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Text by Ana Matilla and audio by Inma Sánchez
It should be: "El armario estará listo para ser usado todo el invierno."
Also any high-school Spanish teacher would wince at the sight of all those misplaced commas.
A suggestion from a native Spanish speaker: get your reading practice from somewhere else.
This usage relates to the construction estar para +infinitive. When used in this way, this construct expresses the idea of readiness, so I believe it's unnecessary to include listo here (although I believe it could be added).
For example:
¡No tardes, la comida está para servir! = Don't delay, the food is ready to serve!
I believe this point is more prevalent in the Spanish spoken in Spain.
It's an interesting point about commas. The commas don't look out of place in regards to how this would be phrased in English, though I admit I do often find that Spanish uses less commas. It will be interesting to see what others think.
Also, an interesting feature of Kwiziq is that if you click on the specific text you can link directly to the lesson that explains this particular grammar point: Estar para + infinitive to say someone/something is ready for something
Saludos
Yes, Graeme, the example that you give about the food illustrates well how the adjective listo/lista can be omitted and then we'd have the more idiomatic structure "estar para" to express "readiness". Both sentences would be correct:
La comida está lista para comer.
La comida está para comer.
El armario estará listo para usar el verano que viene.
El armario estará para usar el verano que viene.
Saludos
It should be: "El armario estará listo para ser usado todo el invierno."
Also any high-school Spanish teacher would wince at the sight of all those misplaced commas.
A suggestion from a native Spanish speaker: get your reading practice from somewhere else.
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Saludos, Inma and disculpame,
pero, I notice that there are a lot of "p" popping sounds in the audio of "Ropa de Invierno" and remembered hearing that the Spanish alphabet should be able to be pronounced in front of a candle without blowing it out. How are the lips and tongue placed to pronounce "p" , "t" and "s" to achieve that goal, please?
Garry
Hi Garry,
The lip and tongue positions are not relevant, it's the vocal cords which make the difference. "P" and "T" are so-called "voiceless" consonants, so the vocal cords don't vibrate. In some English words this leads to the start of the following vowel also being unvoiced which creates the popping sound. It happens with the word "pie", but not with "spy", so comparing them might help you. There's a fuller explanation here:
https://essentialsoflinguistics.pressbooks.com/chapter/3-5-aspirated-stops-in-english/
Hola Garry,
I listened to the audio to check this (the voice in the audio is me) and I really can't hear any "p" pronounced in any way stronger than the usual sound of "p" in Spanish. Here is a video from Youtube that you may find useful and you can see in slow motion.
Saludos
Inma
Saludos, Inma and disculpame,
pero, I notice that there are a lot of "p" popping sounds in the audio of "Ropa de Invierno" and remembered hearing that the Spanish alphabet should be able to be pronounced in front of a candle without blowing it out. How are the lips and tongue placed to pronounce "p" , "t" and "s" to achieve that goal, please?
Garry
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