she decides to leave
EH-yah deh-SEE-deh EER-seh
Respellings follow the course’s say-it key; the stressed syllable is in capitals. Print this lesson’s flashcards (PDF) — the words on the front, the English and respelling on the back.
La regla · The rule
Summarizing a movie or a book is a standard B2 speaking and writing task, and it has one counter-intuitive rule: tell it in the PRESENT. Un hombre pierde su trabajo. Ella decide irse.
Y también · And also
The present is the convention for plot in Spanish as in English, and switching to the past mid-summary is the giveaway of an unpracticed writer. Keep the past for your own memories, not for the story's. Perder changes its stem: pierdo, pierdes, pierde, but perdemos.
Ojo · Watch out
Summarize a plot in the PRESENT: un hombre pierde su trabajo. Switching to the past mid-summary is the giveaway of an unpracticed writer. el personaje is a character in a story; el carácter is a person's character.
perder, presente — the table
yo pierdo · tú pierdes · él/ella/usted pierde · nosotros perdemos · ustedes pierden · ellos/ellas pierden
decidir, presente — the table
yo decido · tú decides · él/ella/usted decide · nosotros decidimos · ustedes deciden · ellos/ellas deciden
Do it now — on paper
Say all 8 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the Spanish spelling alone — begin with un hombre pierde su trabajo.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the Spanish.
Write out perder, presente and decidir, presente in full from memory, every person, and check each form against the table above.
This free course is the reading half. The writing half — write-in lessons, daily practice pages with built-in review, self-checks and a full answer key — is the companion workbook series, The Spanish Ladder: one workbook per module, fifteen in all, released band by band with the Basic band (Modules 1–5) first.
Keep these words
Turn this lesson’s words into flashcards, then space your reviews — the two habits the research behind our study guides backs hardest.