Spanish Revision Guide
Contents
Planning the essay……………. Pages 2-4
Checking check-list…………….Pages 5-6
Vocabulary for debate…………….7-8
The imperfect subjunctive with the conditional tense…………….9-10
The different tenses…………….11-12
Expressions of frequency…………….13
Cognates…………….13
Expressing positive and negative opinions…………….14-15
Listening Strategies…………….16-17
Conversational Strategies…………….18-19
Making negative statements…………….19-20
Giving reasons and explaining benefits…………….20-21
Some idiomatic expressions with impersonal verbs…………….21-22
Making judgements and recommendations…………….23
Giving pros and cons…………….23
Choosing the right tenses…………….24-25
Preparation for listening tasks…………….25-26
Avoiding repetitions…………….26
How to say how long you have been doing something…………….27
Using conjunctions to talk about causes and effects…………….27-28
Varying sentence length for impact…………….28
Using idioms…………….29
Tactics for understanding new vocabulary…………….30-34
Reading for gist…………….34-35
Reading for detail…………….35
Numbers…………….36-39
1
Spanish Essay Writing
Planning your writing work
Planning a piece of writing problem solving. Easy with following
stages:
1) Establish what the problem is, i.e.

What question is the task title asking you?

What are the issues you need to think about and express
an opinion on?
2) Decide what you want to suggest as the solution to the problem,
i.e.

What will your main conclusion be? Bear in mind that
you may change or adapt it as your planning takes shape.
3) Make notes of the information you have at your disposal:

any relevant information you have learned or can
research

your own ideas: use a spider diagram to jot these down
and explore them. (be careful, stick to what is in this
booklet)
4) Think about what language tools and skills you have available
to build your argument:

What relevant vocabulary can you plan to use?

What grammar are you likely to need (which tenses, for
example)?

What useful expressions can you include to make and
reinforce your argument? (Fabby phrases)
5) Decide and note down how you will construct a clear
explanation of your solution:

Draw up an overall plan, sorting your ideas and relevant
information under headings. You could do this as a
spider diagram.
2

Place your ideas into a logical order suitable (coherent,
fluent, mature writing) for the argument (engage in a
level of debate) that you want to make; you could do this
in the form of a list or a flow chart.
6) Rough out the content. Using your overall plan as a basis, write
a rough version of your piece, and read through it to make sure
your ideas make sense, are relevant and lead logically towards
the conclusion.
7) Check: Does your draft answer the question?
Afterwards

Check grammatical and spelling accuracy.

Conjugation
Practice Planning
¿Por qué tenemos que llevar ropa? Escribe 200 palabras.
1) Establish what the problem is, i.e.
 What question is the task title asking you?
 What are the issues you need to think about and express an opinion on?
It’s asking why we wear clothes, so the answer needs to give reasons and maybe some
disadvantages or reasons for deciding what we wear.
2) Decide on your suggested solution to the problem:

What will your main conclusion be? Bear in mind that you may change or adapt it
as your planning takes shape.
Decide on the major reasons why it is essential to wear clothes – or not!
3) Make notes of the information you have at your disposal:
 any relevant information you have learned or can research
 your own ideas: use a spider diagram to jot these down and explore them.
Clothes: keep us warm / keep us ‘decent’ / show something about us / help us to express ourselves
/ show our status or role, etc. … but are restrictive / expensive / have to be kept clean and smart
etc.
4) Think about what language tools and skills you have available to build your argument:
 What relevant vocabulary can you plan to use?
 What grammar are you likely to need (which tenses, for example)?
 What useful expressions can you include to make and reinforce your argument?
3
Vocabulary to do with clothing and its benefits / disadvantages; grammar: mostly present
tense unless some historical references; expressions for listing reasons, persuading etc.
5) Decide and note down how you will construct a clear explanation of your solution:
 Draw up an overall plan, sorting your ideas and relevant information under
headings. You could do this as a spider diagram.
 Place your ideas into a logical order suitable for the argument you want to make;
you could do this in the form of a list or a flow chart.
Go through advantages of wearing clothes, then disadvantages; decide on best
conclusion. Order: introduction, 2–3 paragraphs of benefits, 1 of disadvantages,
conclusion.
6) Rough out the content:
 Using your overall plan as a basis, write a rough version of your piece, and read
through it to make sure your ideas make sense and lead logically towards the
conclusion.
7) Check: Does your draft answer the question?
Now try using this technique to plan and write your answer to the following:
¿Qué presiones existen hoy en día sobre los jóvenes con respecto a su apariencia personal y la
necesidad de “ser aceptados” por otros?
4
Checking check-list

