Spanish A1.13 Listening Practice: Make And Can
Listen to a A1 Spanish dialogue about make and can, with audio, transcript, and grammar notes for language learning.
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Level
A1.13
Audio
Segmented audio
Transcript
23 segments
A short Spanish listening chapter with transcript.
Unit 2: add hacer and poder as early high-use verbs 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. Carmen · Teacher
Welcome back! I'm Carmen, your teacher. Today, we are learning two high-frequency verbs: hacer, meaning to do or make, and poder, meaning to be able to or can.
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2. Carmen · Teacher
Listen to this short conversation between Álvaro and Lucía.
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3. Álvaro · Native Speaker 1
¿Qué haces hoy?
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4. Lucía · Native Speaker 2
Hago la comida.
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5. Álvaro · Native Speaker 1
¿Puedes ayudarme hoy?
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6. Lucía · Native Speaker 2
No puedo hoy.
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7. Lucía · Native Speaker 2
Puedo hacerlo mañana.
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8. Carmen · Teacher
Let's look at the first line. Álvaro said: ¿Qué haces hoy? This means 'What are you doing today?' Here, 'haces' means 'you do'.
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9. Diego · Student
So 'haces' is used when asking 'you do' directly?
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10. Carmen · Teacher
Exactly, Diego! 'Haces' is the 'you' form of hacer.
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11. Carmen · Teacher
Next, Lucía answered: Hago la comida. That means 'I make the food.' 'Hago' means 'I do' or 'I make.'
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12. Diego · Student
Is 'hago' always the 'I' form for hacer?
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13. Carmen · Teacher
Yes, 'hago' always means 'I do' or 'I make.'
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14. Carmen · Teacher
Then Álvaro asked: ¿Puedes ayudarme hoy? This means 'Can you help me today?' The word 'puedes' means 'you can.'
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15. Diego · Student
Does 'puedes' come from the verb poder?
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16. Carmen · Teacher
Correct! 'Puedes' is the 'you' form of poder.
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17. Carmen · Teacher
Lucía replied: No puedo hoy. This means 'I cannot today.' 'Puedo' means 'I can.'
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18. Diego · Student
Does putting 'no' right before 'puedo' make it negative?
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19. Carmen · Teacher
Precisely. Put 'no' before 'puedo' to say 'I cannot.'
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20. Carmen · Teacher
Finally, Lucía said our challenge phrase: Puedo hacerlo mañana. This means 'I can do it tomorrow.'
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21. Diego · Student
Why is '-lo' attached to the end of 'hacer' in 'hacerlo'?
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22. Carmen · Teacher
The '-lo' stands for 'it', so 'hacerlo' means 'to do it.'
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23. Carmen · Teacher
Great work today! Keep practicing 'hago', 'haces', and 'puedo' in your daily listening.
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