Spanish C2 · Day 1
Day 1: Fiscalización constitucional del decreto-ley — Discourse values of the Spanish imperfect (part 1)
What you'll learn
- Grammar: Discourse values of the Spanish imperfect (part 1)
- Reading: El control jurisdiccional de la urgencia
- Try it yourself
Every lesson: vocabulary with audio, grammar, reading, a speaking step and a short test.
Grammar point: Discourse values of the Spanish imperfect (part 1)
In sophisticated legal, political, and essayistic Spanish, the imperfect indicative ( pretérito imperfecto ) operates far beyond its elementary aspectual role of framing past continuous or habitual action. Its primary stylistic and discursive power at C2 stems from temporal and modal displacement ( desactualización ): by detaching an utterance from the immediate hic et nunc of the speech event, the speaker can …
Key vocabulary (8 of 21 words)
- el decreto-ley – the decree-law
- el escrutinio jurisdiccional – intensity of judicial review
- el arbitrio gubernamental – governmental discretion in emergency lawmaking
- la materia vedada – prohibited subject matter for decree-laws
- la conexión de sentido – nexus between urgency and the enacted measure
- la congruencia material – substantive consistency
- la convalidación parlamentaria – parliamentary ratification of a decree-law
- la tacha de invalidez – challenge or defect of invalidity
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