Spanish placement test · A1

You walk into your Spanish class at nine in the morning. You say: ___

Buenos días — Spanish splits the day in three: «buenos días» until lunch, «buenas tardes» from lunch until dark, «buenas noches» after that. Two traps for an English speaker: «buenas noches» works both as hello and as goodbye, and there is no separate «good day». «Hasta luego» is only for leaving.

A friend tells you: «Tengo veintitrés años.» How old is she?

23 — «Veintitrés» is 23. From 16 to 29 Spanish writes the number as one word — dieciséis, veintitrés — and from 31 on it splits into three: treinta y tres. And note «tengo» for age: Spanish HAS years, it is not «I am 23».

«Es la hermana de mi madre.» Who is she?

My aunt — Your mother's sister is your aunt, «mi tía». Spanish has no apostrophe for possession, so relationships are built with «de»: la hermana DE mi madre, el hijo DE mi hermano.

In a bar you want a coffee WITH MILK. You ask for: «Un ___, por favor.»

café con leche — «Café con leche» is coffee with milk. «Café solo» is black coffee — «solo» here means on its own, not lonely — «té con limón» is tea with lemon and «un vaso de leche» is a glass of milk with no coffee in it.

«La tienda cierra los domingos.» When is the shop closed?

On Sundays — «Domingo» is Sunday. Two things worth taking away: days of the week are written in lower case in Spanish, and «los domingos» — with the plural article and no preposition — is how you say «on Sundays», every Sunday.

___ problema es difícil.

El — «Problema» is masculine even though it ends in -a, so it takes «el». The -o/-a guess is a good one but it is not a rule: «el día», «el mapa» and «el problema» are masculine, «la mano» is feminine. What IS reliable: words ending in -ción, -sión, -dad and -tad are always feminine.

Mi hermano ___ médico.

es — A job is what somebody IS, so it takes «ser»: mi hermano es médico. «Estar» would be for where he is or how he is right now, and «hay» announces that something exists. Note too that Spanish drops the article: «es médico», not «es un médico».

En mi calle ___ dos farmacias.

hay — «Hay» says that something exists, and it never changes: hay una farmacia, hay dos farmacias. «Están» would need the chemists to be already known — «las farmacias están en mi calle» — and «son» would be saying what they are.

Yo ___ español todos los días. (estudiar)

estudio — Drop the -ar and add -o for «yo»: estudiar → estudio. Every regular -ar verb does the same: hablo, trabajo, escucho. And in real Spanish the «yo» would normally be left out — «estudio español todos los días» — because the ending already says who.

A mí ___ los libros de historia.

me gustan — «Gustar» does not mean «to like», it means «to be pleasing to», so the verb agrees with the THING: los libros son varios, so «gustan». You are the «me». That is why it is «me gusta el café» but «me gustan los libros».

Write the plural of «la ciudad»: ___

las ciudades — After a vowel the plural adds -s (casa → casas); after a consonant it adds -es (ciudad → ciudades). And the article travels with it: la → las. In Spanish the plural is marked on the article, the noun and the adjective, not just on the noun.

«¿Qué tienes en la mochila?» — «No tengo ___.»

nada — «No tengo nada» is the correct sentence: when the negative word comes after the verb, the «no» stays as well. Two negatives, and that is right — «I don't have nothing» would be wrong in English but this is the Spanish rule. «Nadie» is for people, and «algo» is the positive one.

«___ es mi hermano», dices señalando a un chico.

Él — «Él» with an accent is the pronoun «he»; «el» without one is the article «the». They sound identical and the accent is the whole difference — «el hermano» is the brother, «él» is him. English has nothing like this, which is why it is worth meeting on day one.

Where does Lucía work?

In a bookshop — «Por la tarde trabajo en una librería»: she works in a bookshop. The university is where she studies, in the morning. And «librería» is a false friend worth keeping: it is a bookshop, not a library, which is «biblioteca».

How old is Diego?

Eleven — «Diego tiene once años»: eleven. Twenty is Lucía's own age, in the same sentence — «y yo tengo veinte» — which is exactly where this kind of question is failed.

What is opposite the bookshop?

A park — «Enfrente hay un parque»: opposite there is a park. Her house is «cerca», nearby, which is not the same as opposite — and the café is not in the text at all; only «el café», the drink she does not like.

What does Lucía NOT like?

Coffee — «No me gusta nada el café»: she does not like coffee at all. The sentence starts with what she does like — «me gustan mucho los libros de viajes» — and «pero» turns it round. «No… nada» is that double negative again, and here it means «not at all».