Spanish placement test · B2

«Se me da bien cocinar.» What am I saying?

I am good at cooking — «Dársele bien algo a alguien» is how Spanish says you are good at something, and it is built backwards like «gustar»: the activity is the subject and you are the «me». Its opposite is «se me da fatal».

«Echo mucho de menos a mi familia.» What do I mean?

I miss my family a lot — «Echar de menos» is to miss somebody. In parts of Latin America you will hear «extrañar» instead. Note the «a» before the person, which is compulsory.

«¿Le importaría abrir la ventana?» How does this sound?

A polite request to somebody you do not know — Spanish softens with the verb, not with extra words: the conditional «importaría» plus «usted» is about as polite as it gets. «¿Puedes abrir la ventana?» is the friendly version, and both are normal — piling up courtesy formulas reads as distance, not warmth.

«¿Vamos el jueves o el viernes?» — «Me da igual.»

It makes no difference to me — «Me da igual» is «I don't mind, either is fine». It is not rude, but it is flat: «como quieras» or «lo que prefieras» sound warmer for the same answer.

«Al final conseguí que me devolvieran el dinero.» What happened?

I managed to get my money back — «Conseguir que + subjuntivo» is «to manage to get somebody to do something» — the effort is in the verb. Note the subjunctive after «que», which is compulsory here, and the impersonal «devolvieran»: Spanish does not say who did it.

En español, una decisión se ___.

toma — «Tomar una decisión». English «makes» decisions, and «hacer una decisión» is the calque that gives an English speaker away. Spanish also «da un paseo», «hace una pregunta» and «pone una multa»: the verb belongs to the noun and is learnt with it.

Con los años se ___ muy desconfiado.

volvió — «Volverse» is a lasting change in what somebody is like: se volvió desconfiado. «Ponerse» is a passing state — se puso rojo, se puso nervioso —, «quedarse» is what you are left as — se quedó sordo — and «hacerse» is a change you work for: se hizo médico.

«Ese argumento no tiene ni pies ni cabeza.» What is being said?

It makes no sense at all — «No tener ni pies ni cabeza» is «to make no sense». Idioms are the part of B2 that cannot be worked out from the words, and this one is common enough to be worth knowing on sight.

Aunque ___ mañana, iremos a la playa. (no sabemos si va a llover)

llueva — «Aunque» chooses the mood, and the mood changes the meaning. «Aunque llueve» states it as a fact — it IS raining. «Aunque llueva» says it may or may not, which is what the sentence in brackets tells you.

Te llamo cuando ___ a casa.

llegue — After «cuando», something still to come takes the subjunctive: cuando llegue. «Cuando llego a casa, ceno» is the indicative because it is what you do every day — same word, two different jobs. And Spanish never puts the future straight after «cuando».

Te lo explico otra vez para que lo ___ bien.

entiendas — «Para que» always takes the subjunctive, with no choice involved — like «sin que» and «antes de que». If the subject does not change you use «para» plus the infinitive instead: «te lo explico para entenderlo yo».

En el cartel de un edificio en obras: «___ pisos.»

Se venden — «Se venden pisos»: the verb agrees with the thing, and «pisos» is plural. This «se» is how Spanish normally avoids saying who does something. «Son vendidos» is grammatical but belongs to written, formal Spanish, and «están vendidos» would mean they are already sold.

«___ cayó el vaso», dice quien no quería romperlo.

Se me — «Se me cayó el vaso» is the ordinary way of reporting an accident: the glass fell, and it happened to me. «Me se» does not exist in standard Spanish, and «yo caí el vaso» would be blaming yourself in a way Spanish rarely does.

___ dos horas esperando el tren.

Llevo — «Llevo dos horas esperando» is how Spanish measures something still going on. English says «I have been waiting for two hours», with a perfect; Spanish puts it in the present with «llevar». «Hace dos horas que espero» says the same thing another way.

Dijo: «Vendré mañana». → Dijo que ___ al día siguiente.

vendría — Reporting moves everything one step back: the future becomes the conditional, «vendré» → «vendría». And the calendar moves with it — «mañana» becomes «al día siguiente», which is the half people forget.

Busco un piso que ___ terraza. (no sé si lo hay)

tenga — «Busco un piso que TENGA terraza» means any flat with a terrace, and you do not know whether one is out there. «Busco un piso que TIENE terraza» would mean a particular flat you have already seen. Nothing to do with politeness or hypothesis: it is the grammar of «I don't know if this thing exists».

Yo no puedo ir a la reunión. ¿Puedes ir tú ___ mí?

por — «Ir por mí» is to go in my place, on my behalf. «Ir para mí» would make me the destination of the trip. This pair is not one rule but a dozen: «por» covers cause, exchange and substitution, «para» destination and purpose.

Pienso ___ deberíamos irnos ya.

que — «Pensar QUE», with no «de». Adding it — «pienso de que» — is dequeísmo, and native speakers do it too, which is why it is worth knowing. The test that works: some verbs do take it, «me alegro DE que vengas», because you are glad OF something.

___ semana mi jefe ___ de viaje.

Esta … está — «Esta semana» is the demonstrative — this week — and «está de viaje» is the verb «estar». Only the accent separates them, and the sentence needs one of each. Getting them the wrong way round is one of the commonest written mistakes, natives included.

En español escrito y cuidado: «Lo intenté, ___ no lo conseguí.»

mas — «Mas» without an accent means «but» and belongs to careful writing — it is a formal twin of «pero». «Más» with an accent is «more», which makes no sense here. This is one you need to READ correctly more often than you need to write it.

What does the text say about the prediction that offices would disappear?

It did not come true: most companies ended up with a mixed model — «Durante años se dijo que… No ha ocurrido.» The «se dijo» is impersonal — people said — and the two-word sentence after the colon is what carries the whole argument.

Who has gained hours of life?

People who live far away — «Quienes viven lejos han ganado horas de vida.» «Quienes» is «those who» and works as the subject without any noun in front of it. The younger employees are the contrast that comes next, introduced by «en cambio».

What do younger employees complain about, and why?

They learn less, because what used to be picked up by overhearing now has to be asked in writing — «Se quejan de que aprenden menos, porque lo que antes se aprendía oyendo a un compañero al lado ahora hay que preguntarlo por escrito.» Note «se quejan DE que» — that «de» is required — and the impersonal «hay que», which says it must be done without saying by whom.

What have the managers discovered?

That measuring work by hours of presence was useless, though few admit it out loud — «Han descubierto que medir el trabajo por horas de presencia no servía de nada, aunque pocos lo reconocen en voz alta.» That «aunque» takes the indicative here — «reconocen» — because it is presented as a fact, which is exactly the contrast tested in the grammar section.

What does the last sentence claim?

The change was not planned; the rules are being written afterwards — «Nada de esto se decidió en ninguna reunión: simplemente ocurrió, y la norma se está escribiendo después del hecho.» Two negatives — «nada» and «ninguna» — in the same sentence, which is correct Spanish, and the point of the article.

What is the writer's attitude?

Observing what happened, with the good and the bad — The text gives a gain («han ganado horas de vida»), a loss («aprenden menos») and a finding, without taking sides. Spotting that a writer is describing rather than arguing is a B2 reading skill, and «en cambio» and «por su parte» are the words that signal it.