AS essays:
Focus is on analysing and giving opinions
Lots of detail
Avoiding basic errors
How to check your work:
1) Agreements
Yes, those things that you learned right at the start of learning Spanish. So if you get them
wrong now, it really won’t look good.
- If a noun is masculine, all of the adjectives that refer to it must be masculine – not just in
that sentence, but whenever the noun is being described.
- If a noun is feminine, all of the adjectives that refer to it must be feminine – not just in
that sentence, but each time the noun is described.
- If a noun is masculine or feminine plural, all of the adjectives that refer to it must also
be masculine or feminine plural – not just in that sentence but in all those beyond!
2) Staying consistent throughout a sentence
This is particularly important when using verbs like “me gusta”– which you will often do at
the start of your course to give your basic opinions, usually followed by “porque” (because).
- Me gusta literally means “it pleases me”
- describing ONLY 1 item
+ porque ES
because it is
- Me gustan literally means “they please me”
- describing MORE than 1 item
+ porque SON because they are
Of course you’ll also need to make sure that all your nouns and adjectives throughout the
whole sentence agree with each other and the verb as well.
3) Word order
Spanish word order is different to English. In English, the description is given before the
noun, but the Spanish very sensibly tell you what they are describing and then they describe it.
article
+
noun
+
adjective
(el / la / los / las
un / una / unos / unas)
4) Staying consistent with verbs
If you’re describing something in the past, keep using verbs to describe the past actions. If it
was ongoing or habitual, keep using the imperfect; don’t suddenly start using the present or
the future to describe the same thing.
Yes, use a variety of verb tenses in a description, but make sure that they describe different
things.
e.g.
WRONG
Cuando era joven me gustaba ver la tele con mi hermano porque es cariñoso.
IMPERFECT
IMPERFECT
PRESENT
When I was young I used to like watching TV with my brother because he is caring.
- The fact that he is caring NOW had no impact on why you USED to like watching TV
with him. Instead we should say “he was caring” - “era cariñoso”.
5) Detail
5
This speaks for itself. Short answers do not give the person marking it an opportunity to see
and reward your skill or knowledge.
For example, if you've described a problem that exists now, have you also described its origins
and what to do to improve it?
6) Does it read well and without ambiguity?
If the person reading it can’t work out EXACTLY what you wanted to say, then you won’t get
the marks you hoped for.
- Read it out loud (even under your breath). If it’s hard to say, it’s probably not right.
- Does each sentence have all of the verbs it needs?
Make sure you read what you’ve actually written, not just what you wanted to write.
6
Here is some useful vocabulary for your debate:
7) To start and finish
8) Primero quisiera discutir / subrayar / considerar / mencionar
9) Primero / en primer lugar / para empezar / comenzar
10) Segundo / tercero / en segundo lugar / en tercer lugar
11)
12) Finalmente / para terminar / concluir / resumir
13) En resumen / a fin de cuentas / al fin y al cabo
14)
15) Opinions
16) Use as many opinions as you can (such as the ones you used above)
17)
18) Estoy a favor / en contra de…
19)
20) Opinions with subjunctive
21) No creo que
22) (No) Me gusta que
23) Es bueno / malo que
24) Espero que
+ subjuntivo
25) Ojalá
26) Me preocupa mucho que
27)
28) Justifications
29) Dado que / porque / ya que / puesto que / por eso / así que / por este motivo / por lo
tanto
30) A causa de / debido a
31) Como resultado de / a consecuencia de
32)
33) Ask questions
34) ¿Es posible cerrar los ojos ante...?
35) ¿Se puede imaginar un mundo donde….?
36) ¿Cómo será el mundo si (no)…?
37) ¿Cuáles serían las consecuencias de (no)….?
38)
39) Develop your argument
40) Además
41) Por consecuencia
42) Es decir
43) Por supuesto
7
44) Aparte de eso
45) Al contrario
46) Hay que tener en cuenta que
47) No cabe duda que
48) Desgraciadamente / afortunadamente / desafortunadamente
49) Sea como sea
50) Como ya sabe
51) Por un lado / por otro lado
52) En cuanto a / con respecto a / con referencia a
53)
54) Partial agreement
55) Entiendo lo que dices / has dicho / dijiste pero hay que saber / considerar / tener en
cuenta…
56) Estoy de acuerdo con…pero vale considerar… pero hay otros que dicen…
57)
58) Disagreement
59) No estoy de acuerdo (con nada)
60) No estoy convencido / a
61)
62) Expressions of surprise / disagreement
63) ¡Qué barbaridad! ¡No me digas! ¡Ay
hablar! ¡Qué idiotez!
