Te miro para que te quedes – Poema (pronunciación)
This time we will practice pronunciation and entonation with a beautiful poem by Karmelo Iribarren 😀
Spanish reading practice! (Basic)
Today we will use a short poem from a Spanish writer to practice both, our reading comprehension and our pronunciation in Spanish.
I have a tip for you, even though the individual sounds are important, what will really make you sound like a native are the right rhythm and the proper intonation.
As usual, we will divide the practice into three steps:
1. Read the poem silently, try to understand the general meaning and if there are some words that you don’t understand, you can try checking out the keywords that I have translated for you.
2. Read it out loud and record yourself with your phone or any device. Remember that to improve you need to be able to listen to yourself. Then use the worksheet to draw some lines over the sentences showing where your voice is going up, down or staying flat.
3. Finally, do a shadowing practice: listen to my version and imitate the way I speak (as if you were making fun of me 😉 ), focus on the rhythm, the melody and the pauses. Don’t try to go fast! (this is poetry, so let’s read it with emotion, be dramatic like a good Hispanic!)
1. Reading comprehension
Focus on understanding the general meaning and the feeling of the poem:
Te miro para que te quedes
Te miro
a cualquier hora del día,
no importa lo que estés haciendo
en ese instante:
cuando hablas, cuando duermes,
cuando me coges del brazo por la calle,
cuando te llena de luz
el rostro una sonrisa,
y también cuando la tristeza
te lo oscurece;
en cualquier sitio, a cualquier hora, te miro,
te miro siempre
para que te quedes.
KARMELO IRIBARREN
Useful words:
mirar – to see, to watch
cualquier – any
estar haciendo – to be doing
ese – that
coger del brazo – top hold someones arm
llenar de + algo – to fill something with something
el rostro – the face
también – also
sonrisa – smile
tristeza – sadness
oscurecer – to darken
quedarse – to stay
2. Read it out loud and record yourself
3. Print the worksheet, listen to your recording and draw your intonation lines over the sentences (the ups and downs of your voice tone)
Click here to get the PDF:
Click here to get Saru’s intonation’s PDF:
4. Ahora, vamos a practicar pronunciación.
(now, let’s practice the pronunciation)
First listen to my version
Whole poem (normal speed)
Whole poem (slow)
Repeat after me!
Te miro… para que te quedes
Lento (slow)
Text content
Te miro
Lento (slow)
a cualquier hora del día.
Lento (slow)
Pronunciation tip:
In Spanish the melody of a normal sentence depends on the accent on the speaker, it can be relatively “flat” in some (like in my pronunciation), or jump a lot (like in the Spanish from the south of Spain)… but something that makes Spanish sound like Spanish is that there is always a falling intonation at the end of the sentences!
In the middle of a long sentence or at the end of a connecting sentence the intonation goes up, usually followed by a pause and then a normal intonation with a falling end.
No importa lo que estés haciendo,
Lento (slow)
en ese instante:
Lento (slow)
Pronunciation tip:
Slow down! Pauses are super important, especially in poetry. So, if you see a comma, a dot, or you are facing a very long sentence, take some time to breathe 😀 Making the right pauses will give your Spanish just the right level of drama. And you know… we ARE kinda dramatic jajaja
If you want to you can make little pauses between the main parts of any sentence.
No importa (possible pause) lo que estés haciendo (mandatory pause)… En ese instante; (mandatory pause)…
cuando hablas, cuando duermes,
Lento (slow)
cuando me coges del brazo por la calle,
Lento (slow)
cuando te llena de luz el rostro una sonrisa,
Lento (slow)
y también, cuando la tristeza
Lento (slow)
te lo oscurece;
Lento (slow)
Pronunciation tip:
In a long sentence we can pause in the middle, right after the verb or the object, but be careful to keep the intonation flat, other way people will think the phrase is over.
The most important part of the sentence is usually pronounced in a slightly higher pitch… in this case: the verb.
cuando me coges del brazo (possible pause) por la calle
en cualquier sitio, a cualquier hora, te miro,
Lento (slow)
te miro siempre
Lento (slow)
para que te quedes.
Lento (slow)
Now…
¡It’s your turn!
(I wanna hear your voice :D)
Pick your favorite line
and read it for me on the comments 😀
Do you want me to read your favorite story or poem?
Share them in the comments and I will do my best to prepare them promptly.
