Chapter 16 of The City of the Discreet is here in full — 164 sentences across 33 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XVI
Chapter 16 of The City of the Discreet is here in full — 164 sentences across 33 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
WHERE HIS BEAUTIFUL EXPECTATIONS WENT! One morning Quentin met Juan, the gardener. “You don’t come to the house any more, Señorito.” “I’ve had lots to do these days.” “Have you heard the important news?”
Chapter 16 of The City of the Discreet is here in full — 164 sentences across 33 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/32 · 5 reading units · Lines 1–5
These definitions explain words found in the current reading and keep every example grounded in its original sentence.
Oxford-style entry order: headword, part of speech, US IPA, concise definition, contextual example, and audio.
delighting the senses or exciting intellectual or emotional admiration
From this reading “WHERE HIS BEAUTIFUL EXPECTATIONS WENT!”
the time during which someone's life continues
From this reading ““I’ve had lots to do these days.””
plural of “expectation” — belief about (or mental picture of) the future
From this reading “WHERE HIS BEAUTIFUL EXPECTATIONS WENT!”
someone who takes care of a garden
From this reading “One morning Quentin met Juan, the gardener.”
of great significance or value
From this reading ““Have you heard the important news?””
a large number or amount
From this reading ““I’ve had lots to do these days.””
inflected form of “meet” — come together
From this reading “One morning Quentin met Juan, the gardener.”
information about recent and important events
From this reading ““Have you heard the important news?””
English keeps certain words together, and knowing the pair is worth more than knowing each word alone. Every partnership below was counted across our whole published library, and earns its place by appearing far more often than two unrelated words of the same frequency would.
Shown as this reading writes them, with the form the library counts, what kind of pairing it is, and how often it occurs.
In this reading ““Have you heard the important news?””
Every word in these five lines is listed here, and every one of them can be played on its own.
Dictionary details are shown only when verified; these are not licensed Oxford entries.
one or some or every or all without specification
From this reading “You don’t come to the house any more, Señorito.”
delighting the senses or exciting intellectual or emotional admiration
From this reading WHERE HIS BEAUTIFUL EXPECTATIONS WENT!
move toward, travel toward something or somebody or approach something or somebody
From this reading “You don’t come to the house any more, Señorito.”
the time during which someone's life continues
From this reading “I’ve had lots to do these days.”
used to form questions and negatives, and to give emphasis
From this reading “I’ve had lots to do these days.”
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading “You don’t come to the house any more, Señorito.”
plural of “expectation” — belief about (or mental picture of) the future
From this reading WHERE HIS BEAUTIFUL EXPECTATIONS WENT!
someone who takes care of a garden
From this reading One morning Quentin met Juan, the gardener.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading “I’ve had lots to do these days.”
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading “Have you heard the important news?”
detected or perceived by the sense of hearing
From this reading “Have you heard the important news?”
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading WHERE HIS BEAUTIFUL EXPECTATIONS WENT!
a dwelling that serves as living quarters for one or more families
From this reading “You don’t come to the house any more, Señorito.”
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading “I’ve had lots to do these days.”
of great significance or value
From this reading “Have you heard the important news?”
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading One morning Quentin met Juan, the gardener.
a large number or amount
From this reading “I’ve had lots to do these days.”
inflected form of “meet” — come together
From this reading One morning Quentin met Juan, the gardener.
(comparative of “much” used with mass nouns) a quantifier meaning greater in size or amount or extent or degree
From this reading “You don’t come to the house any more, Señorito.”
the time period between dawn and noon
From this reading One morning Quentin met Juan, the gardener.
information about recent and important events
From this reading “Have you heard the important news?”
used to mean any person in general, including the speaker
From this reading One morning Quentin met Juan, the gardener.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading One morning Quentin met Juan, the gardener.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading “You don’t come to the house any more, Señorito.”
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading One morning Quentin met Juan, the gardener.
the plural of “this”: the people or things near, or just mentioned
From this reading “I’ve had lots to do these days.”
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading “You don’t come to the house any more, Señorito.”
inflected form of “go” — change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically
From this reading WHERE HIS BEAUTIFUL EXPECTATIONS WENT!
in or at the place that
From this reading WHERE HIS BEAUTIFUL EXPECTATIONS WENT!
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading “You don’t come to the house any more, Señorito.”
Chapter 16 of The City of the Discreet by Pío Baroja holds 164 sentences, grouped into 33 reading sections of at most 5 sentences. The text is the source edition, unabridged, and the chapter records which sentences cover which part of the work so that nothing is dropped. Every word can be tapped for its pronunciation and dictionary entry.
Chapter 16 holds 164 sentences of The City of the Discreet, unabridged, divided into 33 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 16 of The City of the Discreet by Pío Baroja exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 164 sentences, grouped into 33 sections of at most 5 sentences so that a reader can take the chapter in steady, finishable pieces. The chapter also stores a coverage record mapping every one of its sentences to a part of the work, which is how the edition demonstrates that no line was dropped.
Work through the 33 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 33 sections in this chapter is short enough to read once, hear once, and then re-read with the vocabulary in view. Tapping a word plays it alone and opens its dictionary entry with IPA, part of speech and meaning, so the reader is never forced to guess a pronunciation from spelling. Working section by section keeps a long chapter from becoming an undifferentiated wall of text, which is the usual reason a reader abandons a work of this period.
Yes — every sentence and every individual word in chapter 16 can be played aloud in United States English.
Audio covers the whole chapter: any sentence can be played, and any single word within it can be played on its own. The voice uses United States English. For a work of this period that matters, because spelling is an unreliable guide to pronunciation for vocabulary that has fallen out of daily use, and a learner who guesses wrong tends to keep the error. Hearing the word in its own sentence, and then alone, settles it.
Common questions about reading The City of the Discreet by Pío Baroja on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 6657 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #56324 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #56324, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 554 minutes of reading across 1332 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The City of the Discreet section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 35 chapters of The City of the Discreet to begin.
Each section holds 5 sentences; read it once through.
Play the section aloud, then tap any unfamiliar word for its entry.
Words and structures a reader meets early in The City of the Discreet, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