caramba! ¡No puede ser! ¡Qué va! ¡Ni
64)
65) Buy yourself time
66) Pues... / bueno… / mira… / es que…
8
Read the grammar box below to revise the continuous tense.
67) The continuous tense
68) The gerund or the continuous tense in English produces the verb ending “ing”. In
Spanish it ends in “ando” for ar verbs and “iendo” for er or ir verbs.
69)
70) Estudiar = to study
Estudiando
= studying
71) Hacer = to do
Haciendo
= doing
72) Escribir = to write
Escribiendo
= writing
73)
74) Some of the radical stem changing verbs are irregular, e.g.
75) Pedir = pidiendo, sentir = sintiendo, dormir = durmiendo, construir = construyendo
Read the grammar box below to revise the use of the imperfect subjunctive with the conditional tense.
76) The imperfect subjunctive with the conditional tense
77)
78) If you make sentences with hypotheses, you can improve your chance of scoring
higher marks by using a complex structure.
79)
80) If I were… I would…
81)
82) If I were dancing I would like to listen to Dizzee Rascal.
83) Si estuviera bailando me gustaría escuchar a Dizzee Rascal.
84) Si estuviera… = If I were…
9
Remember that the verbs must be placed in the following order:
Imperfect subjunctive +
Conditional
Note how the continuous tense is included in this structure to express opinions about what music
you like listening to and where.
The imperfect subjunctive
Si estuviera / Si estuviese
The continuous tense
corriendo
caminando
haciendo deberes
haciendo deporte
estudiando
cocinando
The conditional
escucharía
or
me gustaría
me encantaría
me chiflaría
no me gustaría
no soportaría
no aguantaría
+
a type of music or a song and justify your answer
10
Terms
Infinitive
The basic part of the verb
In English this means “to…” e.g. “to jump”, “to walk” ALL Spanish verbs will have one
of the following endings in the infinitive form
ar (the most common)
eg visitar
er
eg comer
ir
eg vivir
In order to form any verb tense you will need to know what the infinitive is so that you
can then work out the correct endings.
The indicative All of the tenses referred to here are otherwise known as “indicative”
tenses – they explain or indicate what happens at different times.
The past
reference.
An unhelpful term in grammar – the past is not a tense- it’s a time
The standard “past” tenses:
the preterite
describes finished, completed actions (…ed)
the imperfect
describes ongoing or habitual actions in the past (was / used to)
the perfect
a recently completed action (have …ed)
the pluperfect
a completed action further back in time (had …ed)
The future
reference.
An unhelpful term in grammar – the future is not a tense – it’s a time
The standard “future” tenses:
the simple future
describes what you are going to do in the near future
the future
describes what you will do at a more distant time
the conditional
describes what you would do if something else happened first
An adverb
A descriptive word used to add detail to a verb. Often formed using “–
mente” in Spanish and “-ly” in English.
A noun
The name of something - be it a person, an animal, object, quality or idea.
An adjective
A descriptive word used to add detail to a noun.
The subjunctive
Not included in the tenses section because it’s not a tense – it’s a
mood. This means that it doesn’t describe precise, definite events but theoretical or
emotional events that might take place.
The subject
The person or object that is carrying out the action of the verb - you need
to know this to choose the correct ending of the verb to make it say what you want it to
11
mean!
The object
The item (person or other noun) which is having an action done to it.
1. Analyse the sentences below and label the requested grammatical elements.
1. noun, adjective, preterite tense
El equipo español ganó otra vez anoche.
2. simple future, infinitive
Van a tomar pasos para reducir el efecto de la polución en las zonas urbanas.
3. imperfect tense, preterite tense, noun, adjective
Leía un libro fascinante cuando mi amiga Inma me llamó.
4. present tense, subjunctive, infinitive, noun, adjective, adverb
No creo que sea posible cambiar su mentalidad negativa sin destruir los obstáculos
personalmente.
5. subject, preterite tense, adverb, noun
La mujer se acercó lentamente al puente, preocupada por los riesgos evidentes de sus acciones.
12
EXPRESSIONS OF FREQUENCY
Match the Spanish expressions with their English equivalents.
1 una vez al día
2 dos veces a la semana
3 todos los días
4 los domingos
5 durante la semana
6 por las tardes
7 después de cenar
8 antes de acostarme
9 durante las vacaciones
10 mientras
11 hasta las dos de la madrugada
12 de vez en cuando
13 siempre
14 nunca
15 apenas
16 muy a menudo
17 rara vez
18 mucho/a(s)
19 poco/a(s)
20 una media de




















