Planning a quiet cafe meet-up | Learn Spanish in English

Spanish lesson set in a contemporary Madrid everyday setting: At a cafe, two friends plan to meet in a quiet place, bring a book, and read for a while..

EN → ES / Level: A1

About This Lesson

Use Planning a quiet cafe meet-up to practice Spanish conversation, pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, and quizzes.

Dialogue

A

¿Te gustaría encontrarnos en un café?

teh goos-tah-REE-ah en-kohn-TRAR-nohs en oon kah-FEH Would you like to meet at a cafe?
B

Eso suena relajante.

EH-soh SWEH-nah reh-lahk-SAHN-teh That sounds relaxing.
A

¿Qué café te gusta?

keh kah-FEH teh GOOS-tah Which cafe do you like?
B

Me gusta el café tranquilo cerca del parque.

meh GOOS-tah el kah-FEH trahn-KEE-loh SEHR-kah del PAR-keh I like the quiet one near the park.
A

Vamos a encontrarnos allí y disfrutar de la tranquilidad.

BAH-mohs ah en-kohn-TRAR-nohs ah-YEE ee dees-froo-TAR deh lah trahn-kee-lee-DAHD Let's meet there and enjoy the quiet.
B

Puedo llevar un libro.

PWEH-doh yeh-BAR oon LEE-broh I can bring a book.
A

Podemos leer allí un rato.

poh-DEH-mohs leh-EHR ah-YEE oon RAH-toh We can read there for a while.
B

Sería un buen descanso.

seh-REE-ah oon BWEHN dehs-KAHN-soh That would be a nice break.

Word by Word

Te Te refers to the person being addressed in ¿Te gustaría encontrarnos en un café? It marks who would like to do something; a common pattern is te gusta + thing for “you like + thing.”
gustaría Gustaría means “would like” in the polite question ¿Te gustaría encontrarnos en un café? It is a form of gustar used with an infinitive to ask whether someone would like to do something.
encontrarnos Encontrarnos means “to meet each other” in ¿Te gustaría encontrarnos en un café? It combines the infinitive encontrar with nos, and it can be reused after expressions such as vamos a + infinitive.
en En indicates the place where the meeting happens in encontrarnos en un café, meaning “at” or “in.” It is commonly used before a place, as in en un café.
un Un means “a” in un café, referring to one cafe without identifying a specific one. It is placed before a noun in patterns such as en un café.
café Café means “cafe” in un café and el café tranquilo. In this dialogue it names the place where the friends plan to meet.
Eso Eso means “that” in Eso suena relajante and refers to the suggestion just mentioned. It can be used at the start of a sentence to comment on something already discussed.
suena Suena means “sounds” in Eso suena relajante, describing how the suggestion comes across. A reusable pattern is something + suena + adjective, such as suena relajante.
relajante Relajante means “relaxing” in Eso suena relajante and describes the proposed plan. It can follow suena to give an impression of an activity or idea.
Qué Qué means “which” in ¿Qué café te gusta? and appears before the noun being selected. The reusable question pattern is ¿Qué + noun + ...? when asking which one someone prefers.
gusta Gusta appears in ¿Qué café te gusta? to ask which cafe the person likes. In this use, the thing being liked is expressed with gusta, together with the person who experiences the liking.
Me Me marks the person who likes something in Me gusta el café tranquilo, so the full expression means “I like the quiet cafe.” It is commonly placed before gusta in this pattern.
el El means “the” in el café tranquilo and identifies a specific cafe. It comes before the noun phrase in patterns such as el café.
tranquilo Tranquilo means “quiet” in el café tranquilo and describes the cafe. It is placed after café here, and a reusable pattern is noun + adjective for describing a place.
cerca Cerca means “near” in cerca del parque and indicates that the cafe is close to the park. A common location pattern is cerca de + place.
del Del means “of the” or “from the” in cerca del parque. It is the combined form of de and el used before parque in this location phrase.
parque Parque means “park” in cerca del parque and names the place used as the reference point for the cafe’s location. It can follow a location expression such as cerca del.
Vamos Vamos means “let’s” in Vamos a encontrarnos allí and introduces a suggestion for a shared action. The reusable pattern is vamos a + infinitive when proposing what to do.
allí Allí means “there” in encontrarnos allí and disfrutar there, referring to the cafe already selected. It can be placed after an action to indicate the location.
y Y means “and” in encontrarnos allí y disfrutar de la tranquilidad. It connects the two actions in the plan, and it can join two verbs or other sentence elements.
disfrutar Disfrutar means “to enjoy” in y disfrutar de la tranquilidad. It is an infinitive coordinated with encontrarnos, and a common pattern is disfrutar de + something enjoyed.
de De links disfrutar with what is enjoyed in disfrutar de la tranquilidad. The reusable pattern is disfrutar de + noun, as in disfrutar de la tranquilidad.
la La means “the” in la tranquilidad and introduces the specific quietness the friends want to enjoy. It appears before the noun in the phrase disfrutar de la tranquilidad.
tranquilidad Tranquilidad means “quiet” or “tranquility” in disfrutar de la tranquilidad, referring to the calm atmosphere they want to enjoy. It can be used after disfrutar de to name what someone enjoys.
Puedo Puedo means “I can” in Puedo llevar un libro and expresses the speaker’s ability or willingness to bring something. The reusable pattern is puedo + infinitive.
llevar Llevar means “to bring” in Puedo llevar un libro. It follows puedo as an infinitive and can be used with the thing being brought, such as llevar un libro.
libro Libro means “book” in un libro and names the item the speaker can bring. It can appear after an indefinite article in a phrase such as llevar un libro.
Podemos Podemos means “we can” in Podemos leer allí and expresses the friends’ shared possibility or plan. The reusable pattern is podemos + infinitive.
leer Leer means “to read” in Podemos leer allí. It follows podemos as an infinitive and can be used with a place or an object, such as leer allí or leer un libro.
rato Rato means “a while” in leer allí un rato and indicates a short, unspecified period of time. Un rato commonly follows an activity to say that it continues for a while.
Sería Sería means “would be” in Sería un buen descanso, evaluating the proposed reading time as a nice break. It can be followed by a noun phrase or adjective to describe a possible situation.
buen Buen means “good” or “nice” in un buen descanso and describes the break positively. It is the form of bueno used before the noun in this phrase.
descanso Descanso means “break” or “rest” in un buen descanso. It names the pleasant pause that reading together would provide, and it can be used in the phrase un buen descanso.

