Books by level / Spanish books
Pepita Jiménez: reading level, length and free edition
Pepita Jiménez by Juan Valera is a novel in Spanish. Our team rates it B2. It runs to 56,657 words with 9,438 different word forms, about 4.5–9.5 h of reading at 200 to 100 words per minute, and it is free from Project Gutenberg.
- Author
- Juan Valera
- Language
- Spanish
- Level
- B2
- Form
- novel
- Words
- 56,657
- Different word forms
- 9,438
- Forms for 95% / 98%
- 6,606 / 8,305
- Reading time
- 4.5–9.5 h
- Free edition
- Project Gutenberg
Un seminarista se enamora de la joven viuda con la que su padre piensa casarse.
Is Pepita Jiménez right for your level?
To recognise 95% of the running words in Pepita Jiménez, you need its 6,606 most frequent word forms; for 98%, the share at which most readers manage a novel without a dictionary, 8,305. The median Spanish B2 book in our table needs 7,656 forms for 95%, so by this measure the book is typical for its level: number 5 of 10, easiest first.
A word form is any spelling that appears in the text, so “walk” and “walked” count twice, and names count too. These numbers are a guide to how much vocabulary the book asks for, not a test. The level itself was set by hand by our team. Before you commit, read one page of the free edition and count the words you do not know: the one-page test takes two minutes.
Which words should you know before you start?
These are the words that Pepita Jiménez uses most often but that are not among the 2,000 most common word forms across all 36 Spanish books in our library; the number is how many times each appears. Names of people and places are left out. Learning a handful of them first makes the opening chapters easier.
- vicario 84
- deán 27
- afecto 24
- devoción 17
- vocación 17
- cita 14
- amar 12
- vencer 12
- tresillo 12
- tertulia 12
- soberbia 11
- oración 11
- promesa 11
- amaba 11
- huertas 10
How does it begin?
El señor deán de la catedral de..., muerto pocos años ha, dejó entre sus papeles un legajo, que, rodando de unas manos en otras, ha venido a dar en las mías, sin que, por extraña fortuna, se haya perdido uno solo de los documentos de que constaba.
From the Project Gutenberg edition, which is in the public domain. If this paragraph already feels slow, try a book one level lower.
How long does it take to read?
| Words | 100 wpm | 150 wpm | 200 wpm | 250 wpm |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 56,657 | 9.5 h | 6.5 h | 4.5 h | 4 h |
Learners reading a book at their level often manage 100 to 150 words per minute, and readers in their first language 200 to 250. Where these speeds come from, and a calculator for your own: How long does it take to read a book?
Where can you read it for free?
The free edition is Project Gutenberg eBook #17223. Project Gutenberg publishes books that are in the public domain in the United States, as EPUB, Kindle and plain text, free and without an account. Copyright terms differ by country: if you live outside the United States, check that the book is out of copyright where you are before you download it.
To read it with a translation over every word you tap, open it in Readlang Mobile on iPhone or iPad.
What to read next at B2
Spanish books at the same level that ask for a similar amount of vocabulary:
- El árbol de la ciencia, Pío Baroja: 63,334 words, 5,908 forms for 95%
- Niebla (Nivola), Miguel de Unamuno: 57,384 words, 4,706 forms for 95%
- Abel Sánchez: Una historia de pasión, Miguel de Unamuno: 29,562 words, 3,202 forms for 95%
- Mare nostrum, Vicente Blasco Ibáñez: 144,898 words, 10,270 forms for 95%
- Los pazos de Ulloa, Emilia Pardo Bazán: 83,819 words, 10,840 forms for 95%
- Doña Perfecta, Benito Pérez Galdós: 113,704 words, 15,160 forms for 95%
See also all Spanish books by level and books at B2 in all five languages.