a a lot
b after the evening meal
c always
d an average of
e before I go to bed
f during the holidays
g during the week
h every day
i from time to time
j hardly ever
k in the evenings
l never
m not much
n on Sundays
o once a day
p rarely
q twice a week
r until 2 a.m.
s not very often/occasionally
t while
Cognates: Spanish nouns ending in -ción or -sión often have English equivalents: estación – station.
Spanish nouns ending in -dad often end in ‘-ity’ in English: comunidad – community.
Spanish nouns ending in -aje, -ancia or -encia often have English equivalents ending in ‘-age’,
‘-ance’ or ‘-ence’: pasaje – passage, persistencia – persistence.
Spanish nouns ending in -ería or -aría often have ‘-ery’ / ‘-ary’ equivalents in English: galería –
gallery.
Spanish nouns and adjectives ending in -or often have English equivalents ending in ‘-or’ or ‘-er’:
gobernador – governor.
Spanish nouns and adjectives ending in -al often have English equivalents: general – general
adverbs ending in –mente HAVE ENG EQUIVALENTS ending in ‘-ly’.
13
Expressing positive and negative opinions
me
encanta
me
gusta
un
poco
me
me
gusta
gusta
bastante mucho
no me
gusta
no me
gusta
nada
no
no
aguanto soporto
odio/detesto
Verbs like gustar, encantar, parecer are ‘back to front’
expressions: if you say me gusta mucho esta
película, you are actually saying ‘this film is pleasing to
me’: the film is the subject, and you are the object.
The following example shows how the verb needs to
change to plural when you like something plural.
Me encanta la obra de Almodóvar.
= singular verb for singular subject
Me gustan sobre todo los guiones de sus películas.
= plural verb for plural subject
14
You need to remember to use the correct indirect object pronoun for the person or people who
like something, as in the examples given below.
¿Te gusta el cine español?
No, pero me molan las películas inglesas.
A mi hermano le encantaba la ciencia ficción.
A usted no le gustan las comedias, ¿verdad?
Nos encantó la última película que vimos.
¿Qué os parece la ciencia ficción?
A mis hermanas les encantaron las escenas en las que aparecía el héroe.
¿A ustedes les gustaban las películas épicas como El Cid?
Remember that preferir is a radical-changing verb.
Mi amiga prefiere ver las películas de terror en el cine, pero yo prefiero ver un DVD romántico en
casa, ¡porque odio los cines!
15
Listening strategies
*
The one most important strategy is to look closely at the questions and
make sure you know what crucial/key details are asked for, e.g.
numbers?
times? dates?
people’s attitudes to something?
facts about what someone did?
If the stimulus is heard more than once, listen for gist the first time, then for the
detail asked for in the questions.
* The following might help you cope with listening items that seem quick or difficult.
Words sometimes seem to run into each other when you are listening. Use what you know about
common prefixes and suffixes to help you distinguish words from each other in a sentence. For
example:
 Adjectives usually end in -o, -a, -os
or –as
 Abstract nouns often end in
-ción, -tud, -dad
(abstract noun) A noun that denotes an idea,
emotion, feeling, quality or other abstract or
intangible concept, as opposed to a concrete
item, or a physical object
Use your knowledge of verb
endings to home in on meaning
about who did /does what:
 Don’t forget that object pronouns
can be attached to the ends of verbs:
el más
conocido de
nuestra
juventud
una canción
hemos decidido
Nuestro hijo
acaba de
regalarnos un
nuevo equipo.
There are bound to be some cognates,
watch out for different pronunciation in
Spanish – try to visualise the spelling of words,
because cognates are sometimes easier to recognise when you see
them than when you hear them.When listening out for personal opinions,
try to recognise people’s positive or negative feelings from any signs
available:
16
- Look out for exclamatory expressions.
- Look out for expressions which reveal the tone or mood of what is
said/written.
- Look out for key phrases expressing likes/dislikes.
• Me permiten hacerles
un par de preguntas …
durará sólo un ratito.
• ¿Por qué no? No
tenemos prisa.
• No, lo siento, tengo
mucha prisa …
• Sí, el Concierto
de Aranjuez,
¡todos lo conocen!
• No, nunca contesto
a las preguntas de
encuesta. Adiós,
señora.
the speaker is anxious
not to annoy the other
person
the speaker is not
in a hurry
the speaker is
stressed
the speaker is
enthusiastic,
positive
the speaker is
brusque, not
very friendly
17
Conversational Strategies
To keep a conversation going, you
need to build a range of expressions for:
•what you want to say
•what you want to know from the other person
•how to react to what they say
Here are some phrases you could use in a conversation
about music, to express your feelings, opinions and experiences
and to ask the other person about theirs.
Emphatic reactions•¡Vaya pregunta!
•¡Fíjate qué (e.g.) locura!
•¡Caramba!
•¡Madre mía!
•¡Hombre!
Questions•¿Dónde ...
•¿Cuándo ...
•... te gusta oír música? … sueles escuchar música?
•¿Por qué ...?
Expressions to show you agree•Estoy de acuerdo (contigo)
•Tienes razón (, pero ...)
•Eso me parece razonable (, pero ...)
•¡Claro!
•¡Eso es!
•¡Exactamente!
•¡Precisamente!
•¡Verdad que sí!
Expressions to show you don’t agree•
¡No estoy de acuerdo (contigo)!
•Pero eso no es razonable ...
•Pero, ¿no te parece que ...?
•No seas exagerado/a
•¡Qué tonterías dices!
•¡Claro que no!
•¡Si no es eso!
•¡Hombre, que no!
•¡Ni pensar!
18
Expressions to describe emotions and positive opinions•me chifla
eso
•me encanta ...
•estoy a gusto
•me gusta bastante
•me ayuda a ...
•me recuerda mucho a ...
•para mí ... es esencial
•no puedo vivir sin ...
•lo que pongo mucho es …
•la melodía / la letra / la cantante es muy bonita
•tiene(n) algo de ...
... original / interesante / triste etc.
Expressions to describe emotions and
negative opinions
•
•
•
•
•
•
me irrita
me pongo muy nervioso
sólo es una manera de
... cubrir los ruidos de fondo
... escaparme de mis problemas
odio ... / no aguanto ... / no soporto ...no lo puedo entender
And if you’re not sure
*no me importa mucho
•me da igual
Making negative statements
Negatives
no
not
nunca
never
nada
nothing
nadie
nobody
19
ni … ni …
neither ... nor
tampoco
neither
ni siquiera
not even
ya no
no longer
ningún, ninguna, ningunos, ningunas are adjectives meaning ‘no…’ (i.e. not any)
Here are some examples from this section, to remind you how to use these.
No podríamos vivir sin deporte.
¿Tampoco haces ejercicio físico?
Nunca es demasiado tarde para cambiar de rutina.
The word no in Spanish always goes in front of the verb:
María no sabe cocinar.
Other negative words can also go in front of the verb, for example Nadie le habla.
But it is very common to use more than one negative word:
No quiero nada.
No he visto a nadie.
So in Spanish you need to be able to handle double negatives.
Yo no hago ninguna forma de ejercicio.
