Absolute Beginner Spanish - The Mountain That Eats Men
This absolute beginner Spanish story is about Cerro Rico, a silver mountain in Potosí, Bolivia. For centuries Spain took its silver, and thousands of miners lost their lives inside it. People called it the mountain that eats men.
Written for complete beginners, the story uses very short sentences, lots of repetition, and only three verbs.
Listen to the audio, follow the full transcript, and click any word for an instant translation. You can also download the full story as a free PDF to study offline.
The three verbs are:
había - there was or there were
tomó - took
come - eats
Transcript
Select a Spanish word or phrase for a translation.
La montaña que come a los hombres
The Mountain That Eats Men
In 1545, Spanish conquistadors discovered Cerro Rico,
a mountain in Potosí, Bolivia, containing one of the world's richest silver deposits.
Spain extracted massive wealth,
while millions of enslaved miners died in brutal conditions.
The mountain was called "the mountain that eats men".
Vocabulary from the story
plata - silver
cuerpos - bodies
vidas - lives
codicia - greed
mineros - miners
peligros - dangers
dentro - inside
miles - thousands
mentes - minds
Verbs from the story
había - there was or there were
había muchos cuerpos dentro de la montaña - there were many bodies inside the mountain
tomó - took
España tomó la plata de Cerro Rico - Spain took the silver from Cerro Rico
come - eats
la montaña come a los hombres - the mountain eats the men
Now, the story
La montaña que come a los hombres
En Bolivia había una montaña, Cerro Rico,
la montaña que come a los hombres.
Había mucha plata en la montaña,
y había muchos cuerpos dentro de la montaña.
En España había una gran codicia por la plata.
Había miles de mineros en la montaña,
y había muchos peligros para ellos.
España tomó la plata de Cerro Rico,
y España tomó la vida de los mineros.
La codicia come las mentes,
y la montaña come a los hombres.