Nada que perder
by Robe Iniesta
One word justifies this whole card: entuertos. It is close to archaic and survives almost entirely inside a phrase from Don Quixote about righting wrongs, so meeting it in a rock song tells you how deep the literary layer sits in ordinary Spanish. Around it the vocabulary is abstract and unforgiving — desengaño, fracaso, abismo, inercia, superviviente — which is what earns the C1+. Grammatically the form to catch is volvería, a conditional, sitting among subjunctives; Robe writes long sentences that hold their main verb back until late. Read this one before you listen to it. The reward is a register you will not find anywhere in pop.
How to study this song
Learning “Nada que perder” means 69 entries at C1+ — 33 Spanish words, 9 adjectives and 27 verb forms, every one taken from what the song actually says. Start with the glossary: años, amor and luz come up again and again, so they are the ones to know first. This one leans on its verbs: 27 distinct forms against 9 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| años | years | anni | années | anos |
What this song teaches you
Level · C1+
- Vocabulary words
- 33
- Adjectives
- 9
- Word combos
- 10
- Expressions
- 10
- Verb forms
- 30
- Quiz questions
- 35
Background
About the song
“Nada que perder” is a 2023 rock song by Robe Iniesta, the singer and songwriter best known as the frontman of the legendary Spanish rock band Extremoduro. His solo work continues the raw, poetic hard-rock style that made him a cult figure in Spanish music.
Robe Iniesta, born in Plasencia in Extremadura, spent three decades fronting Extremoduro, the band that gave Spanish rock the label “rock transgresivo”, before recording under his own name.
The song’s title is an everyday Spanish phrase — nothing to lose — but very little else in the lyric is everyday: the card is graded C1+ for its inverted word order, its compound images and abstractions that a dictionary will not resolve one word at a time.
It rewards learners who already read comfortably in Spanish. Robe, formerly the frontman of Extremoduro, released it on 14 November 2023 as the advance single from “Se nos lleva el aire”, his fourth and last solo album, which followed a month later on 15 December.
Did you know?
Robe’s lyrics are known for their literary, philosophical bent, and his solo concerts draw devoted audiences across Spain.
Charts & streaming
Robe Iniesta founded and fronted Extremoduro, one of the biggest rock bands in Spanish history, whose farewell tour sold out arenas nationwide. His solo albums have entered the upper reaches of the Spanish albums chart, and this track belongs to that later, quieter phase of his career.