Spanish A1.17 Listening Practice: Splits Only Under Stress
Listen to a A1 Spanish dialogue about splits only under stress, with audio, transcript, and grammar notes for language learning.
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Level
A1.17
Audio
Segmented audio
Transcript
21 segments
A short Spanish listening chapter with transcript.
Unit 2: add stem changes disappear in unstressed forms 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. Today we are learning how stem-changing verbs stay simple in the 'we' form, like queremos, podemos, and dormimos. Let's hear Álvaro and Lucía.
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2. Álvaro · Native Speaker 1
¿Queremos trabajar ahora?
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3. Lucía · Native Speaker 2
No, no queremos trabajar.
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4. Álvaro · Native Speaker 1
¿Podemos descansar un poco?
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5. Lucía · Native Speaker 2
Sí, podemos dormir después.
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6. Álvaro · Native Speaker 1
Vale, hoy dormimos aquí.
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7. Carmen · Teacher
Álvaro asked: '¿Queremos trabajar ahora?' which means 'Do we want to work now?' Notice queremos keeps the letter E without splitting.
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8. Diego · Student
So we say quiero for 'I want', but queremos for 'we want'?
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9. Carmen · Teacher
That's right, Diego! In queremos, the stress is on the ending, so the stem vowel doesn't split.
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10. Carmen · Teacher
Lucía answered: 'No, no queremos trabajar' — 'No, we don't want to work.'
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11. Diego · Student
Does trabajar stay as an infinitive because it comes right after queremos?
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12. Carmen · Teacher
Yes! When two verbs are paired like this, the second stays in its full form.
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13. Carmen · Teacher
Then Álvaro asked: '¿Podemos descansar un poco?' meaning 'Can we rest a bit?'
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14. Diego · Student
Why isn't it puedemos?
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15. Carmen · Teacher
Because poder only splits to puedo when stressed. For 'we', it stays podemos.
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16. Carmen · Teacher
Lucía replied with our challenge sentence: 'Sí, podemos dormir después.' This means 'Yes, we can sleep later.'
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17. Diego · Student
Does después mean 'later' or 'afterward'?
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18. Carmen · Teacher
It can mean both, Diego! Here it translates naturally to 'later'.
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19. Carmen · Teacher
Álvaro finished with: 'Vale, hoy dormimos aquí,' which means 'Okay, today we sleep here.'
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20. Diego · Student
So dormimos keeps the 'o' sound just like podemos?
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21. Carmen · Teacher
Exactly! Dormir becomes dormimos without any vowel split. Great job listening today!
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