Venezuela's Future: Spain's Role in the Talks

Key vocabulary

• acercarsev.

  to approach, to come closer

  “Delcy Rodríguez se acercó a saludar a Sánchez.”— Delcy Rodríguez approached to greet Sánchez.

  Pattern acercarse a alguien — to approach someone

  Compare aproximarse — to get close

  yo me acerco, tú te acercas, él se acerca

  💡 The root cerca means "near"; adding the prefix a- forms a verb

• saludarv.

  to greet, to say hello

  “Se acercó a saludar al presidente.”— She approached to greet the president.

  Pattern saludar a alguien — to greet someone

  Compare dar saludos — to send greetings

  yo saludo, tú saludas, él saluda

  💡 From Latin salutare, cognate with English salute

• breveadj.

  brief, short

  “El encuentro fue muy breve.”— The meeting was very brief.

  Pattern un encuentro breve — a brief meeting

  Compare corto — short

  singular breve, plural breves

  💡 Cognate with English brief, both from Latin brevis

• canalm.

  channel, means

  “Ella le pidió abrir un canal para seguir hablando.”— She asked him to open a channel to keep talking.

  Pattern abrir un canal — to open a channel

  Compare vía — channel, means

  plural canales

  💡 Originally meaning "water channel", extended to mean a communication channel

• seguirv.

  to continue, to keep on

  “Tenemos que seguir hablando.”— We have to keep talking.

  Pattern seguir hablando — to keep talking

  Compare continuar — to continue

  yo sigo, tú sigues, él sigue

  💡 Irregular verb with an e→i stem change

• comprometidoadj.

  committed, dedicated

  “España está comprometida con el futuro de la región.”— Spain is committed to the future of the region.

  Pattern comprometido con — committed to

  Compare dedicado — dedicated

  feminine comprometida, plural comprometidos

  💡 From comprometer (to commit); past participle used as an adjective

• regiónf.

  region, area

  “España está comprometida con el futuro de la región.”— Spain is committed to the future of the region.

  Pattern la región — the region

  Compare zona — area

  plural regiones

  💡 Cognate with English region; note the stress falls on the final syllable in Spanish

Grammar spotlight

Sentence patterns to steal

• El encuentro fue muy breve, de medio minuto.

  The meeting was very brief, only half a minute.

  El encuentro fue + adj. + de + time expressionThe adjective can be replaced with largo/corto/importante; the time expression can be replaced with diez minutos, etc.

• España es muy importante para nosotros, tenemos que seguir hablando.

  Spain is very important to us; we have to keep talking.

  X es muy importante para + personal pronoun, tenemos que + infinitiveX can be replaced with anything; the infinitive can be replaced with another verb.

• España está comprometida con el futuro de la región.

  Spain is committed to the future of the region.

  estar comprometido/a con + nounBoth the subject and the noun after con can be replaced.