La maleta perdida — A Short Story in Spanish (A1)
A graded story to read at your level — Spanish line by line, English underneath, glossary at the end. Reading builds the words; speaking them out loud makes them yours.
Marta llega al aeropuerto de Lima a las diez de la noche.
Marta arrives at the Lima airport at ten at night.
Está cansada pero contenta: es su primer viaje sola.
She's tired but happy: it's her first trip alone.
En la cinta de equipaje hay maletas grandes y pequeñas.
On the baggage carousel there are big suitcases and small ones.
Marta espera y espera.
Marta waits and waits.
Su maleta roja no aparece.
Her red suitcase doesn't appear.
La cinta se detiene y Marta se queda sola.
The carousel stops and Marta is left alone.
Camina a la oficina de equipaje y habla con un empleado.
She walks to the baggage office and speaks with an employee.
«Buenas noches. Mi maleta no está. Es roja, mediana, con una cinta amarilla».
"Good evening. My suitcase isn't here. It's red, medium, with a yellow ribbon."
El empleado mira la computadora con calma.
The employee looks at the computer calmly.
«Ah, aquí está. Su maleta está en Bogotá. Quiere viajar más que usted».
"Ah, here it is. Your suitcase is in Bogotá. It wants to travel more than you do."
Marta se ríe un poco, pero también quiere llorar.
Marta laughs a little, but she also wants to cry.
En la maleta está el regalo para su abuela: un álbum de fotos de toda la familia.
In the suitcase is the gift for her grandmother: a photo album of the whole family.
«¿Cuándo llega?», pregunta Marta.
"When does it arrive?" Marta asks.
«Mañana por la tarde. La llevamos a su hotel, sin costo».
"Tomorrow afternoon. We take it to your hotel, at no cost."
Marta completa un formulario con su nombre y su dirección.
Marta fills out a form with her name and her address.
Esa noche duerme con la ropa del viaje.
That night she sleeps in her travel clothes.
Al día siguiente, a las cinco, alguien toca la puerta del hotel.
The next day, at five, someone knocks at the hotel door.
Es la maleta roja, con su cinta amarilla y una etiqueta nueva de Bogotá.
It's the red suitcase, with its yellow ribbon and a new tag from Bogotá.
El domingo, la abuela mira el álbum y dice: «Estas fotos conocen más países que yo».
On Sunday, her grandmother looks at the album and says: "These photos know more countries than I do."
Glossary
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| la cinta de equipaje | the baggage carousel |
| la maleta | the suitcase |
| aparecer | to appear |
| el empleado / la empleada | the employee |
| el formulario | the form |
| sin costo | at no cost, free of charge |
| la etiqueta | the tag, the label |
| tocar la puerta | to knock at the door |
| el regalo | the gift |
About this story
An airport at night, an empty carousel, and the small drama every traveler fears — told entirely in the present tense, because A1 Spanish is enough to live it: llega, espera, no aparece, pregunta, duerme. Notice how Marta describes her suitcase in one clean line ("es roja, mediana, con una cinta amarilla") — that sentence shape is exactly what you'd say at a real baggage desk.
The spoken side of this scene — taxis, check-in, and getting unlost — is in our guide to Spanish for airports and transportation, and the ride that starts where this story ends is our example conversation taking a taxi in Spanish. For a whole shelf of reading at your level, see Spanish graded readers.
A regional note
The story lands in Lima, where you'll hear "la cinta" or "la faja" for the carousel, and airport staff will address you with usted — as the employee does with Marta. In Spain the suitcase office asks for your "resguardo" (claim ticket); in most of Latin America it's the "talón" or simply "el ticket". Whatever the word, the one-line description of your suitcase works everywhere.
Did you follow the story?
¿Cómo es la maleta de Marta?
Es roja, mediana, con una cinta amarilla.
¿Dónde está la maleta?
Está en Bogotá.
¿Qué hay dentro de la maleta?
El regalo para su abuela: un álbum de fotos de toda la familia.
You've read it. Now talk about it.
Reading feeds your Spanish; conversation makes it stick. Live classes with native teachers are where these words start coming out of your mouth.
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