Spanish A2.17 Listening Practice: Present-Tense Review Loop
Listen to a A2 Spanish dialogue about present-tense review loop, with audio, transcript, and grammar notes for language learning.
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Level
A2.17
Audio
Segmented audio
Transcript
19 segments
A short Spanish listening chapter with transcript.
Unit 4: add mixed present-tense repair 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 to today's lesson! I'm Carmen, and today we are reviewing present-tense verbs in Spanish. We will practice combining regular verbs like hablo, como, and desayuno with stem-changing verbs like duermo.
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2. Diego · Student
Hi Carmen! I'm Diego. I always get confused when switching between regular verbs and stem-changing ones like dormir in the same sentence.
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3. Carmen · Teacher
You are not alone, Diego! Today's dialogue will help you train your ear. Let's listen to Álvaro and Lucía talk about their daily routines.
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4. Álvaro · Native Speaker 1
Normalmente hablo con mi familia por la mañana mientras desayuno.
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5. Lucía · Native Speaker 2
¡Qué bien! Yo como algo rápido porque siempre voy con prisa.
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6. Álvaro · Native Speaker 1
Pero los fines de semana cambio la rutina: desayuno temprano y duermo tarde.
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7. Lucía · Native Speaker 2
Yo no puedo hacer eso; si duermo tarde, al día siguiente estoy muy cansada.
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8. Álvaro · Native Speaker 1
Entiendo, pero a mí me encanta aprovechar la noche.
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9. Carmen · Teacher
Great job listening! Now let's break down those five sentences together. First, Álvaro said: 'Normalmente hablo con mi familia por la mañana mientras desayuno.' This means 'Normally I speak with my family in the morning while I eat breakfast.' Both hablo and desayuno are regular -ar verbs in the present tense for 'yo'.
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10. Diego · Student
Is 'desayuno' both the noun for breakfast and the 'I' form of the verb?
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11. Carmen · Teacher
That's right! 'El desayuno' is the breakfast, and 'yo desayuno' means 'I eat breakfast.' Moving to sentence two, Lucía said: '¡Qué bien! Yo como algo rápido porque siempre voy con prisa.' She uses 'como' from the regular -er verb comer.
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12. Diego · Student
Does 'ir con prisa' literally mean 'to go with hurry'?
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13. Carmen · Teacher
Yes, 'ir con prisa' or 'tener prisa' is how Spanish speakers express being in a rush. Next, in sentence three, Álvaro shared our challenge line: 'Pero los fines de semana cambio la rutina: desayuno temprano y duermo tarde.' Notice 'duermo' here.
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14. Diego · Student
Right, so 'dormir' changes its stem vowel from 'o' to 'ue' in 'yo duermo'?
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15. Carmen · Teacher
Exactly, Diego. Regular -ar verbs keep their stem, like 'desayuno', but 'dormir' becomes 'duermo'. In sentence four, Lucía replied: 'Yo no puedo hacer eso; si duermo tarde, al día siguiente estoy muy cansada.' She uses the feminine adjective 'cansada' for herself.
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16. Diego · Student
And since I am male, I would say 'estoy muy cansado', right?
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17. Carmen · Teacher
Perfect! Adjectives always agree with the speaker's gender. Finally, in sentence five, Álvaro said: 'Entiendo, pero a mí me encanta aprovechar la noche.' Here, 'entiendo' comes from another stem-changing verb, entender, which changes e to ie.
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18. Diego · Student
What does 'aprovechar' mean in this context?
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19. Carmen · Teacher
'Aprovechar' means 'to make the most of' or 'to take advantage of'. Álvaro loves making the most of the night! You've done fantastic work listening today.
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