English and the World · Spain · 20 · Málaga · A1–C2 · Free
A 14th-century Nasrid shipyard gate that once faced the sea, an iron-and-glass market built around it in 1879, and the fish, fruit and tapas of Málaga today. Choose your level.
Calle Atarazanas, Málaga
The Atarazanas market is the big food market in the centre of Málaga. It is very old and very new at the same time.
About 700 years ago, the Moors built ships here: “atarazanas” means “shipyard”. The sea was very near then. Today the sea is far away, but the old gate of the shipyard is still here. It is the front door of the market!
The market building is from 1879. It is made of iron and glass. Inside there is a big, beautiful coloured window with pictures of the old city and the port.
A morning visit
There is fish, meat, fruit, vegetables, olives, cheese and nuts. There are small bars too, where you can eat fried fish for breakfast or lunch!
Customer: Good morning. I’d like some anchovies, please.
Fishmonger: Of course. How many would you like?
Customer: Half a kilo, please. How much is that?
Fishmonger: That’s four euros. Would you like anything else?
Customer: Yes. How much are those prawns?
Fishmonger: These? Twelve euros a kilo.
Customer: Hmm… no, thank you. Just the anchovies.
Prices change: these are just for practice!
Language: shopping
| What | How | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Ask politely for something | I’d like + noun / Can I have + noun | I’d like some olives, please. |
| Offer | Would you like + noun? | Would you like anything else? |
| Ask the price | How much is + singular / How much are + plural | How much is the cheese? How much are the prawns? |
| Near me | this (one) / these (more) | These prawns are fresh. |
| Far from me | that (one) / those (more) | How much are those oranges? |
Read the texts first. Press “Check my answers” at the end.
Choose the best answer.
1. What does “atarazanas” mean?
2. What is the front door of the market?
3. What is the market building made of?
4. What does the customer buy?
Write the missing word.
5. I’d some olives, please.
6. you like anything else?
7. How much the cheese?
8. How much the prawns?
Write this, that, these or those.
9. (in your hand, more than one) oranges are very sweet.
10. (far, one) How much is big fish over there?
11. (far, more than one) Can I have some of olives, please?
12. (in your hand, one) Is melon ripe?
Go there!
Where: Calle Atarazanas 10, near the Alameda Principal. It is open in the morning, from Monday to Saturday; check the times before you go. Go early to see the fish!
Your task: with a partner, write and act a dialogue at a market stall. Use I’d like, Would you like…?, How much is / are…? and this, that, these, those.
A gate that faced the sea
Every morning, thousands of people walk through a gate that is five hundred years older than the market behind it, a gate that once opened onto the sea.
Read the two texts, then do the practice.
From the 14th century to today
In the 14th century, under the Nasrid kings of Granada, this was a shipyard. The name comes from the Arabic for “house of construction”, and the sea came right up to its horseshoe gate, which still carries the Nasrid shields.
After the Christian conquest of 1487, the building was given one new use after another: convent, warehouse, arsenal, barracks and military hospital. By the 19th century the coastline had moved far out, and the city needed a modern central market. In 1870 a project by the architect Joaquín de Rucoba was approved, and the market was built between 1876 and 1879, in iron and glass, with neo-Moorish windows to match the old gate, which the San Telmo Academy had campaigned to save. Rucoba also designed the Malagueta bullring.
The market was declared a site of cultural interest in 1979 and was refurbished between 2008 and 2010. Above the stalls, a huge stained-glass window shows the port and the 16th-century city.
A Saturday morning
We arrived at nine. The fishmonger, Paco, told us that the fish had come in from the port that morning, and he said the anchovies were the best of the week. When my friend asked him what espetos were, he explained that they were sardines grilled on a stick over a wood fire on the beach.
He asked us if we were tourists. We said we were English teachers, and he laughed and told us to try the fried fish at the bar next door. He said he had worked in the market for thirty years and that he would never work anywhere else.
Paco and his words are invented for this lesson; the market and its food are real.
Language: reported speech
| Direct speech | Reported speech | Change |
|---|---|---|
| “The anchovies are the best.” | He said the anchovies were the best. | present → past |
| “The fish came in this morning.” | He told us the fish had come in that morning. | past → past perfect |
| “I have worked here for thirty years.” | He said he had worked there for thirty years. | present perfect → past perfect |
| “I will never work anywhere else.” | He said he would never work anywhere else. | will → would |
| “Are you tourists?” | He asked if we were tourists. | yes/no question → if / whether |
| “What are espetos?” | She asked what espetos were. | no question order |
| “Try the fried fish!” | He told us to try the fried fish. | command → tell + person + to |
⚠️ say something; tell somebody something: he said that…, he told us that…, never ✗ he said us.
Fact or not sure?
| Statement | Status | Why |
|---|---|---|
| The gate is from a 14th-century Nasrid shipyard | Fact | All the sources agree. |
| The gate was taken apart stone by stone and rebuilt | Not sure | One source says so; others say it was saved where it stood. |
| The stained-glass window is from the early 20th century | Not sure | Sources disagree: some say 1973. |
| Rucoba also built the Malagueta bullring | Fact | Agreed by the sources. |
Read both texts first. Press “Check my answers” at the end. You can try again as many times as you like.
Choose the best answer.
1. What was the building in the 14th century?
2. Why could ships no longer be built there by the 19th century?
3. Why does the market have neo-Moorish windows?
4. What does the stained-glass window show?
5. What are espetos?
6. Is Paco a real person?
Write the missing word or words.
7. “The anchovies are the best.” → He said the anchovies the best.