Hipócrates no sabía nada del sedentarismo.
Giving reasons and explaining benefits
Giving reasons
To explain why we do or don’t do something or why something is the case there are a
number of ways we can start a causal clause:
porque no tengo tiempo
ya que la piscina está cerrada
a causa de la falta de instalaciones
por pereza
debido a una enfermedad crónica
Alternatively we can state the reason first and add a linking word to the main clause:
Me he roto la pierna, por eso no voy al gimnasio.
Llego tarde de mi trabajo, así que no puedo hacer la clase de yoga.
Stating benefits
You can talk about improving or reducing something, using these verbs followed by a noun.
… mejora la circulación.
… reduce el estrés.
You can talk about what something allows or helps you to do, using these verbs followed by
an infinitive.
… permite relacionarme con los demás y hacer amigos.
Puedo practicar con seriedad el deporte que me interesa.
… ayuda a relajarme.
20
La vida sana
Hoja de trabajo
Persuading others, using ‘if’ clauses
Remember the simplest form of conditional sentence uses the present tense in the ‘if’ clause
and the present or future tense in the main clause.
Si vas a la clase de salsa, lo pasarás fenomenal.
In a hypothetical conditional sentence you need the imperfect subjunctive in the ‘if’ clause
and the conditional tense in the main clause.
Si fueras a la clase de salsa, lo pasarías fenomenal.
See pages 117-118 of the Student’s Book.
Some idiomatic expressions with impersonal verbs
There are some verbs in Spanish that are used ‘impersonally’ and have no obvious equivalent
in English. You have already met gustar, encantar, interesar, apetecer. Remember that with
these verbs you need to use an indirect object pronoun to link them to a person, e.g.
¿Te gusta el chocolate?
Me encantan las gambas.
A Paco no le interesa aprender a bailar.
Nos apetece tomar una copa.
Using verbs impersonally (with or without an indirect object pronoun) makes your Spanish more
idiomatic and more stylish. Here are some common ones that you might try to include in your writing
or speaking.
bastar
to be sufficient
basta (con) decir que …
it’s sufficient to say that …
basta saber que …
it’s enough to know that ...
¡basta ya (de tonterías)!
that’s enough (nonsense)!
caber
to be contained, to fit
cabe mencionar que …
it’s appropriate to mention …
cabe destacar que …
it should be pointed out that …
cabe recordar que …
it’s worth remembering that …
faltar
to be lacking
faltan instalaciones adecuadas
there aren’t enough proper facilities
faltan recursos
there aren’t the resources
falta la determinación política
the political will is lacking
importar
to be important, to matter
no importa el estado físico
a person’s physical condition doesn’t matter
de una persona
lo que importa es …
what’s important is …
AQA Spanish AS Level © Nelson Thornes Ltd 2008
21
La vida sana
Hoja de trabajo
¿le importa si fumo?
Do you mind if I smoke?
quedar
to be remaining
queda mucho por hacer
there remains a lot to be done
quedó paralítico después del accidente the accident left him paralysed
el proyecto se quedó sin realizar
the project was never carried out
sobrar
to be left over, to be in excess
ha sobrado mucha comida
there was a lot of food left over
nos sobra tiempo
we have plenty of time
este ejemplo sobra
this example is unnecessary
valer
to be worth
no vale la pena
it’s not worth it
más vale no hacerlo
it’s better not to do it
Juan no vale para el deporte
Juan is no good at sport
AQA Spanish AS Level © Nelson Thornes Ltd 2008
22
La vida sana
Hoja de trabajo
Making judgements and recommendations
In Listening activity 4 you heard a number of constructions used to make recommendations
and judgements. Many of these are impersonal expressions followed by an infinitive, e.g.
Es aconsejable reducir la cantidad de grasa.
Es conveniente no tomar más ...
Más vale limitar …
Deberíamos tratar …
Some can be followed by a noun, e.g.
Es imprescindible una dieta sana.
Son preferibles los productos ...
Don’t forget the verb recomendar (it has a radical change o to ie).
You can also give direct instructions (do’s and don’ts) using the imperative, e.g.
Tú imperative
Vd. imperative
Come más fruta .
Coma más fruta.
No bebas alcohol.
No beba alcoho
Lo ideal sería
es preciso
son preferibles
es mejor
hay que
es vital
más vale
lo peor es
es aconsejable
es imprescindible
Giving pros and cons
You have met a number of expressions which you can use to introduce points in favour and
points against something:
Lo bueno / malo es (que) …
Lo positivo / negativo es (que) …
Por un lado … por otro lado …
La ventaja / El inconveniente
es (que) …
Por una parte … por otra parte … En cambio …
AQA Spanish AS Level © Nelson Thornes Ltd 2008
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Choosing the right tenses
el año pasado
cuando era joven
normalmente
realicé mi sueño
pasé varios días en Lima
fue una experiencia inolvidable
fui a Guatemala
mi trabajo consistió en …
preferíamos alquilar una casita
estábamos más a gusto
los hijos jugaban en el jardín
podíamos tomar una copa
no sabía nada de la pobreza
quiero dormir ...
necesito desconectarme
me chifla ir de camping
estamos al aire libre
es difícil estar en un hotel
hago mucho senderismo
no entiendo esas personas
These are completed actions in
the past.
These are habitual actions in the These are things that you
past.
normally do.
Preterite tense
to say what happened, what you
did
Imperfect tense
to say what things were like,
what you used to do
Present tense
to say what you do now
Word families and compound words
You can learn and understand vocabulary much more quickly and easily if you start
to recognise that words come in ‘families’.
Many nouns have adjectives and verbs that are related to them, and many adjectives
are in fact the past participle of a related verb.
noun
verb
adjective
la animación
animar
animado
Many verbs have several others that are related to them and which conjugate in
exactly the same way: it’s just the prefix of the verb which gives it its individual
meaning.
poner
componer
disponer
exponer
imponer
proponer
suponer
The key is to recognise parts of words: the root, which is the main clue to its
meaning, the prefix if there is one, and the suffix if there is one.
Prefixes are standard beginnings of words.
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Typical ones in English are con, pre, mis, ex.
Typical ones in Spanish are con or com, des, dis, ex, im, in, pro.
Suffixes are standard endings of nouns and adjectives.
Typical ones in English are -tion and -sion, -ery and -ary, al and -ity.
Typical ones in Spanish are -dad, -ción or -sión, -ista, -ico, and -al.
1 Complete the table with words from the same family, following the example.
Check in a dictionary if necessary.
noun
verb
adjective
limpieza
limpiar
limpio
variado
invasora
adecuado
construir
beneficiar
fomentar
tolerancia
solidaridad
educativo
prueba
imaginativo
estable
