Kilo Lingo

Spanish · Chapter 18 · Lesson 21 · Vocabulary

Song: La cucaracha

Play it, read along word by word, then answer the questions. Every word is at your level - the song page teaches the few that are new.

Play the song and read along - tap any word you don't know. Then answer the questions underneath and the lesson completes itself.

La cucaracha

The Cockroach

The recording opens with the lame-cockroach refrain below and then wanders into further traditional verses beyond the two we print, as every singer of this song has done for two centuries.

Lyrics

Refrán tradicional

, ,

,

,

.

Refrán (1915)

, ,

,

,

.

New words in this song

Comprehension drill

3 questions on what you just read. Get one wrong and the story will show you where it says otherwise.

Anonymous and old - the song is named in Mexico by 1819 and collected in 19th-century Spain. The refrain here is printed on a dated 1915 Mexico City broadside (Imprenta de Antonio Vanegas Arroyo, Library of Congress); the "patitas" refrain is the song's oldest comic core per the Spanish collections. We use only the anonymous pre-1930 material. Source text. Translation ours.

Open the full song page for the background to the song.

Lesson 21 of 24 in this chapter

Back to the curriculum