Contos has 12 Spanish story series at B2, upper intermediate and the highest level in the app. Chapters run up to 477 words, with idioms, reported speech and plots built on long-buried secrets: a forged Goya, a will that leaves a family estate to a stranger, love letters that undo a village legend. Chapters 1 and 2 are free.
- Series
- 12
- Chapters
- 74, of which 24 are free
- Chapter length
- 304–477 words (average 396)
- Style
- Idioms, reported speech, present-tense narration for suspense
- Settings
- Madrid, Toledo, Almagro, Antequera and rural Castile
- Spanish
- Spain Spanish
- B2El Edificio de la Calle SolThe Building on Calle Sol · Mystery, RomanceCarmen estaba limpiando la entrada cuando Alba bajó con tres cajas de cartón y una expresión de determinación que Carmen reconoció al instante. Lleva esa cara quien…
- B2La Casa de PeñafielThe Peñafiel House · Family, MysteryLa casona se levanta entre encinas y pizarra, con esa solidez de piedra que parece haber crecido del terreno mismo. Son las tres de la tarde cuando el notario llama…
- B2Secretos de PlatóStudio Secrets · Comedy, RomanceLos estudios de Televisión Española hierven de energía el lunes por la mañana. El plató de "El Legado" es un caos controlado: cámaras se deslizan sobre raíles,…
- B2La Testigo del PasadoThe Witness of the Past · Crime, MysteryEl martes amaneció como cualquier otro en el barrio de Salamanca. Las calles arboladas se desplegaban bajo un cielo gris de octubre, las terrazas de los cafés ya…
- B2El Regreso de MarcosMarcos's Return · Sci-Fi, FamilyLa estación de autobuses de Antequera huele a café y a diésel, como siempre. Hace treinta y cinco años que Enrique Ruiz pasa cada martes por delante de ella camino…
- B2Los Ecos de MadridThe Echoes of Madrid · Sci-Fi, MysteryEl café Berlín está lleno de gente que finge trabajar mientras se toma un café de tres euros. Marcos lleva aquí desde las ocho de la mañana, y su ordenador portátil…
- B2El Cuadro de AbuelaGrandmother's Canvas · Crime, FamilyMarisol estaba regando las petunias cuando sonó el teléfono. No le gustaba que la interrumpieran durante su ritual matutino —agua tibia, luz oblicua, el silencio de…
- B2La Calle de los SecretosThe Street of Secrets · Crime, ComedyEl martes por la mañana, Javier repartía cartas en la calle Goya cuando vio al chico. No tenía más de dieciocho años, mochila a la espalda, ese aire de quien…
- B2Las Señales de la HuertaThe Signs of the Garden · Sci-Fi, MysteryMarisa había llegado a la huerta antes del amanecer, como hacía cada jueves desde hacía treinta años. El silencio de esas horas —el olor a tierra mojada, el…
- B2El Costurero de la AbuelaGrandmother's Sewing Box · Mystery, FamilyEl apartamento de la abuela Consuelo olía a lavanda y a tiempo detenido. Lucía bajaba cajas de cartón desde el armario del pasillo mientras Tomás hojeaba libros en…
- B2Las cartas de la calle del PezThe Letters from Fish Street · Crime, MysteryAquel martes, Pilar Villaseñor llevaba dos horas en el corral convertido en sala de subastas y ya había contado tres veces las sillas. Sabía que era una manía, pero…
- B2Churros y Porras: La Calle de la DiscordiaChurros and Porras: Feud Street · Romance, FamilyA las cinco y media de la mañana, cuando Toledo todavía dormía bajo las campanas de la catedral, Lucía Ledesma salió por la puerta trasera de la panadería con una…
What does B2 Spanish reading look like?
At B2 the Spanish no longer feels simplified. Sentences stack clause on clause, characters talk in idioms, and narrators move between the scene in front of them and memories decades old. Some series, such as La Casa de Peñafiel and Secretos de Plató, are told in the present to keep the tension up; others stay in the past throughout.
