📖LearnModule 13 · Lesson 19 of 30Proficient User · CEFR C2, first halfUnit 4 · El pensamiento y la ética
La estética
Module 13 of the free Spanish course (CEFR C2, first half), lesson 19 of 30: Talking about art in Spanish needs a small, precise vocabulary. 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 obra
the work of art
lah OH-brah
la forma
the form (shape)
lah FOHR-mah
el fondo
the content (substance)
ehl FOHN-doh
el gusto
taste
ehl GOOS-toh
agradar
to please
ah-grah-DAR
la obra maestra
the masterpiece
lah OH-brah mah-EHS-trah
la arquitectura
architecture
lah ar-kee-tehk-TOO-rah
certero en el criterio
sure in judgment
sehr-TEH-roh ehn ehl kree-TEH-ryoh
ella agrada al público
she pleases the audience
EH-yah ah-GRAH-dah ahl POO-blee-koh
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
Talking about art in Spanish needs a small, precise vocabulary. La obra (the work), la forma, el fondo (the content), el gusto, el alcance. Una obra maestra, un gusto certero.
Y también · And also
The pair that matters is la forma y el fondo — form and content — and it is the frame every Spanish critique is built on, in literature, film and architecture alike. Agradar is the formal verb for to please: la obra agrada al público.
Ojo · Watch out
el fondo is the content and la forma the form — the frame of every critique. la obra is feminine: una obra maestra. agradar takes a with a person: agrada al público — and gustar stays the everyday verb.
agradar, presente — the table
yo agrado · tú agradas · él/ella/usted agrada · nosotros agradamos · ustedes agradan · ellos/ellas agradan
Do it now — on paper
Say all 9 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the Spanish spelling alone — begin with la obra.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the Spanish.
Write out agradar, 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.