llamativo
relajante
Preparation for listening tasks
Before you listen to a recording, read the questions carefully.
The instructions will often tell you how many speakers you will hear, as in activity 2a where
there are four speakers and eight questions, two questions per speaker.
Look for key words in the question and then listen out for these words, or words with similar
meanings, in the recording, to help you focus on the right phrases.
Look for the question words ¿por qué? ¿qué? ¿cuáles? ¿cómo? Notice that they do not
always come at the beginning of the question.
The activity below consists of filling in the gaps in the transcript of four interviews
(as heard in activity 2a).
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When you do an exercise like this, you need to decide what sort
of word you are looking for – noun, verb, adjective etc.
In the hotelero’s speech, the missing words are all nouns. Could you have deduced this from
looking at the transcript?
In the camarero’s and vendedora’s speeches, all the missing words are verbs. Are there any
clues in the text that could have helped you to know this? Look at the tenses and think about
whether the sentence refers to past, present or future. Remember that when two verbs come
together the second one is an infinitive.
In the taxista’s speech the missing words are a mixture of odd words such as
prepositions, linking words etc. It is much harder to find clues for these. You really
need to know what they mean and understand the sense of the sentence. Use trial and
error and eliminate those you think can’t fit.
Aim: Avoiding repetition
Notice how the text uses
several different ways to describe new kinds of families:
Las nuevas relaciones familiares ..., nuevas formas
familiares ..., nuestra nueva dimensión familiar ..., este
nuevo modelo ...
In your own speaking and writing you can
add variety by using synonyms. The text uses novedosos to
avoid repeating nuevos and enormemente instead of muy.
In the interview, Cecilia uses both a negative and an
affirmative statement to describe her relationship with her halfbrothers and sisters, so that she repeats the idea but uses two
different adjectives: No son cercanos and Son distantes para
mí.•Well-written Spanish avoids repetition of the verbs ser and
estar. Notice that the introductory paragraph of the text uses a
variety of other verbs and phrases but doesn’t use ser or estar.
•Look at the verbs used in the texts and try to use them in your
own writing. For example:
coexistir, crear, adquirir, superponer, permitir
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How to say how long you have been doing
something
If you have been doing something for a long time and are still doing it, you need to
use the present tense in one of the following constructions:
 Action in present tense + desde hace + time
Desde hace unos meses quiero decirte eso. I have wanted to tell you that for several
months.
 Hace + time + que + action in present tense
Hace meses que no quiere estudiar. For months she hasn’t wanted to study.
 Llevar in present tense + time + action in gerund
Llevo todo ese tiempo en casa cuidándolos. I have been at home looking after them
for all that time.
 If you had been doing something, and were still doing it, you use the same
construction, but put the verbs in the imperfect tense:
Desde hacía unos meses quería decirte eso. I had wanted to tell you that for several
months.
Hacía meses que no quería estudiar. She hadn’t wanted to study for months.
Llevaba todo ese tiempo en casa cuidándolos. I had been at home looking after them for all that time.
 Hace + a period of time means ‘ago’:
Hace cinco años mi mujer y yo tuvimos gemelos. Five years ago my wife and I had
twins.
Using conjunctions to talk about causes and effects
In order to talk about cause and effect in situations such as family relationships you
need to use linking words between the clauses of a sentence or between ideas or
events.
To refer to something, use en cuanto a or (con) respecto a.
En cuanto a la discordia entre hermanos …
As far as disagreement between brothers and sisters is concerned …
To give more information, use (y) además or incluso.
Tengo confianza en mis padres. Incluso cuando tengo problemas se lo digo.
I trust my parents. What’s more, when I have problems I tell them.
To talk about consequences or give explanations, use por eso, así que or entonces.
No quiero que sean machistas. Por eso es bueno que sepan ocuparse de la casa.
I don’t want them to be chauvinists. So it’s a good thing that they know how to look
after the house.
To counteract information or a point of view, use en cualquier caso, ahora bien or
sin embargo.
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Son chicos divertidos. Sin embargo se apoderan de toda la casa.
They’re fun kids. On the other hand, they’re taking over the house.
To summarise and give conclusions, use al fin y al cabo or total, que.
Al fin y al cabo no es mi casa, sino la nuestra.
In the end it’s not my house but ours.
Varying sentence length for impact Give an idea
of what the text is about in your opening sentence:
Es
cierto que se puede conocer a un amigo en las
circunstancias más imprevistas.
Use short, factual
sentences to give key information: Hace dos años
atropellé a un señor con mi coche. Add detail and vary the
pace by following a short sentence with a longer one:
Afortunadamente, el señor se escapó sin
consecuencias físicas y asumí mi culpa del hecho y lo
llamé en los días después para ver cómo iba. Notice how
much more interesting the information is when the
expression por pura casualidad is added to the sentence:
Luego nos encontramos en la calle una semana
después.
Luego, por pura casualidad, nos encontramos en la
calle una semana después. Try to give your sentences
a sense of rhythm by choosing certain words to link ideas.
Notice how using ya in the following sentence makes the
words flow better than if porque had been used. Eso
tiene que ser una señal de destino, ya que Buenos Aires
es una ciudad muy grande.
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Using Idioms
Using idioms
Conversational Spanish includes many idioms and expressions. Notice the contexts
in which they are used and include them in your own speaking and writing to be
more expressive and to sound natural.
Nos caen fatal. We don’t get on with them at all.
Se llevan como el perro y el gato. They fight like cat and dog.
Me dejó de piedra. It made me go cold.
Nos morimos de risa. We laughed a lot.
Perdonaría todo menos la traición. I would forgive everything except betrayal.
La amistad no tiene fecha de caducidad. Friendship doesn’t have an expiry date.
Expressions that you use to introduce an opinion or idea can be useful in conversation:
Para colmo ... The worst thing / the final straw …
Ojalá que (+ subjunctive) …
Let’s hope that …
Here are some more tips for making your Spanish sound authentic:

