A1StoryFootball1 min

La pelota y la tienda

A ball in the square, a grandfather at the window and a shot that is too hard.

A little football story in the present tense. Watch le gusta: in Spanish football “pleases” the boy — that is how you say what you like.

Pablo tiene doce años. Le gusta mucho el fútbol.

El sábado por la mañana llueve. Pablo y sus amigos están en la plaza del barrio con una pelota. La plaza está llena de agua.

Su abuelo mira desde la ventana. Tiene un paraguas grande y un café caliente.

Pablo pega a la pelota muy fuerte. ¡La pelota entra en la tienda de la esquina! El señor de la tienda sale con la pelota en la mano. Pero es simpático. Da la pelota a Pablo y dice: «¡Qué fuerte! Pero la plaza es grande, ¿no?»

More sentences on this in “Language in use”: Spanish for football

Words: 94
Sentences: 14
Words per sentence: 6.7
in the vocabulary: 100 %
measured level: A1
Reading time: 1 min

Grammar in this text

These forms appear in the text in real use. Switch on “Show grammar” above the text to highlight them.

Le gusta mucho el fútbol
With gustar the thing that is liked is the subject: le gusta el fútbol, literally “football pleases him”. gustar and similar verbs →
tiene doce años
Age is given with tener: tiene doce años, literally “he has twelve years”. Expressions with tener →
está llena de agua
estar for a state: la plaza está llena de agua. estar — where and how something is →

The words from A1 up in this text

Not the hard words in general, but those at your level: 30 of the 32 of the 55 words in this text are at A1 or above. You will know everything else by the time you get here.

caliente
hot
A1
dar
to give
A1
decir
to say, to tell
A1
doce
twelve
A1
el abuelo
the grandfather
A1
el agua
water
A1
el amigo
the friend
A1
el año
the year
A1
el barrio
the district
A1
el café
coffee
A1
el fútbol
football
A2
el paraguas
the umbrella
A1
el sábado
Saturday
A1
entrar
to go in
A1
fuerte
strong; loud
A1
grande
big
A1
gustar
to please, to be liked
A1
la esquina
the corner
A1
la mano
the hand
A1
la pelota
the ball
A1
la plaza
the square
A1
la tienda
the shop
A1
la ventana
the window
A1
lleno
full
A1
llover
to rain
A1
mañana
tomorrow; the morning
A1
mirar
to look at
A1
pegar
to stick; to hit
A1
salir
to go out, to leave
A1
señor
Mr, sir
A1

The word lists for this text

The words in this text appear in 14 lists on this site; the number after each says how many come from that list. Having read the text, you have just needed these very words — and can practise exactly them.

Person and family 4 The town and finding your way 4 Irregular verbs 4 Numbers and time 4 Colours and qualities 3 The most important verbs 3 Food and drink 2 Weather and seasons 2 What lies about the room 1 Greetings and politeness 1 Free time and sport 1 Months, tens and what was missing between them 1 The body and health 1 Living and the household 1

Comprehension questions

3 questions on the text. With each answer the sentence it comes from appears — a question whose answer you cannot find in the text tests nothing.

1. ¿Dónde están Pablo y sus amigos?

2. ¿Qué hace el abuelo?

3. ¿Adónde va la pelota?