📖LearnModule 12 · Lesson 14 of 30Proficient User · CEFR C1, completedUnit 3 · La frase cuidada
La subordinación en cascada
Module 12 of the free Spanish course (CEFR C1, completed), lesson 14 of 30: A formal Spanish sentence can carry three clauses inside one another without collapsing. On this page: 9 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
la subordinación
subordination
lah soo-bohr-dee-nah-SYOHN
encargar un informe
to commission a report
ehn-kar-GAR oon een-FOHR-meh
el informe
the report
ehl een-FOHR-meh
mantener
to uphold
mahn-teh-NEHR
anidado
nested
ah-nee-DAH-doh
perder el hilo
to lose the thread
pehr-DEHR ehl EE-loh
el hilo
the thread
ehl EE-loh
la bisagra
the hinge
lah bee-SAH-grah
derrumbarse
to collapse
deh-rroom-BAR-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
A formal Spanish sentence can carry three clauses inside one another without collapsing, because the connectors mark every joint. Aunque el informe, que había sido encargado en enero, no fue entregado hasta marzo, la decisión se mantuvo.
Y también · And also
Read it by its joints: aunque… que… hasta… The skill is not writing sentences like that — it is not losing the thread while reading them. Spanish editors call the long, joined sentence a periodo; a good one can be read aloud in one breath.
Ojo · Watch out
Read a long sentence by its joints: aunque… que… hasta. The skill is not writing sentences like that; it is not losing the thread while reading them. mantener is irregular like tener: se mantuvo.
encargar, voz pasiva en pretérito — the table
él fue encargado · ella fue encargada · ellos fueron encargados · ellas fueron encargadas
Do it now — on paper
Say all 9 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the Spanish spelling alone — begin with la subordinación.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the Spanish.
Write out encargar, voz pasiva en pretérito 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.