8. “The fish came in this morning.” → He told us the fish in that morning.
9. “Are you tourists?” → He asked we were tourists.
10. “Try the fried fish!” → He told us the fried fish.
11. “I will never work anywhere else.” → He said he never work anywhere else.
12. “I have worked here for thirty years.” → He said he there for thirty years.
Choose the best answer.
13. Which sentence is correct?
14. Which sentence is correct?
15. “The market opens at eight.” Which report is correct and natural if it is still true today?
16. “Don’t buy the prawns today!” Which report is correct?
Where do these words come from?
17. Arsenal and Spanish atarazanas come from the same Arabic phrase, dār aṣ-ṣināʿa. What did it mean?
18. Market comes from Latin mercatus. Which other words share its root?
19. Anchovy came into English from Spanish anchoa. Where does anchoa probably come from?
A morning at the market
Where: Calle Atarazanas 10, just off the Alameda Principal. Open from Monday to Saturday, in the morning; check times before you go. Look at the gate from the street first: imagine the sea in front of it.
Your task: interview someone who works in a shop or market near you (or a classmate playing the role), then write a report (100–120 words) of what they told you, using reported speech.
From the 14th century to 1879
The horseshoe-arched, shield-carved gate on Calle Atarazanas is the last survivor of a 14th-century Nasrid shipyard. Its name, from the Arabic dār aṣ-ṣināʿa, “house of construction”, is the same word that, by way of Venice, gave English “arsenal”. When it was built, the gate faced the sea; the slow, centuries-long advance of the coastline has since left it stranded a long walk from the water.
After 1487, the Christian-era city found the building one use after another: convent, warehouse, arsenal, barracks, military hospital. By the 1870s, a fast-growing, commerce-minded Málaga needed a central market, and in 1870 the city approved a design by the architect Joaquín de Rucoba. His three-year building campaign (1876–1879) produced an iron-and-glass hall in the most modern material of its day, given neo-Moorish windows so that the new structure would not clash with the old gate, whose survival owed much to a determined, preservation-minded campaign by the San Telmo Academy of Fine Arts.
From 1979 to today
Declared a site of cultural interest in 1979, the market underwent a two-year refurbishment between 2008 and 2010, which cleared away later clutter so that the gate-to-window axis Rucoba intended could once again be read from end to end. That window, a vast, multi-coloured panorama of the port and the 16th-century city, is variously dated by sources to the early 20th century or to 1973.
Below it, the ever-busy stalls sell the produce of sea and hinterland: silver-sided anchovies, blood-red prawns, Muscatel raisins and locally-grown tropical fruit, while standing-room-only bars serve fried fish to customers who, a few metres away, have just bought their vegetables. A market, in short, that is at once a working, everyday institution and a seven-century palimpsest of the city.
Language: compound adjectives and noun premodification
| Pattern | Example | Instead of… |
|---|---|---|
| number + noun (singular!) | a three-year campaign; a 14th-century gate | a campaign that lasted three years |
| noun + past participle | shield-carved, locally-grown (adverb + participle) | carved with shields; grown locally |
| adjective / noun + -ing | fast-growing, ever-busy | that was growing fast |
| noun + adjective | blood-red, silver-sided | as red as blood |
| noun as modifier | an iron-and-glass hall; the gate-to-window axis | a hall made of iron and glass |
| noun + -minded / -style | commerce-minded, preservation-minded | interested in commerce |
⚠️ In compounds, numbers take a singular noun: a three-year project, not ✗ a three-years project; but the project took three years. Hyphens join the parts when the compound comes before a noun.
Evidence and debate
| Claim | What we can say |
|---|---|
| The gate was dismantled stone by stone and rebuilt | One source says so; others speak only of its being saved. Unresolved. |
| The stained-glass window dates from the early 20th century | Sources disagree; one gives 1973. |
| “Atarazanas” and “arsenal” share an Arabic origin | Standard in etymological dictionaries. |
Debate: Historic markets across Europe are filling with tapas bars and tourists, while local shoppers move to supermarkets. Should a city protect a market as a place to shop, or let it become a place to visit?
Read both texts first. Press “Check my answers” at the end.
Choose the best answer.
1. Why does the writer call the shipyard “stranded”?
2. Why did Rucoba give an iron building neo-Moorish windows?
3. What did the 2008–2010 refurbishment achieve, according to the writer?
4. How does the writer handle the date of the window?
5. What does the contrast in the last sentence of Text 2 express?
6. Which link to an earlier lesson does the word “palimpsest” make?
Write the compound adjective (with hyphens).
7. a campaign that lasted three years → a campaign
8. fruit that is grown locally → fruit
9. a city that was growing fast → a city
10. prawns as red as blood → prawns
11. a gate from the 14th century → a gate
12. a hall made of iron and glass → an hall
Choose the best answer.
13. Which is correct?
14. Which is correct?
15. Which style is most typical of a guidebook?
16. “A standing-room-only bar” means…
Where do these words come from?
17. Arsenal reached English by way of which city’s dialect?
18. Saffron, sold in Spanish markets, comes from Arabic zaʿfarān. Which other Spanish food words come from Arabic?
19. A tariff also comes from Arabic, possibly through Italian. What did the Arabic word mean?
A morning at the market
Visit: Calle Atarazanas 10, Monday to Saturday mornings (check times). Stand across the street to see the gate as a whole, then walk the gate-to-window axis inside, and end with fried fish at one of the bars.
Write (220–260 words): a guidebook entry on a market you know, in the dense, descriptive style of the texts. Use at least eight compound adjectives or premodifying nouns, and include one honestly reported uncertainty.