Cuando él se marchó, Nacho la miró con los ojos como platos.
When he had gone, Nacho stared at her, wide-eyed.
Las cartas de la calle del Pez, chapter 1. Con los ojos como platos (literally "with eyes like plates") is everyday Spanish for wide-eyed surprise.
Su expresión decía todo lo que no podía decir en voz alta: si confirmaban esto ahora, si presionaban demasiado, Marta se cerraría en banda.
Her expression said everything she couldn't say out loud: if they confirmed this now, if they pushed too hard, Marta would clam up.
La Testigo del Pasado, chapter 2. Two si clauses lead into a conditional, and cerrarse en banda means to dig your heels in and refuse to talk.
—Álvaro, esto es horrible —dijo ella, sonriendo a su pesar.
"Álvaro, this is awful," she said, smiling in spite of herself.
Churros y Porras: La Calle de la Discordia, chapter 1, about a terrible poem on a bag of churros. A su pesar means in spite of oneself.
Look out, too, for speech with no punctuation at all. In El Regreso de Marcos, a journalist's questions to her family are reported rather than quoted: Qué era eso, preguntó. De dónde había salido. The tenses shift back a step (era, había salido), which is your signal that the words are being reported.
How is B2 different from B1?
Length, first of all: B2 chapters run from 304 to 477 words, and each paragraph carries more. A flashback, a change of point of view, a joke that depends on a turn of phrase. Fewer sentences are there simply to repeat what you already know.
The vocabulary also leaves the kitchen and the street. Within the free chapters you meet notaries and wills (notario, testamento, herencia), auctions and bidding (subasta, pujas), police stations (comisaría) and fraud (fraude). These are words you rarely see at A2, and they come back across several series.
- Read for who knows what. Many B2 chapters turn on what a character is hiding. At the end of each paragraph, ask yourself who knows more than they are saying.
- Collect expressions, not single words. At this level the useful unit is the phrase: echarse atrás (to back out), salir a la luz (to come out), una cara de pocos amigos (a face like thunder).
- Reread a chapter you found hard. A second reading, a day or two later, is far quicker than the first and shows you how much you had guessed correctly.
Which B2 Spanish story should I read?
- For crime with a twist: La Testigo del Pasado, about a witness to a jewellery-shop robbery in Madrid's Salamanca district whose story keeps changing, or Las cartas de la calle del Pez, set at a small auction house in Almagro.
- For family secrets: La Casa de Peñafiel, where a will leaves the family estate to a woman nobody has heard of, or El Costurero de la Abuela, about a sewing box full of fabric scraps that match thefts from decades ago.
- For sci-fi: Los Ecos de Madrid, about a startup that lets grieving people text the people they have lost, or Las Señales de la Huerta, in which the beans in a community garden form an arrow overnight.
- For romance and comedy: Churros y Porras: La Calle de la Discordia, set between a bakery and the churro shop across the street in Toledo, or Secretos de Plató, behind the scenes of a hit television drama.
Need a step down? The B1 Spanish stories are shorter and more direct. Or see every Spanish series, A1 to B2.
Frequently asked questions
Is B2 the highest level on Contos?
Yes. Contos writes stories at A1, A2, B1 and B2, and moves you up to B2 once you know 4,000 Spanish words. After B2, the natural next step is books, newspapers and series written for native speakers.
How long are B2 Spanish chapters?
From 304 to 477 words in the free chapters, 396 on average.
Will B2 stories help with Spanish idioms?
Yes; it is one of the clearest differences from B1. Expressions such as con los ojos como platos, cerrarse en banda and a su pesar turn up in the first chapters, used the way native speakers use them. Tap the words you don't know and note down the whole expression.
Are the B2 Spanish stories free?
Chapters 1 and 2 of all 12 B2 series are free, 24 chapters in all, in your browser or the iPhone and iPad app. Chapters 3 onwards are part of Contos Premium.