Learn words and expressions that are used in specific situations.
cortar con – to finish, to break up with
enrollarse con – to get involved with
meterse con – to provoke, to annoy

Use a variety of verbs to express feelings.
No me agrada – it doesn’t please me
No aguanto que … / No soporto que … – I can’t stand …
Odio que … / Detesto – I hate
Me fastidia … / Me molesta … – … annoys me
Me pone de los nervios
– It gets on my nerves
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Tactics for understanding new
vocabulary
Remember that words come in families.
This will help you to spot nouns and adjectives
that are really verb past participles:
una pareja
de hecho, estaba
embarazada, está avergonzado, vivir
escondido
Look at these families of words:
noun
verb
adjective adverb
other
vista
vistazo
ver
visto
vistoso
en vista de
con vistas a
alegría
alegrar(se) alegre
en vista
por lo visto
vistosamente
alegremente
con alegría
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Verbs can look odd when they
have object pronouns stuck on the end
(the accent is a hint):
inscribiéndonos, pagándolo, aceptándole,
criticándose, celebrarlo
Remember that in some cases the pronoun can
go in front of the verb
and this might help you to work out its meaning;
lo está planeando / está planeándolo
estaba distribuyéndolos / los estaba
distribuyendo
Many verbs are reflexive in their form in Spanish but
not in English, which can make them harder to recognise,
so you need to realise when a pronoun is simply part of a
verb: me alegro que, me daba vergüenza, va a casarse, me
enamoré Remember that the reflexive form is often used
in the plural to indicate doing the action to each other: se
apoyan el uno al otro, nos conocimos en un bar, nos
vemos a menudo, se quieren mucho •Recognising the
gender of a noun is important because it affects the
whole sentence:
El divorcio es algo complicado.
Los gastos de la boda no dependen en que sea civil o
religiosa.•Remember that some masculine nouns end in a, and some feminine nouns end in -o: el día, el mapa, el
sistema, el programa, el problema, el yoga
la mano, la
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radio, la foto, la moto•Nouns ending in
-ista don’t change whether referring to a male or female
person:
el/la tradicionalista, el/la socialista, el/la
ciclista, el/la periodista, el/la dentista•La pareja is always
feminine whichever sex it refers to. How can you apply
this advice with the new vocabulary in this text?
Leticia, de padres congoleños, sabe que quien quiera
casarse con ella deberá pagar una dote que incluye ropa,
comida, alcohol y dinero, algo que le degrada pero
reconoce que tiene que acatarlo como tradición. La joven
de 18 años se atreve a decir que no le gusta. •You can tell
this word is an adjective, from its position just after the
noun (padres) and its masculine plural ending that agrees
with padres. You can see the name of a country, congo,
and you may know the ending -eño (as in madrileño)
which tells you where someone comes from.
•la dote – dowry; family of words: dotar – to provide
someone with something, dotado – gifted
•acatar – to respect, to comply with; acatarlo – respect it, comply
with it
•atreverse – to dare, reflexive verb Los desencuentros de este tipo
son habituales entre las familias inmigrantes, pues sus costumbres
no siembre encajan en el país de acogida. Son las madres que
aplican las normas que dictan los maridos en las sociedades
patriarcales, y las hijas, al irse integrando, empiezan a vivir
contradicciones por el contraste entre sus valores de origen y los de
la sociedad a la que han llegado. En las familias de religión
musulmana este hecho es tal vez más palpable.
• el desencuentro – misunderstanding; family of words: encontrar –
to find, desencontrarse – to become separated, to fail to meet up
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• encajar – to fit; family of words: caja – box,
encajadura – insertion,
encajable – that fits together
• acogida – reception; past participle of acoger – to take in, to
receive;
family of words: acogedor – welcoming
• hecho – fact, event; past participle of hacer – to do, to carry out
A Farida, de 35 años y originaria de Marruecos, no le parece
mal que su hijo mayor tiene novias españolas. En el caso de su hija,
aunque asegura que al final será ella quien decida, preferiría que se
casara con un hombre de su cultura. En realidad no sabe por qué;
dice que “es por cuestión de costumbre y religión”. Su marido
impone su punto de vista: “Los hijos piensan de una manera, pero,
claro, uno tiene que inculcarles lo que son y de dónde son. Mis hijos
son de allí; aunque hayan nacido aquí, no dejan de ser de donde
son, de los suyos.”
••originario – from, native to; family of words: el origin – origin,
originar – to come from
•asegurar – to assure; family of words: el seguro – insurance, lock;
seguro – sure, safe, certain; la seguridad – security
•inculcar – to instil, to inculcate; incularles – to instil in them
•nacido – born; past participle of nacer – to be born A muchas
jóvenes, al llegar a la adolescencia se las llevan a su país para
casarlas y no vuelven. En ocasiones, las chicas están mentalizadas y
lo aceptan como normal. Pero en otras la situación es más
traumática, como en el caso reciente de una niña de Mauritania de
13 años, forzada a casarse con un pariente de 42, que acabó en los
juzgados. Adapted from La Vanguardia magazine: 15 July 2007 (text
Ana García Novoa)
•casarlas – to marry them off
•mentalizadas – persuaded, brainwashed; past participle of
mentalizar – to make aware, to convince, to persuade, to
brainwash•los juzgados – the courts; past participle of juzgar – to
judge Positive and negative comments
To express approval or disapproval you can use the following expressions with
infinitives:
a mí me da igual vivir soltero o casado
no me importa casarme
me parece bien buscar alguien con quien tenga mucho en común
para mí es importante tener una pareja
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es una pena vivir solo
(no) está bien casarse muy joven
(no) me gusta la idea de tener muchos hijos
You can also use these expressions to convey approval or disapproval of
someone’s particular situation or behaviour. For this you use them with que
and another subject, and the second verb has to be in the subjunctive.
You can also use these expressions to convey approval or disapproval of
someone’s particular situation or behaviour. For this you use them with que
and another subject, and the second verb has to be in the subjunctive.
Reading for gist
Before you start reading the text itself look at the way the text is laid out. The titles
and subheadings will help you work out what it’s about. If there were any pictures,
these would help you too.
What do these titles and subheadings tell you?
Una mujer se queda sin la custodia de su hijo y sin casa por su horario
laboral
Un divorcio traumático
Por su estabilidad emocional
Note any key words that appear frequently.
For example: custodia, divorcio, horario, tribunal
Find another ten words and note their meaning.
Look out for quotes which convey key opinions or facts. They will help you to recognise
attitudes and prioritise the main points of the text.
Examples: "un horario laboral más extenso y disperso que lo hace difícilmente
compatible con estar con el niño en actos como la comida diaria"
"Lo que nunca pude imaginar es que, siendo yo la víctima, los tribunales decidieran
que por no tener un empleo estable no tenga derecho a la custodia de mi hijo y a la
vivienda familiar".
Make a note of the rest of the quotes in the passage and what they tell you.
Remember that there is a lot of redundant language in a text to pad out and enhance the
writing: this is not essential to understanding the gist.
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The following are examples of ‘padding’ – language that doesn’t
actually tell you anything:
Lo que nunca pude imaginar
Precisamente
Can you find any other examples?
Reading for detail
1
Look out for names, numbers and dates.
Examples:
Guillerma Calderón
divorcio iniciado hace tres años
Find two more numbers.
Look out for punctuation – exclamations and questions can tell you about attitude.
Examples:
¿Quién se ocupa de mis derechos como madre?
¡No es justo!
What do these tell you about Guillerma’s feelings?
To help you understand a word that’s unfamiliar, look at its role in the sentence.
For example, el tribunal estima que se ha de velar por el interés del niño:
velar is a verb and the sentence implies that the court is acting with the
welfare of the child in mind, so we can make an educated guess that velar
por means to look after.
Work out the meanings of desahuciada and ajenos.
Look for

