Pralingo

Spanish · A1 · Writing

Postcards and messages

In your profile you wrote about yourself. Now you write to someone: a postcard from your holiday or a short message to a friend. These texts are short and follow a fixed structure – once you know it, you can write them well with the Spanish you already know.

How a postcard is built

1. Greeting: ¡Hola, Ana! or Hola, Pablo: – in Spanish a colon often follows the greeting.

2. Where are you? Estoy en Bocas del Toro. 3. What is it like there? Hace sol y hace mucho calor. 4. What are you doing? Todos los días voy a la playa. 5. How do you like it? La playa es muy bonita. Me gusta mucho.

6. Closing and name: Un abrazo, Besos, or Saludos, – with your name below. You know abrazo and beso from "Family and relationships".

Joining sentences

As in your profile, you join short sentences with y or pero: Estoy en Bocas del Toro y hace sol. La playa es muy bonita, pero hay mucha gente.

Short messages

A message is even shorter: usually just one piece of information or one request. Llego tarde, a las ocho. ¿Puedes traer pan? ¡Gracias! You know the words from "Messages and chats".

Examples

  • ¡Hola, Ana! Estoy en Bocas del Toro y hace sol.
  • Todos los días voy a la playa. Me gusta mucho.
  • Un abrazo, Tom

Exercises

A1WritingPostcards and messages

Exercise 1 of 4

The building blocks of a postcard

Sort each sentence into the right part of the postcard.

With these six building blocks you will soon write your own card.

Estoy en Boquete.
Un abrazo,
Hace sol.
¡Hola, Marta!
La ciudad es muy bonita.
Hoy voy al museo.
Llueve un poco.
Besos,
Me gusta mucho.
Estamos en un hotel cerca del mar.
Hola, Luis:
Todos los días voy a la playa.

Greeting

Where am I?

What's the weather like?

What am I doing?

How do I like it?

Closing

A1WritingPostcards and messages

Exercise 2 of 4

A card from Bocas del Toro

Write the missing word. The words in brackets help you.

¡Hola, Ana!
Estoy Bocas del Toro. (in)
sol y hace mucho calor. (It is …)
Todos los días voy a la . (beach)
La playa es muy . (beautiful)
abrazo, (a)
Tom
A1WritingPostcards and messages

Exercise 3 of 4

Your card to Lucía

Write the postcard in complete sentences. The greeting and the name are already there.

You are on holiday in Bocas del Toro. It is sunny. You go to the beach every day. The beach is very beautiful, but there are lots of people.
¡Hola, Lucía!
Where you are and the weather (with y):
What you do every day:
What the beach is like (with pero):
Closing:
Tom

A message is even shorter than a postcard: one piece of information, one request, one thank-you – done.

A1WritingPostcards and messages

Exercise 4 of 4

A quick message

Write a short message for each situation.

You will be late for the meeting – you'll only get there at eight:
Ask Ana if she can bring bread:
Thank Pablo for the cake: