A2 · ElementaryAdapted from ElDiario.es

Stephen Hawking: Genius with a Dark Side

Stephen Hawking: genio difícil

Sep 14, 20261 min readGraded Spanish · word-by-word audio

Read along

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

Stephen Hawking fue un físico muy famoso. Su historia es inspiradora: tuvo una enfermedad grave, pero logró grandes cosas. Sin embargo, una nueva biografía muestra su lado oscuro.

Sus logros científicos son impresionantes. Estudió los agujeros negros y descubrió la radiación de Hawking. Pero no reconocía el trabajo de otros científicos. Peter Higgs dijo que Hawking hablaba de cosas que no conocía bien.

Su familia también habla de su carácter difícil. Su padre pensaba que era egoísta. Su hermana lo describió como muy egocéntrico. Sus hijos decían que nunca les dejaba ganar en los juegos. Era frío y controlador con todos.

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 simple past for everything, but Spanish distinguishes between completed actions (pretérito indefinido) and ongoing states or habits (pretérito imperfecto). In this text, 'era' describes Hawking's personality as an ongoing state, while 'fue' narrates specific events. Mixing them up can change the meaning: 'Hawking era egoísta' means he was generally selfish, but 'Hawking fue egoísta' suggests he was selfish on a particular occasion. Another trap is that English often uses the simple past for both completed actions and descriptions, but Spanish requires the imperfect for descriptions in the past. For example, 'Hawking era egoísta' (Hawking was selfish) uses imperfect because it's a character trait, not a one-time event. Using the preterite 'fue egoísta' would imply he was selfish at a specific moment, which is not the intended meaning. A third trap is that English speakers might use the preterite for habitual actions in the past, but Spanish uses the imperfect. For instance, 'No reconocía el trabajo de otros' means he habitually didn't acknowledge others' work. If you say 'No reconoció', it means he didn't acknowledge it on one specific occasion. This distinction is crucial for accurate storytelling.

Key vocabulary

físicom.
physicist
“Stephen Hawking fue un físico muy famoso.”— Stephen Hawking was a very famous physicist.
Pattern físico famoso famous physicist
Compare científico scientist
plural físicos
💡 física is "physics"; adding -o makes "physicist", similar to químico "chemist".
enfermedadf.
illness, disease
“Tuvo una enfermedad grave.”— He had a serious illness.
Pattern enfermedad grave serious illness
Compare dolencia ailment
plural enfermedades
💡 From enfermo (sick); -edad is a noun suffix indicating a state.
logrom.
achievement
“Sus logros científicos son impresionantes.”— His scientific achievements are impressive.
Pattern grandes logros great achievements
Compare éxito success
plural logros
💡 From the verb lograr (to achieve); logro is "an achievement".
egoístaadj.
selfish
“Hawking era egoísta con las personas cercanas.”— Hawking was selfish with the people close to him.
Pattern persona egoísta selfish person
Compare egocéntrico self-centered
same form for singular and plural
💡 From ego (self); -ista means "centered on ...".
agujerom.
hole
“Estudió los agujeros negros.”— He studied black holes.
Pattern agujero negro black hole
Compare hueco hollow
plural agujeros
💡 agujero negro is the astronomy term "black hole"; literally "black hole".
reconocerv.
to acknowledge, recognize
“No reconocía el trabajo de otros científicos.”— He did not acknowledge the work of other scientists.
Pattern reconocer el trabajo acknowledge the work
Compare admitir admit
yo reconozco, tú reconoces
💡 re- (again) + conocer (to know) = to know again, extended to mean "to acknowledge".
carácterm.
character, personality
“Su familia habla de su carácter difícil.”— His family talks about his difficult character.
Pattern carácter difícil difficult character
Compare personalidad personality
plural caracteres
💡 Note that the plural form caracteres is irregular, and the stress also changes.
controladoradj.
controlling
“Era frío y controlador con todos.”— He was cold and controlling with everyone.
Pattern persona controladora controlling person
Compare dominante dominant
feminine controladora
💡 From controlar (to control); -dor indicates "one who does ...".

Grammar spotlight

Pretérito indefinido vs. pretérito imperfecto

The pretérito indefinido (simple past) expresses completed past actions, e.g., fue, tuvo, descubrió. The pretérito imperfecto describes ongoing past states or habits, e.g., era, pensaba, decía. In this text, era describes Hawking's personality, while fue narrates specific events.

“Hawking era egoísta. / Stephen Hawking fue un físico muy famoso.”— Hawking era egoísta. / Stephen Hawking fue un físico muy famoso.

⚠️ Don't use the imperfect for a one-time specific event; don't say *Ayer era feliz, say Ayer fui feliz.

Sentence patterns to steal

Su historia es inspiradora: tuvo una enfermedad grave, pero logró grandes cosas.
His story is inspiring: he had a serious illness, but achieved great things.
Su historia es + adj.: + past tense narrationReplace the adjective (inspiradora/triste/increíble) and the specific events.
Sin embargo, una nueva biografía muestra su lado oscuro.
However, a new biography shows his dark side.
Sin embargo, + subject + verb + objectSin embargo can be replaced with no obstante; lado oscuro can be replaced with otra cara.
Peter Higgs dijo que Hawking hablaba de cosas que no conocía bien.
Peter Higgs said that Hawking talked about things he didn't know well.
X dijo que + clause (past tense)Replace the speaker and the clause content to practice indirect speech.

Hawking and Black Holes

Stephen Hawking's most famous scientific contribution was proposing that black holes are not completely 'black'; they emit particle radiation, later called 'Hawking radiation.' This theory combines general relativity and quantum mechanics and is a major milestone in theoretical physics. Hawking died in 2018 at the age of 76.

Source: Wikipedia / University of Cambridge official website

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.