📖LearnModule 9 · Lesson 4 of 30Independent User · CEFR B2, completedUnit 1 · La narración escrita
Describir un lugar
Module 9 of the free Spanish course (CEFR B2, completed), lesson 4 of 30: Description is what separates a report from a story. 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 callejón
the narrow street
ehl kah-yeh-HOHN
estrecho
narrow (m)
ehs-TREH-choh
la luz
the light
lah LOOS
pesado
heavy (atmosphere)
peh-SAH-doh
desierto
deserted (m)
deh-SYEHR-toh
la persiana
the shutter (blind)
lah pehr-SYAH-nah
ladrar
to bark
lah-DRAR
el ambiente
the atmosphere
ehl ahm-BYEHN-teh
la calle estaba desierta
the street was deserted
lah KAH-yeh ehs-TAH-bah deh-SYEHR-tah
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
Description is what separates a report from a story. Give a place a sense of light, sound and space: un callejón estrecho, una luz suave, un silencio pesado.
Y también · And also
The imperfecto does all the work here, because description has no events in it. La calle estaba desierta; las persianas estaban cerradas; en algún lugar, ladraba un perro. Estar in the imperfecto — estaba, estaban — is the verb of every described scene.
Ojo · Watch out
Description lives in the imperfecto because it has no events: la calle estaba desierta. One pretérito inside a description is an event — make sure you meant one. And estaba is estar; era is ser: la calle era estrecha (always), estaba desierta (that night).
estar, imperfecto — the table
yo estaba · tú estabas · él/ella/usted estaba · nosotros estábamos · ustedes estaban · ellos/ellas estaban
Do it now — on paper
Say all 9 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the Spanish spelling alone — begin with el callejón.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the Spanish.
Write out estar, imperfecto 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.