Spanish placement test · C1

«A raíz de la denuncia, la empresa cambió el protocolo.» What does «a raíz de» mean?

As a result of — «A raíz de» introduces the event that set something off — as a result of, in the wake of. It belongs to written and news Spanish; in conversation you would hear «por» or «después de».

«Llévate el paraguas, por si acaso.»

Just in case — «Por si acaso» is «just in case». It can stand alone at the end of a sentence, as here, or take a verb: «por si acaso llueve». «En todo caso» is the one that means «in any case».

In an ordinary bar you say: «Quisiera un café.» How does it sound to a Spaniard?

Over-formal, almost like a period drama — «Quisiera» is real Spanish, but in a bar it lands like a costume. What people actually say is «¿Me pones un café?» or «un café, por favor». Getting the hierarchy of directness right is one of the last things a learner picks up, and English speakers err on the polite side.

«¡Menudo lío has organizado!»

What a mess you have made — «Menudo» literally means «small», but in an exclamation it means exactly the opposite: a huge one. «Menudo lío», «menudo susto», «menuda suerte». Tone carries the whole meaning, which is why it is C1.

«Acabo de llegar a casa.» When did I arrive?

A moment ago — «Acabar de + infinitivo» is «to have just done something», and it stays in the present: acabo de llegar. It is a periphrasis, so «acabar» stops meaning «to finish» — the same verb in «acabé el informe» does mean it.

«La subida del precio de la vivienda preocupa al Gobierno.» What worries the government?

The rise in house prices — «La subida del precio de la vivienda»: three nouns chained with «de», which is how formal Spanish packs an idea that speech would spread over a verb — «los pisos han subido». Unpicking those chains is a C1 reading skill.

«La reunión del viernes está en el aire.»

It is not settled yet — «Estar en el aire» is «to be up in the air», undecided. If it were cancelled you would hear «se ha cancelado» or «se ha caído», which is another idiom with the same shape.

«Ni que decir tiene que el plazo sigue siendo el mismo.»

It goes without saying that — «Ni que decir tiene que…» is «it goes without saying that…», and it is used to present something as obvious — often precisely because it is not. It belongs to argued writing, next to «huelga decir» and «por descontado».

«No ___ nada de ese asunto», dijo el testigo.

sé — «Sé» with an accent is «I know», from «saber»; «se» without one is the pronoun of «se vende» or «se lo di». The accent exists precisely to keep the verb apart from the pronoun, and it is not optional.

Si lo ___ antes, te habría avisado.

hubiera sabido — A condition about a past that did not happen: «si» plus the pluperfect subjunctive, and «habría» in the other half. «Si habría sabido» is a common mistake even among native speakers: the conditional never goes straight after this «si».

Quería que ___ conmigo a la fiesta.

vinieras — The main verb drags the mood with it: «quiero que vengas», but «quería que vinieras». Present with present, past with past. This is the step that separates somebody who knows the subjunctive from somebody who can use it.

«¿Qué hora es?» — «No sé, ___ las tres.»

serán — The future does not always talk about the future: «serán las tres» is «it must be about three», a guess about NOW. English needs a modal for this — must be, probably is — and Spanish just changes the tense. Its twin is the conditional guessing about the past: «serían las tres cuando llegó».

___ que más me molesta del piso es el ruido.

Lo — «Lo que» is «what» when it does not point at any noun: lo que me molesta, lo que necesito. «El que» would need a masculine thing already named, and «ello» is a written, rather stiff pronoun that never opens a sentence like this.

Por más que lo ___, no consigo entenderlo.

intente — «Por más que», «por mucho que» and «por muy … que» take the subjunctive when the effort is being conceded rather than reported: however hard I try. With the indicative — «por más que lo intento» — you are stating it as a fact, and both are heard, but the subjunctive is the one an exam expects.

No es que ___ caro; es que no lo necesito.

sea — «No es que sea caro» takes the subjunctive because you are setting aside a reason everybody is already thinking of, not stating it. It is the same shape as «no es que no quiera, es que no puedo», and it is one of the most Spanish ways of arguing.

El puente ___ construido en 1890 por un ingeniero italiano.

fue — «Ser» plus a participle narrates the event: fue construido en 1890, and it invites a date and a «por». «Estar» plus a participle describes the result that was left: «el puente está construido» means it is already built. One is an action, the other a state.

El libro ___ escribió Cervantes, no su hermano.

lo — Move the object to the front and Spanish makes you repeat it as a pronoun: «el libro LO escribió Cervantes». It is not optional and it is not emphasis for its own sake — the fronting answers «who wrote the book?», and the pronoun is the price of asking it that way.

___ que el precio de la luz suba otra vez en enero.

Se espera — «Se espera que…» is how Spanish says «it is expected that» without naming anybody. The «ser» passive — «es esperado» — is grammatical but sounds translated; Spanish reaches for «se» where English reaches for a passive. And note the subjunctive after it: «que suba».

Me alegro ___ que hayas venido.

de — «Alegrarse DE algo», so «me alegro DE que hayas venido». Dropping it is queísmo, the mirror image of the dequeísmo that adds one after «pensar». The test is to ask what the verb takes with a noun: «me alegro de tu llegada» → «me alegro de que llegues».

Son las nueve y ___ no ha llegado.

aún — «Aún» with an accent means «still, yet» — it can be swapped for «todavía», which is the test. «Aun» without one means «even»: «aun así», «aun los que no vinieron». Two different words that happen to be spelt with the same letters.

What is the writer's central claim?

Reading has not disappeared; it has changed shape — «No es que la lectura haya desaparecido; es que se ha vuelto otra cosa.» That construction sets aside the obvious explanation and puts the real one after the semicolon — and it is the same «no es que + subjuntivo» tested in the grammar section.

According to the text, what exactly has changed?

Not the amount but the way we read: more, in shorter pieces, jumping about — «Lo que ha cambiado no es la cantidad, sino la respiración.» «No … sino» corrects rather than adds — English needs «but rather» — and «la respiración» is a metaphor for the rhythm of reading, spelled out by what follows the colon.

«De haberlo sabido a tiempo, quizá las escuelas habrían dedicado menos esfuerzo a defender el libro…» What does this say?

They did not know, so they did defend the book as an object — «De haberlo sabido» is a written way of saying «si lo hubieran sabido»: the condition did not happen. So the schools did not know, and they did put the effort into the book as an object — the opposite of what the sentence recommends.

According to the text, what has become genuinely scarce?

Attention — «…y más a enseñar a sostener la atención, que es lo que de verdad se ha vuelto escaso.» The relative «que» points back at «la atención», not at the schools or the effort — reading long sentences is finding out what the relative is hanging from.

What does the writer do in the last sentence?

Warns against overstating it: the same lament is as old as printing — «Aun así, conviene no exagerar…» «Aun así» concedes what has just been argued and then qualifies it. A C1 text usually ends by measuring its own claim, and spotting that is half of reading opinion pieces.

Whom is the writer arguing against?

Those who claim that people read less than they used to — «Quien afirme que hoy se lee menos… tendría que explicar por qué…» The subjunctive «afirme» is the giveaway: the writer is not talking about particular people but about whoever makes that claim, and the conditional «tendría» sets them a task they cannot do.