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A picture and a sentence
A teacher points to a sleeping cat and says ‘El gato duerme’. If you know gato means cat, the picture can help you infer that duerme means sleeps. Check the guess against a translation or another example: a picture alone can be ambiguous.
A short video
A cook points to an onion, cuts it and describes the steps. A learner who understands that the cook is preparing soup follows the message even if some words are new. Captions or a short replay can help, but a video with too many unknown details may still be too hard.
A conversation or a story
A conversation partner describes a recent trip and points to a map. You ask where they went and they restate an unclear sentence. In reading, an illustrated story about a familiar trip can offer similar support, but cannot answer your questions.
Check the message
After listening or reading, explain who did what and where. If you can name individual words but cannot follow the event, choose a shorter or clearer passage. Understanding a message is not proof that you have acquired every new word.
Sources
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Cite this page
Jibber Jabber. "Comprehensible input examples." What Is Comprehensible Input?, updated 2026-11-09. https://whatiscomprehensibleinput.com/examples/
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