Miami Cargo Plane Crash: Learn Spanish for Breaking News

Key vocabulary

• aviónm.

  airplane

  “El avión llegó tarde.”— The airplane arrived late.

  Pattern avión de carga cargo plane

  Compare aeronave

  plural aviones

  💡 From French avion, same root as aviación (aviation).

• cargaf.

  cargo, freight

  “El barco transporta carga pesada.”— The ship transports heavy cargo.

  Pattern avión de carga cargo plane

  Compare mercancía

  plural cargas

  💡 Noun form of cargar (to load).

• estrellarsev.

  to crash, to smash

  “El coche se estrelló contra el árbol.”— The car crashed into the tree.

  Pattern estrellarse contra to crash into

  Compare chocar

  se estrelló (preterite)

  💡 estrella (star) plus -ar to form a verb, like falling like a star.

• pistaf.

  runway; track

  “El avión aterrizó en la pista.”— The plane landed on the runway.

  Pattern pista de aterrizaje runway

  Compare pista de aterrizaje

  plural pistas

  💡 Can also mean "clue", as in pista policial.

• aterrizarv.

  to land

  “El piloto aterrizó sin problemas.”— The pilot landed without problems.

  Pattern aterrizar en to land at/in

  Compare tomar tierra

  aterrizó (preterite)

  💡 Formed from tierra (land) with a- and -izar.

• chocarv.

  to collide, to crash

  “Dos coches chocaron en la calle.”— Two cars collided in the street.

  Pattern chocar con/contra to collide with

  Compare colisionar

  chocó (preterite)

  💡 Onomatopoeic word, imitating the sound of a crash.

• vehículom.

  vehicle

  “Hay muchos vehículos en la ciudad.”— There are many vehicles in the city.

  Pattern vehículo de emergencia emergency vehicle

  Compare coche

  plural vehículos

  💡 From Latin vehiculum, same root as English vehicle.

• incendiarsev.

  to catch fire

  “La casa se incendió anoche.”— The house caught fire last night.

  Pattern incendiarse un edificio a building catches fire

  Compare arder

  se incendió (preterite)

  💡 Verb form of incendio (fire).

• bomberom.

  firefighter

  “Los bomberos apagaron el fuego.”— The firefighters put out the fire.

  Pattern cuerpo de bomberos fire brigade

  Compare firefighter

  plural bomberos

  💡 bomba (pump) plus -ero, originally referring to a person operating a water pump.

• apagarv.

  to extinguish; to turn off

  “Apaga la luz, por favor.”— Turn off the light, please.

  Pattern apagar el fuego to put out the fire

  Compare extinguir

  apagó (preterite)

  💡 Antonym encender (to light).

• suspenderv.

  to suspend, to cancel

  “El partido fue suspendido por lluvia.”— The match was suspended due to rain.

  Pattern estar suspendido to be suspended

  Compare cancelar

  suspendido (participle)

  💡 sus- (down) + pender (to hang), originally meaning "to hang up".

• investigarv.

  to investigate

  “La policía investiga el caso.”— The police are investigating the case.

  Pattern investigar un accidente to investigate an accident

  Compare examinar

  investiga (present)

  💡 Same root as vestigio (trace), meaning "to track traces".

Grammar spotlight

Sentence patterns to steal

• Un avión de carga de Amazon se estrelló en el Aeropuerto Internacional de Miami.

  An Amazon cargo plane crashed at Miami International Airport.

  Un/Una + noun + se estrelló en + placenoun (e.g., coche, barco) and place (e.g., calle, puerto)

• El avión salió de la pista después de aterrizar y chocó con varios vehículos.

  The plane ran off the runway after landing and collided with several vehicles.

  subject + salió de + place + después de + infinitiveplace (e.g., carretera) and infinitive (e.g., despegar)

• Al menos cinco personas murieron y otras cinco resultaron heridas.

  At least five people died and another five were injured.

  Al menos + number + personas + murieron y otras + number + resultaron heridasnumbers and verbs (e.g., fallecieron)

• El avión se incendió y los bomberos trabajan para apagar el fuego.

  The plane caught fire and firefighters are working to put out the fire.

  subject + se incendió y + subject + trabajan para + infinitivesubject (e.g., la casa) and infinitive (e.g., salvar a la gente)

• Las autoridades investigan las causas del accidente.

  The authorities are investigating the causes of the accident.

  Las autoridades investigan + nounnoun (e.g., el crimen, las causas del incendio)