prefixes, such as contra-, des-, dis-, ex-, re- which affect the
meanings of words

suffixes, such as -mente, -able, -dad, -tud, which help you to work
out the English equivalent.
desatención: des-atención = the prefix des- changes the meaning from
‘attention’ to ‘lack of attention’ or ‘neglect’.
estabilidad = the suffix -dad in Spanish is usually equivalent to the suffix -ity in
English, so this means stability.
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Number Basics

10. diez
11. once
12. doce
13. trece
14. catorce
15. quince
16. dieciséis
17. diecisiete
18. dieciocho
19. diecinueve
20 = viente
30 = trienta
40 = Cuarenta
50= Cincuenta
60 = Sesenta
70 = Setenta
80 = Ochenta
90 = Noventa
100 = Cien
From 101 – 199 use “ciento”… e.g. ciento uno, ciento sesenta y dos
Correct:
ciento ochenta y nueve
Incorrect:
ciento y ochenta y nueve

To get to 1000
100. cien
200. doscientos
300. trescientos
400. cuatrocientos
500. quinientos
600. seiscientos
700. setecientos
800. ochocientos
900. novecientos
1000. mil
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There is a feminine and masculine for number one,
numbers 200 – 900 (cientos/as)
un libro
one book
una pluma
one pen
doscientos libros
doscientas plumas
cuatrocientos señores
cuatrocientas señoras
When there is exactly 100 of something, and the number is used with the noun, use
the shortened form "cien."
cien dólares
cien gatas
cien perros
cien pesetas

Spanish represent thousands in periods (.) and decimal points as
commas (,) ... e.g. 1.900,99 NOT 1,900.99 (crazy0
Big number test:
ciento uno
101
ciento noventa y nueve
199
doscientos
200
doscientos catorce
214
doscientos cincuenta y cinco
trescientos
300
trescientos setenta y cuatro
cuatrocientos
374
400
cuatrocientos treinta y seis
quinientos
255
436
500
quinientos sesenta y seis 566
seiscientos
600
seiscientos cuarenta y tres
setecientos
700
setecientos veinte y dos
ochocientos
643
722
800
ochocientos ochenta y ocho
888
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novecientos
900
novecientos noventa y siete
mil
1000
diez mil
10,000
diez y siete mil
17,000
cincuenta mil
50,000
setenta mil quinientos y catorce
cien mil
100,000
ciento cincuenta mil
150,000
ciento cuarenta y cinco mil
997
70,514
145,000
ciento setenta y siete mil trescientos ochenta y ocho
doscientos mil
177,388
200,000
doscientos cincuenta mil 250,000
trescientos mil
300,000
trescientos treinta y tres mil trescientos treinta y tres
cuatrocientos mil
400,000
cuatrocientos veinte y cinco mil
trescientos mil
300,505
400,000
cuatrocientos setenta y cinco mil
quinientos mil
425,000
300,000
trescientos mil quinientos cinco
cuatrocientos mil
333,333
475,000
500,000
quinientos cincuenta y cinco mil quinientos cincuenta y cinco
555,555
cuatrocientos cuarenta y cuatro mil cuatrocientos cuarenta y cuatro
444,444
doscientos veintidós mil doscientos veintidós
222,222
ciento once mil ciento once
setecientos mil
111,111
700,000
setecientos setenta y siete mil setecientos setenta y siete
ochocientos mil
800,000
ochocientos ochenta y ocho mil ochocientos ochenta y ocho
novecientos mil
888,888
900,000
novecientos noventa y nueve mil novecientos noventa y nueve
un millón
777,777
999,999
1,000,000
un millón doscientos mil 1,200,000
un millón cien mil
1,100,000
dos millones
2,000,000
dos millones doscientos mil
tres millones
2,200,000
3,000,000
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cinco millones
5,000,000
cinco millones quinientos cincuenta y cinco mil quinientos cincuenta y cinco
seis millones
6,000,000
seis millones seiscientos sesenta y seis mil seiscientos sesenta seis
siete millones
7,777,777
8,000,000
ocho millones ochocientos ochenta y ocho mil ochocientos ochenta y ocho
nueve millones
6,666,666
7,000,000
siete millones setecientos setenta y siete mil setecientos setenta y siete
ocho millones
5,555,555
8,888,888
9,000,000
nueve millones, novecientos noventa y nueve mil novecientos noventa y nueve 9,999,999
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