A2 · ElementaryAdapted from ElDiario.es

Barcelona Floods: Man Dies in Olivella

Lluvias fuertes en Barcelona: un hombre muere en Olivella

Sep 18, 20261 min readGraded Spanish · word-by-word audio

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Un hombre muere en Olivella, un pueblo de Barcelona, por las lluvias muy fuertes. El agua arrastra su coche. Los bomberos encuentran al conductor a 500 metros del coche.

Muchas zonas de Barcelona tienen lluvias fuertes. Protección Civil envía mensajes de alerta a los móviles. El jueves por la mañana, dos líneas de metro no funcionan y hay problemas en los trenes. Los bomberos reciben 270 avisos.

Ahora las lluvias van hacia las Islas Baleares. Allí hay tormentas muy fuertes con viento y granizo. También llueve en el sureste de España. Las temperaturas bajan en todo el país.

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Watch out, English speaker

English speakers often expect verbs like morir (to die) to follow regular patterns, but its stem changes o→ue in stressed forms: muere, mueres, mueren. This is different from English, where 'die' never changes its vowel. Similarly, llover (to rain) becomes llueve, not 'llove'—English 'rain' doesn't change either, so learners may forget the ue shift. English uses 'there is/are' for both existence and location, but Spanish splits them: hay introduces new information (Hay problemas en los trenes = There are problems on the trains), while estar is for known things (El tren está en la estación = The train is at the station). Using estar for new info sounds odd, like saying 'The problems are on the trains' when you mean 'There are problems.'

Key vocabulary

lluviaf.
rain, rainfall
“Las lluvias fuertes causan problemas en la ciudad.”— Heavy rains cause problems in the city.
Pattern lluvias fuertes heavy rainfall
Compare precipitación f. precipitation
plural lluvias
💡 From Latin pluvia; note that ll is pronounced /ʝ/, not /l/
muertoadj./m.
dead; dead person
“Hay un muerto por las lluvias.”— There is one dead person due to the rains.
Pattern un hombre muerto a dead man
Compare fallecido m. deceased person
feminine muerta, plural muertos/muertas
💡 From the past participle of the verb morir; note the o→ue stem change pattern
bomberom.
firefighter
“Los bomberos encuentran al conductor.”— The firefighters find the driver.
Pattern los bomberos firefighters
plural bomberos, feminine bombera
💡 From bomba (pump); originally referred to a person operating a pump to put out fires
arrastrarv.
to sweep away, drag
“El agua arrastra el coche del hombre.”— The water sweeps away the man's car.
Pattern arrastrar el coche sweep away the car
Compare llevar v. carry away
regular conjugation: arrastro, arrastras, arrastra...
💡 Imagine water 'dragging' things away; rastro means trace, a-rrastrar leaves a drag mark
alertaf.
alert, warning
“Protección Civil envía mensajes de alerta.”— Civil Protection sends alert messages.
Pattern mensaje de alerta alert message
Compare aviso m. notice, warning
plural alertas
💡 From Italian all'erta (to the height); originally meant keeping watch from a high place
tormentaf.
storm
“Allí hay tormentas muy fuertes.”— There are very strong storms there.
Pattern tormenta fuerte strong storm
Compare tempestad f. storm
plural tormentas
💡 From Latin tormentum (torment); a storm is like nature's torment
granizom.
hail
“Hay tormentas con viento y granizo.”— There are storms with wind and hail.
Pattern caer granizo hail falls
Compare pedrisco m. large hail
uncountable noun, no plural
💡 From grano (grain); hail falls like small grains
temperaturaf.
temperature
“Las temperaturas bajan en todo el país.”— Temperatures drop throughout the country.
Pattern bajar la temperatura temperature drops
Compare grado m. degree (temperature unit)
plural temperaturas
💡 From Latin temperatura, cognate with English temperature

Grammar spotlight

Vowel changes in morir and llover (o→ue)

Some Spanish verbs change the stem o to ue when they are conjugated. morir (to die) becomes muere, and llover (to rain) becomes llueve. This change only happens in forms where the stress falls on the stem syllable.

“Un hombre muere en Olivella por las lluvias muy fuertes.”— A man dies in Olivella because of the very heavy rains.

⚠️ Do not write 'morió' or 'llovió'; the correct preterite forms are 'murió' and 'llovió', and the present forms are 'muere' and 'llueve'.

The difference between hay and estar (existence vs. location)

hay means 'there is/there are' and is used to introduce new information. estar means 'to be located' and is used to say where something already known is. In this text, 'hay problemas en los trenes' uses hay to say that a problem exists.

“Hay problemas en los trenes.”— There are problems with the trains.

⚠️ Do not say 'están problemas'; existential sentences must use hay, not estar.

Sentence patterns to steal

Un hombre muere en Olivella por las lluvias muy fuertes.
A man dies in Olivella because of the very heavy rains.
Alguien muere en + place + por + causeYou can replace the place and the cause, e.g. Muere en Madrid por el calor.
El agua arrastra su coche.
The water sweeps his car away.
El agua arrastra + objectYou can replace the object, e.g. El agua arrastra las plantas.
Las temperaturas bajan en todo el país.
Temperatures are dropping all over the country.
Las temperaturas bajan/suben en + placeYou can replace bajan/suben and the place, e.g. Las temperaturas suben en verano.

Spain's Civil Protection Alert System: ES-Alert

ES-Alert is the mobile emergency alert system used by Spain's civil protection authorities, similar to the Amber Alert in the United States. When serious disasters such as floods or fires occur, the government sends alerts to mobile phones in specific areas. In this article, Protección Civil sent ES-Alert messages to several areas of Barcelona, warning people about heavy rain and hail.

Source: Dirección General de Protección Civil y Emergencias

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