Spanish A1.1 Listening Practice: First Cognate Sentence
Listen to a A1 Spanish dialogue about first cognate sentence, with audio, transcript, and grammar notes for language learning.
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Level
A1.1
Audio
1m 16s
Transcript
11 segments
A short Spanish listening chapter with transcript.
Unit 1: add es plus one transparent -al word to what you already control, then say one short answer that reuses earlier Spanish instead of starting from a memorized phrase.
Read while you listen.
1. Native Speaker 1
¿El español es difícil?
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2. Native Speaker 2
No, es normal.
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3. Native Speaker 1
¿La clase es normal?
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4. Native Speaker 2
Sí, es normal.
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5. Native Speaker 1
Perfecto, es normal.
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6. Teacher
Let's break down that first exchange. We heard: 'No, es normal.' This means 'No, it is normal.' In Spanish, 'es' means 'is' or 'it is', and 'normal' is a perfect cognate—it is spelled exactly the same and means the same as in English.
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7. Student
That's so easy! Do we ever need to add a word for 'it' before 'es'?
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8. Teacher
No, you don't! In Spanish, the pronoun 'it' is built right into the verb 'es'. So, 'es normal' is a complete and perfect sentence.
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9. Teacher
Now, let's look at the next part: 'La clase es normal.' This means 'The class is normal.' Here, we pair a noun, 'la clase', with 'es' and our cognate 'normal'.
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10. Student
Does the word 'normal' change depending on whether the noun is masculine or feminine?
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11. Teacher
Great question! Words ending in '-al', like 'normal', stay exactly the same for both masculine and feminine nouns. So, 'el clima es normal' and 'la clase es normal' both use the exact same word.
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