Spanish Grammar Podcast
In our “Punto y coma” podcast series, you’ll listen to Kwiziq teachers Inma and Silvia‘s light-hearted chats in Spanish about fun topics that are focused on very interesting grammar. To help you practise your listening skills, these podcasts will often be accompanied by some useful vocab, grammar lessons and interesting links to go further! We encourage you to try our related exercises to have the whole experience.
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🎧 Today’s podcast: Past Tenses & Theme Parks 🎧
Today’s podcast is about paying attention to Past Tenses in Spanish (el perfecto, el imperfecto and el indefinido) while we chat about Theme Parks and rides. As you listen to our relaxed and natural conversation, pay attention to how and when we use one past tense or another. Check our lessons and test yourself on the notebook that we put together and share with you at the end of this page.
📕 Some useful vocabulary
Here are some of the key words from the podcast to help you get confident in this topic:
- el parque temático = theme park
- las atracciones = rides, attractions (general)
- los cacharritos = rides, attractions (used in Seville)
- las barracas = rides, attractions (used in the Basque Country)
- la montaña rusa = roller coaster
- la noria = big wheel (US: Ferris wheel)
- la anaconda = Anaconda (name of one ride)
- el tren de la bruja = ghost train
- una escoba = broom
- pegar = to hit
- dar miedo = to be scary
- asustarse = to get frightened
- tener miedo = to be afraid
- refrescarse= to cool down
- montarse en = to go on/to get on (a ride)
- marearse = to get dizzy/to feel sick
- la cola = queue (US: line)
- ¡Hala! ¡Qué divertido! = Wow, that’s fun!
📚 Grammar: Past tenses
Here are some example phrases from the episode. To really understand why each past tense is used, listen to the podcast and pay attention to the context in which they appear:
El Perfecto (Present Perfect):
- ¿Has estado en alguno? = Have you [ever] been to any of them?
- Yo he estado en… = I’ve been to…
El Imperfecto (Imperfect):
- No había estos parques temáticos = There weren’t these theme parks
- Cuando era niña = When I was a little girl
- Una persona se disfrazaba de bruja = A person used to dress up as a witch
- Me asustaba muchísimo = I used to be very frightened
- Hacía mucho calor = It was very hot
- Había mucha gente = There were lots of people
- Las colas eran un poco largas = The queues (US: lines) were a bit long
- Había mucha variedad = There was a lot of variety
- No podía andar en línea recta = I couldn’t walk straight
El Indefinido (Preterite):
- Cuando fui a Terra Mítica = When I went to Terra Mítica
- Me monté en una montaña rusa = I went on a roller coaster
- Me gustó mucho = I liked it a lot
- Después, subí a la Noria = Then, I went on the big wheel (US: Ferris wheel)
- Nos montamos en la Anaconda = We went on the Anaconda attraction
- Terminamos completamente mojados = We ended up soaking wet
- ¿Te mareaste? = Did you get dizzy? / Did you feel sick?
Test yourself on this notebook with lessons about the use of El Perfecto, El Imperfecto and El Indefinido:
Test yourself on this Notebook Try these awesome Kwiziq activities to practise more with past tenses: Fill-in-the-blanks: Writing Challenge (Premium subscribers only): Want to listen to more of our podcasts? Check out all our episodes! Not Premium yet? Now’s a great time to upgrade! You’ll get unlimited exercises, kwizzes and multiple notebooks to help you stay organised and make progress faster, plus Weekend Workouts exercises every week.
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Author info
After working in the travel industry for ten years in Seville, Inma moved to the UK to give a little twist to her life. Since then she's been teaching Spanish as a foreign language to adults for over 15 years in different settings, private lessons, secondary schools and online. Inma is a coffee lover and also loves exploring new places with her family in beautiful Warwickshire, where she lives.
Silvia is a multilingual educator with expertise in English, French, and Spanish, and a passion for helping students excel in language learning. After gaining extensive international teaching experience in the UK and other countries, Silvia returned to her hometown of Vitoria in 2019. Since then, she has been sharing her knowledge and love for languages with learners of all levels. With over a decade of experience, Silvia’s creative and dynamic teaching methods make language acquisition both fun and accessible.