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Spanish · A1 Beginner · Sci-Fi, Comedy

Robot in the House: an A1 Spanish sci-fi comedy story

  Un Robot en Casa

Robot in the House is a free A1 Spanish sci-fi comedy. The Martín family in Madrid buy Útil, a small, round robot, from a discount shop. By evening the flat is spotless and dinner is ready, but nobody admits writing the note on the table, and Útil says it has not left its charging base. Chapters 1 and 2 are below.

Level
A1 (Beginner)
Genre
Sci-Fi, Comedy
Free here
Chapters 1–2 of 6
Length
394 words, about 3 minutes
Language
Spain Spanish

Tap or click an underlined word to see what it means.

Chapter 1 El Primer Día de ÚtilÚtil's First Day

Es lunes por la mañana en el piso de la familia Martín. Consuelo y Felipe están nerviosos. Hoy llega Útil, el robot doméstico que compraron en una tienda de descuentos. Es pequeño, redondo, con dos ojos azules y una voz muy amable.

Lucía, la hija, entra en la cocina. Tiene dieciséis años y lleva su uniforme de instituto. "¿Dónde está?", pregunta. Felipe señala la caja grande en el salón. Útil sale de la caja. "Buenos días, familia Martín. Soy Útil. Estoy muy contento de estar aquí." La voz es dulce y tranquila.

La abuela Rosa baja las escaleras lentamente. "¿Es eso un robot?", pregunta con desconfianza. "Sí, abuela", dice Consuelo. "Va a limpiar la casa y cocinar." La abuela Rosa no dice nada.

A las ocho de la noche, Consuelo vuelve del trabajo. Entra en el piso. La casa está perfecta. Todo está limpio. La cena está lista: pollo con patatas. "¿Felipe?", grita. Felipe no está. Consuelo ve una nota pequeña en la mesa. Lee la nota. Su cara cambia. "¿Útil?", pregunta. "¿Escribiste esto?" Útil no responde. Solo limpia la mesa tranquilamente.

"¿Qué dice la nota?", pregunta Felipe desde la puerta.

Chapter 2 La Nota MisteriosaThe Mysterious Note

La nota está sobre la mesa de la cocina. Consuelo la lee tres veces. Los números son correctos, pero nadie sabe quién escribió esto. Ella mira a Útil.

"¿Tú escribiste esta nota?", pregunta otra vez Consuelo. Su voz es seria. Útil responde enseguida: "No, señora. Yo no he salido de la base de carga. Estoy aquí desde las ocho de la noche." Consuelo no entiende. La nota tiene letra humana, pero la letra es muy ordenada, muy perfecta.

Felipe entra en la cocina. Consuelo le muestra la nota. Felipe mira al robot. Útil dice que no salió de la base de carga. Pero la nota está aquí. Felipe se acerca a la base. Está conectada. Las luces verdes parpadean lentamente. Pero algo no va bien.

En ese momento, Lucía aparece en la puerta de la cocina. Tiene el teléfono en la mano. "Mamá, papá...", empieza a decir, pero se para. Ve la expresión en la cara de sus padres. "¿Qué ocurre?" Consuelo y Felipe se miran. Nadie responde. Lucía señala su teléfono. "Escuchad, esto es importante. He recibido un correo de mi profesora. Dice que mi redacción... está perfecta. Pero yo no cambié nada. ¿Quién lo hizo?"

Key words in chapters 1–2

SpanishEnglishChapter
robot domésticohome robot, household robot1
tienda de descuentosdiscount shop1
redondoround1
amablekind, friendly1
institutosecondary school (in Spain)1
salónliving room1
desconfianzasuspicion, distrust1
limpioclean1
pollo con patataschicken and potatoes1
tranquilamentecalmly1
base de cargacharging base, charging dock2
enseguidastraight away2
seriaserious (of a woman, or her voice: la voz)2
letrahandwriting2
conectadaplugged in, connected2
parpadeanblink, flash (parpadear)2
correoemail (short for correo electrónico)2
redacción(school) essay, composition2

Check your understanding

  1. What does Útil look and sound like?

    Show answer

    "Es pequeño, redondo, con dos ojos azules y una voz muy amable."

  2. How does Abuela Rosa react to the robot?

    Show answer

    With suspicion. She asks, "¿Es eso un robot?", and when Consuelo explains what it will do, she says nothing.

  3. What does Consuelo find when she comes home at eight?

    Show answer

    A perfect house: "Todo está limpio. La cena está lista: pollo con patatas." And a small note on the table that changes her face.

  4. What is Útil's answer when Consuelo asks if it wrote the note?

    Show answer

    "No, señora. Yo no he salido de la base de carga." Felipe checks the base: it is plugged in, with green lights blinking.

  5. What strange news does Lucía bring at the end of chapter 2?

    Show answer

    An email from her teacher says her essay is perfect, though she didn't touch it: "Pero yo no cambié nada. ¿Quién lo hizo?"

Grammar to notice: asking questions in Spanish

Everyone in the Martín house is asking questions, which makes this a good story for seeing how Spanish questions are built. There is no helper verb like English "do", and a question opens with an upside-down mark as well as closing with a normal one.

¿Dónde está?

Where is it?

Lucía, looking for the robot. Question words carry an accent: dónde, qué, quién.

¿Es eso un robot?

Is that a robot?

A yes/no question: the verb can come first, or the voice simply rises at the end.

¿Qué dice la nota?

What does the note say?

Qué + verb. No "does": Spanish just says "what says the note?"

¿Qué ocurre?

What's going on?

Lucía, seeing her parents' faces (chapter 2). ¿Qué pasa? means the same and is even more common.

¿Quién lo hizo?

Who did it?

Quién for people. The last line of chapter 2.

Chapter 2 also slips a few past-tense verbs into the dialogue (escribió, salió, cambié, and Útil's no he salido). At A1 you can read them as simple past meanings (wrote, went out, changed, haven't left) without learning the tenses yet.

Why it reads easily at A1, and a Spanish family at home

The chapters are 191 and 197 words long, and the vocabulary is the vocabulary of a home: kitchen, table, stairs, dinner, phone. Descriptions use estar for how things are right now, so the same short pattern repeats: La casa está perfecta. Todo está limpio. La cena está lista.

The family lives in a piso with a salón (living room), Lucía wears her uniform to the instituto (the Spanish word for a state secondary school), and three generations share the home, with Abuela Rosa coming down the stairs to inspect the new arrival. The robot's name is a joke you can enjoy at A1: útil means "useful".

For another A1 story about a note nobody will own up to, read The Monday Mystery. For more sci-fi at this level, try Don Tomás's Signals.

Frequently asked questions

Is Robot in the House heavy science fiction?

No. The sci-fi is domestic: one small, polite robot in a family flat in Madrid. The comedy comes from what it seems to know, so the vocabulary stays everyday.

How many chapters are there?

Six at A1. Read chapters 1 and 2 here or in the app for free; chapters 3–6 come with Contos Premium.

What does the robot's name mean?

Útil is the Spanish adjective for "useful". It is pronounced OO-teel, with the stress on the first syllable, which is why it carries an accent.

Can I read it on my phone?

Yes. Contos is a web app and an iPhone and iPad app, so you can start a chapter on a laptop and finish it on your phone.

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