Grammar Points

¿Te gustaría + infinitivo?

¿Te gustaría encontrarnos en un café?

teh goos-tah-REE-ah en-kohn-TRAR-nohs en oon kah-FEH

Would you like to meet at a café?

Spanish uses gustaría, meaning “would please you,” with te before it and an infinitive for the activity.

Vamos a + infinitivo

Vamos a disfrutar de la tranquilidad.

BAH-mohs ah dees-froo-TAR deh lah trahn-kee-lee-DAHD

Let's enjoy the tranquility.

Vamos a introduces a suggestion or planned action, followed by the infinitive disfrutar.

Spanish Vocabulary

café noun
kah-FEH cafe

¿Te gustaría encontrarnos en un café?

cerca de phrase
SEHR-kah deh near

Me gusta el café tranquilo cerca del parque.

encontrarnos verb
en-kohn-TRAR-nohs to meet each other

¿Te gustaría encontrarnos en un café?

eso pron
EH-soh that

Eso suena relajante.

gustar verb
goos-TAR to like; to appeal to gustaría

¿Te gustaría encontrarnos en un café?

parque noun
PAR-keh park

Me gusta el café tranquilo cerca del parque.

qué det
keh which; what

¿Qué café te gusta?

relajante adj
reh-lahk-SAHN-teh relaxing

Eso suena relajante.

sonar verb
soh-NAR to sound suena

Eso suena relajante.

te pron
teh to you

¿Te gustaría encontrarnos en un café?

tranquilo adj
trahn-KEE-loh quiet; calm

Me gusta el café tranquilo cerca del parque.

vamos a phrase
BAH-mohs ah let's; we are going to

Vamos a encontrarnos allí y disfrutar de la tranquilidad.

Quiz

Word Order

Arrange the words in the correct order.

Would you like to meet at a cafe?

Show Answer¿Te gustaría encontrarnos en un café?

That sounds relaxing.

Show AnswerEso suena relajante.

Which cafe do you like?

Show Answer¿Qué café te gusta?

Spelling

Tap the letters to spell the word.

to like; to appeal to

Show Answergustaría

to sound

Show Answersuena

relaxing

Show Answerrelajante

cafe

Show Answercafé