Spanish B1.19 Listening Practice: Participle As Description
Listen to a B1 Spanish dialogue about participle as description, with audio, transcript, and grammar notes for language learning.
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Level
B1.19
Audio
Segmented audio
Transcript
21 segments
A short Spanish listening chapter with transcript.
Unit 6: add participle used as adjective 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 podcast! Today we are learning how to use participles as adjectives in Spanish to describe states, such as saying 'La puerta está cerrada.' Let's listen to Álvaro and Lucía in a quick office conversation.
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2. Álvaro · Native Speaker 1
Lucía, ¿está ya preparada la presentación para la reunión?
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3. Lucía · Native Speaker 2
Sí, la presentación está terminada, pero la oficina está cerrada.
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4. Álvaro · Native Speaker 1
¡Qué problema! La puerta está cerrada y necesitamos los papeles.
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5. Lucía · Native Speaker 2
No pasa nada, el archivo está guardado en mi ordenador.
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6. Álvaro · Native Speaker 1
¡Excelente! Entonces el trabajo está terminado.
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7. Carmen · Teacher
In the first sentence, Álvaro asked: 'Lucía, ¿está ya preparada la presentación para la reunión?' He uses 'preparada' to describe 'la presentación'.
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8. Diego · Student
So if the noun were masculine, like 'el informe', would it be 'preparado'?
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9. Carmen · Teacher
Exactly! Participles used as adjectives match the gender and number of the noun.
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10. Carmen · Teacher
In sentence two, Lucía says: 'Sí, la presentación está terminada, pero la oficina está cerrada.' Here, 'terminada' and 'cerrada' end in '-ada' to match the feminine nouns.
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11. Diego · Student
Why do we use 'estar' here instead of 'ser'?
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12. Carmen · Teacher
We use 'estar' because we are describing the resulting state or condition of something after an action took place.
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13. Carmen · Teacher
In sentence three, Álvaro says: '¡Qué problema! La puerta está cerrada y necesitamos los papeles.' This includes our key challenge sentence: 'La puerta está cerrada.'
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14. Diego · Student
Does 'cerrada' come directly from the verb 'cerrar'?
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15. Carmen · Teacher
Yes! Regular -ar verbs take the ending -ado or -ada when used as descriptive adjectives.
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16. Carmen · Teacher
In sentence four, Lucía says: 'No pasa nada, el archivo está guardado en mi ordenador.' 'Guardado' ends in '-ado' because 'el archivo' is masculine.
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17. Diego · Student
Is 'ordenador' the standard word for computer in Spain?
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18. Carmen · Teacher
Yes, in Castilian Spanish, 'ordenador' is used for computer.
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19. Carmen · Teacher
Finally, Álvaro says: '¡Excelente! Entonces el trabajo está terminado.' 'Terminado' describes 'el trabajo'.
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20. Diego · Student
Can I use 'terminado' whenever I finish a task or project?
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21. Carmen · Teacher
Yes! You can say 'el proyecto está terminado' whenever a project is complete.
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