A2 · ElementaryAdapted from Expansión

Spain's Foreign Investment: More Money In, But Also Out

La inversión extranjera en España: más dinero entra, pero también sale

Sep 22, 20261 min readGraded Spanish · word-by-word audio

Read along

Free preview — playback stops here. Full audio comes with Plus.

España recibió 12.446 millones de euros de inversión extranjera entre enero y junio. Es una buena noticia porque la inversión sube un 31%. Muchas empresas de otros países quieren invertir en España.

Pero al mismo tiempo, las empresas extranjeras sacaron 9.038 millones de euros. Esta desinversión sube un 142%. Entonces, el dinero neto que entra es solo 3.407 millones. La diferencia entre lo que entra y lo que sale es muy grande.

España y Estados Unidos tienen una relación económica muy fuerte. Sus inversiones juntas superan los 213.000 millones de euros. Esto muestra que la inversión extranjera es muy importante para los dos países.

Go Plus

You've reached the end of the free preview.

Plus unlocks everything on SpanishReadingDaily:

Every article in full — no daily limit
Word-by-word audio read-along
Smart review that brings saved words back until you own them
Wordbook and streak on every device

Get Plus — $9.99/mo · $79/yr

Free full article every day — see today's. No card needed.

Have a Plus activation code?

Watch out, English speaker

English speakers often use the present perfect for recent past events, but Spanish uses the preterite (pretérito indefinido) for completed actions at a specific time. In this article, 'recibió' and 'sacaron' describe actions that happened and ended in the first half of the year, so using the present perfect would sound wrong. English marks past tense with '-ed' or irregular forms, but Spanish preterite has its own endings, including accents. For example, 'recibió' (he/she/it received) is not the same as 'recibe' (present) or 'recibía' (imperfect). Missing the accent can change the tense or meaning. English often uses 'foreign' as an adjective and 'foreigner' as a noun, but Spanish 'extranjero' can be both. Learners may mistakenly think 'extranjero' only means a person, but in phrases like 'inversión extranjera' it means 'foreign investment'.

Key vocabulary

inversiónf.
investment
“España recibió 12.446 millones de euros de inversión extranjera entre enero y junio.”— Spain received 12.446 billion euros of foreign investment between January and June.
Pattern inversión extranjera foreign investment
Compare capital m. capital
plural inversiones
💡 From Latin investire, originally meaning "to put on, cover," extended to mean putting in funds.
desinversiónf.
divestment, reduction of investment
“Esta desinversión sube un 142%.”— This divestment rises by 142%.
Pattern desinversión extranjera foreign divestment
Compare retirada f. withdrawal
plural desinversiones
💡 The prefix des- means "opposite," added to inversión to indicate a reverse operation.
extranjeroadj.
foreign; foreigner
“Muchas empresas de otros países quieren invertir en España.”— Many companies from other countries want to invest in Spain.
Pattern empresa extranjera foreign company
Compare foráneo foreign
feminine extranjera, plural extranjeros
💡 From extranjero, originally meaning "person from outside"; note it is not "extraño (strange)."
netoadj.
net, clear
“Entonces, el dinero neto que entra es solo 3.407 millones.”— So, the net money that comes in is only 3.407 billion.
Pattern dinero neto net money
Compare limpio pure
feminine neta, plural netos
💡 Cognate with English net, meaning the remainder after deductions.
superarv.
to exceed, surpass
“Sus inversiones juntas superan los 213.000 millones de euros.”— Their investments together exceed 213,000 million euros.
Pattern superar los límites exceed the limits
Compare exceder exceed
yo supero, tú superas, él supera
💡 From super- (above), meaning "to be higher than."
mostrarv.
to show, demonstrate
“Esto muestra que la inversión extranjera es muy importante para los dos países.”— This shows that foreign investment is very important for both countries.
Pattern mostrar que indicate that...
Compare indicar indicate
yo muestro, tú muestras, él muestra
💡 An o-to-ue stem-changing verb, similar to mostrar→muestro.
diferenciaf.
difference, gap
“La diferencia entre lo que entra y lo que sale es muy grande.”— The difference between what comes in and what goes out is very big.
Pattern la diferencia entre A y B the gap between A and B
Compare distancia distance
plural diferencias
💡 From Latin differentia, meaning "difference."

Grammar spotlight

Preterite (pretérito indefinido): completed past actions

In Spanish, the preterite (pretérito indefinido) is used to describe actions completed at a specific point in the past. In this article, recibió (received) and sacaron (withdrew) are both in the preterite, indicating events that happened and finished during the first half of the year.

“España recibió 12.446 millones de euros de inversión extranjera entre enero y junio.”— Spain received 12.446 billion euros in foreign investment between January and June.

⚠️ Don't confuse it with the present perfect: the preterite emphasizes that the action is finished, while the present perfect emphasizes its relevance to the present.

Sentence patterns to steal

Es una buena noticia porque la inversión sube un 31%.
It's good news because investment is up 31%.
Es una buena/mala noticia porque + reasonbuena can be replaced with mala; sube un 31% can be replaced with other changes
La diferencia entre lo que entra y lo que sale es muy grande.
The difference between what comes in and what goes out is very large.
La diferencia entre lo que + verb1 + y lo que + verb2 + es + adjectiveentra/sale can be replaced with other verbs; muy grande can be replaced with other adjectives
Esto muestra que la inversión extranjera es muy importante para los dos países.
This shows that foreign investment is very important for both countries.
Esto muestra que + clausela inversión extranjera can be replaced with another subject; muy importante can be replaced with another evaluation

Investment Relations Between Spain and the United States

Mutual investment between Spain and the United States totals more than 213 billion euros, making the U.S. one of Spain's most important economic partners. Many large Spanish companies have significant operations in the United States, while American companies invest in Spain in sectors such as energy and telecommunications.

Source: Based on Expansión news and economic data

Finish the story to log today's read

Discussion

Be kind, stay on topic, no ads or links. Community guidelines

No comments yet — be the first to share what you noticed in this article.