Groenlandia y EE.UU.: nuevas bases, nuevas relaciones
Sep 22, 2026·1 min read·Graded Spanish · word-by-word audio
Read along
Free preview — playback stops here. Full audio comes with Plus.
Donald Trump ha firmado un acuerdo de seguridad con Dinamarca y Groenlandia. La ceremonia tuvo lugar durante la Asamblea General de Naciones Unidas. Junto a Trump estuvieron Mette Frederiksen, primera ministra de Dinamarca, y Jens-Frederik Nielsen, primer ministro de Groenlandia.
Groenlandia es una isla enorme en el Ártico. Con este pacto, Estados Unidos tendrá una mayor presencia militar allí. Sin embargo, el acuerdo no le da a Washington el control total del territorio. Trump había dicho antes que quería ese control, pero el texto final no lo incluye. El presidente estadounidense describió las negociaciones como un proceso difícil y largo.
Trump prometió que la relación será muy buena. Dijo que habrá coordinación y trabajo duro entre los países. También afirmó que el acuerdo será magnífico para Europa, para Estados Unidos y para Groenlandia. El pacto permitirá reforzar la seguridad en la región ártica, según el texto que se dio a conocer después de la firma.
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
Free full article every day — see today's. No card needed.
Have a Plus activation code?
Watch out, English speaker
Spanish present perfect (he/has/ha + past participle) often maps to English simple past, not present perfect. English speakers say 'Trump signed' (simple past), but Spanish uses 'ha firmado' because the news is recent and relevant now. Don't translate 'ha firmado' as 'has signed' every time—it often sounds unnatural in English.
Spanish simple future (-é, -ás, -á, etc.) often translates to English 'will + verb', but English also uses 'going to' or present progressive for future. Spanish future is more formal and less common in speech than English 'will'. Also, Spanish has irregular stems like tendr- (tener) and habr- (haber) that don't exist in English, so memorize them.
Key vocabulary
acuerdom.
agreement, deal
“Donald Trump ha firmado un acuerdo de seguridad con Dinamarca y Groenlandia.”— Donald Trump has signed a security agreement with Denmark and Greenland.
Pattern llegar a un acuerdo — to reach an agreement
Compare pacto m. — agreement
Plural: acuerdos
💡 From the verb acordar (to reach an agreement); the prefix a- indicates direction.
seguridadf.
security
“El pacto permitirá reforzar la seguridad en la región ártica.”— The pact will allow strengthening security in the Arctic region.
Pattern seguridad nacional — national security
Compare protección f. — protection
Plural: seguridades
💡 From the adjective seguro (safe); -idad is a noun suffix.
basef.
base
“Estados Unidos construya dos nuevas bases militares en la isla.”— The United States is building two new military bases on the island.
Pattern base militar — military base
Compare instalación f. — facility
Plural: bases
💡 Note that base can also mean 'foundation'; in a military context it means 'base'.
islaf.
island
“Groenlandia es una isla enorme en el Ártico.”— Greenland is a huge island in the Arctic.
Pattern isla desierta — desert island
Compare territorio insular — island territory
Plural: islas
💡 Note that isla, like árbol, has stress on the first syllable.
presenciaf.
presence
“Estados Unidos tendrá una mayor presencia militar allí.”— The United States will have a greater military presence there.
Pattern presencia militar — military presence
Compare existencia f. — existence
Plural: presencias
💡 From the verb presenciar (to witness); -cia is a noun suffix.
controlm.
control
“El acuerdo no le da a Washington el control total del territorio.”— The agreement does not give Washington total control of the territory.
Pattern control total — total control
Compare dominio m. — dominion
Plural: controles
💡 English control is borrowed from Spanish; the spelling is the same but the pronunciation is different.
negociaciónf.
negotiation
“El presidente describió las negociaciones como un proceso difícil y largo.”— The president described the negotiations as a difficult and long process.
Pattern mesa de negociación — negotiating table
Compare diálogo m. — dialogue
Plural: negociaciones
💡 From the verb negociar (to negotiate); -ción is a noun suffix.
reforzarv.
to strengthen, reinforce
“El pacto permitirá reforzar la seguridad en la región ártica.”— The pact will allow strengthening security in the Arctic region.
Pattern reforzar la seguridad — to strengthen security
Compare fortalecer v. — to strengthen
Conjugation: reforzar→refuerzo (first person present)
💡 From Latin firmare (to make firm); signing makes an agreement effective.
territoriom.
territory
“El acuerdo no le da a Washington el control total del territorio.”— The agreement does not give Washington total control of the territory.
Pattern territorio nacional — national territory
Compare zona f. — area
Plural: territorios
💡 Note the pronunciation of the double r; from Latin territorium.
Grammar spotlight
Present perfect (Pretérito Perfecto): haber + past participle
A2
Formed with the present tense of the auxiliary verb haber (he, has, ha, hemos, habéis, han) plus a past participle, it expresses a past action connected to the present. It is often used with time expressions like ya, todavía, and esta semana.
“Donald Trump ha firmado un acuerdo de seguridad con Dinamarca y Groenlandia.”— Donald Trump has signed a security agreement with Denmark and Greenland.
⚠️ Do not confuse haber with tener; haber is an auxiliary verb, while tener means 'to have' in the sense of possession.
Simple future (Futuro Simple)
A2
Add the endings -é, -ás, -á, -emos, -éis, -án directly to the infinitive. It expresses future actions or predictions. Irregular verbs include tener → tendr-, haber → habr-, ser → ser-.
“Estados Unidos tendrá una mayor presencia militar allí.”— The United States will have a greater military presence there.
⚠️ Pay attention to irregular stems; do not write teneré or haberá.
Sentence patterns to steal
El acuerdo permite que Estados Unidos construya dos nuevas bases militares en la isla.
The agreement allows the United States to build two new military bases on the island.
permitir que + subject + subjunctive verbYou can replace permitir with other verbs that trigger the subjunctive in the dependent clause, such as prohibir (to prohibit) or querer (to want).
Sin embargo, el acuerdo no le da a Washington el control total del territorio.
However, the agreement does not give Washington full control of the territory.
Sin embargo, + sentence (contrast)Sin embargo can be replaced with other contrast markers such as No obstante or Sin embargo.
El presidente estadounidense describió las negociaciones como un proceso difícil y largo.
The U.S. president described the negotiations as a difficult and long process.
describir + noun + como + noun/adjectiveDescribir can be replaced with verbs like considerar (to consider) or calificar (to describe/evaluate).
Trump prometió que la relación será muy buena.
Trump promised that the relationship will be very good.
prometer que + future tense clausePrometer can be replaced with verbs like decir (to say) or afirmar (to state).
Greenland: The World's Largest Island
Greenland is the world's largest island, with an area of about 2.16 million square kilometers, most of which lies within the Arctic Circle. It is an autonomous territory of Denmark, with its own parliament and government, but foreign affairs and defense are handled by Denmark. The United States already has a military base in Greenland—Thule Air Base, located in the northwest part of the island.
Source: Wikipedia/Visit Denmark official tourism website