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Loba — Shakira: Spanish vocabulary & story · Verbomatico

Loba

by Shakira

Language: Spanish
Released: 2009
Genre: dance pop
Level: C1-
Difficulty score: 1113

How to study this song

“Loba” carries 45 Spanish words, 16 adjectives and 43 verb forms — 104 study entries in all, graded C1-. The glossary is the place to begin — loba, lobo and aullidos are the song’s keywords. This one leans on its verbs: 43 distinct forms against 16 adjectives, so conjugation is where the effort goes. At this level the words on their own are not the problem — it is the way they are put together that takes the work.

The words of this song, in several languages

Every word below is taken from this song and translated by us. Nothing here is the lyric itself — these are the individual words you need in order to follow it.

Vocabulary

ES	EN	IT	FR	PT	NL	DE
loba	she-wolf	lupa	louve	loba	wolvin	Wölfin

Adjectives

ES	EN	IT	FR	PT	NL	DE
sigilosa	stealthy	furtiva	furtive	furtiva	sluipend	verstohlen

Verb forms

ES	EN	IT	FR	PT	NL	DE
pasar	to pass by	passare	passer	passar	voorbijgaan	vorbeigehen

What this song teaches you

Level · C1-

Vocabulary words: 45
Adjectives: 16
Word combos: 4
Expressions: 10
Verb forms: 43
Quiz questions: 35

Background

About the song

«Loba» is the Spanish-language version of «She Wolf», released in the summer of 2009. The conceit runs all the way through: a woman kept in a wardrobe who gets out at night, described entirely in the vocabulary of wolves — howls, a pack, the full moon, prey. It is one of Shakira’s most sustained metaphors, and one of the reasons the card is useful for learners: twenty words that all belong to the same field arrive together.

Did you know?

The lyric uses two Spanish words that look like a singular and its plural but are not: one is an animal in heat, the other is jealousy. The song uses both, a few lines apart.

Charts & streaming

Released 29 June 2009 as «Loba», with the English «She Wolf» following on 13 July 2009. Both appear on the album released that October.