📖LearnModule 12 · Lesson 16 of 30Proficient User · CEFR C1, completedUnit 4 · La prensa y las instituciones
El Estado
Module 12 of the free Spanish course (CEFR C1, completed), lesson 16 of 30: Political vocabulary is precise and a newspaper assumes it. 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
el Estado
the state (as an institution)
ehl ehs-TAH-doh
el gobierno
the government
ehl goh-BYEHR-noh
el poder
power
ehl poh-DEHR
una política
a policy
OO-nah poh-LEE-tee-kah
la política
politics
lah poh-LEE-tee-kah
el ministro
the minister
ehl mee-NEES-troh
elegir
to choose
eh-leh-HEER
la institución
the institution
lah eens-tee-too-SYOHN
la cámara
the chamber (of a legislature)
lah KAH-mah-rah
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
Political vocabulary is precise and a newspaper assumes it. El Estado (with a capital) is the state as an institution; el gobierno is the ministers currently running it; el poder is the ability to act, and los poderes are its branches.
Y también · And also
Una política is a policy; la política is politics. A single article separates a debate about pensions from a debate about parties, and misreading it misreads the article. La cámara is a chamber of the legislature: la Cámara de Diputados.
Ojo · Watch out
el Estado with a capital E is the state as an institution; el gobierno is the ministers in office. una política is a policy; la política is politics. And el poder is masculine: el poder judicial.
elegir, voz pasiva — the table
él es elegido · ella es elegida · ellos son elegidos · ellas son elegidas
Do it now — on paper
Say all 9 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the Spanish spelling alone — begin with el Estado.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the Spanish.
Write out elegir, voz pasiva 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.