Spanish Revision Guide

Spanish Revision GuideContents

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

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 explanationof 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 (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?

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?

Checkingcheck-list

AS essays:

Focus is on analysing and giving opinions
Lots of detail
Avoiding basic errors

Howtocheckyourwork:

1)Agreements

Yes,thosethingsthatyoulearnedrightatthestartoflearningSpanish.Soifyougetthemwrongnow,itreallywon’tlookgood.

-Ifanounismasculine,alloftheadjectivesthatrefertoitmustbemasculine–notjustinthatsentence,but whenever the noun is being described.

-Ifanounisfeminine,alloftheadjectivesthatrefertoitmustbefeminine–notjustinthatsentence,but each time the noun is described.

-Ifanounismasculineorfeminineplural,alloftheadjectivesthatrefertoitmustalsobemasculineorfeminineplural–notjustinthatsentencebut in all those beyond!

2)Stayingconsistentthroughoutasentence

Thisisparticularlyimportantwhenusingverbslike “megusta”– whichyouwilloftendoatthestartofyourcoursetogiveyourbasicopinions,usuallyfollowedby “porque” (because).

-Megustaliterallymeans “itpleasesme”-describingONLY1item

+porqueES -becauseitis

-Megustanliterallymeans “theypleaseme”-describingMOREthan1item

+porqueSON -becausetheyare

Ofcourseyou’llalsoneedtomakesurethatallyournounsandadjectivesthroughoutthewholesentenceagreewitheachotherandtheverbaswell.

3)Wordorder

SpanishwordorderisdifferenttoEnglish.InEnglish,thedescriptionisgivenbeforethenoun,buttheSpanishverysensiblytellyouwhattheyaredescribingandthentheydescribeit.

article+ noun+ adjective

(el/la/los/las

un/una/unos/unas)

4)Stayingconsistentwithverbs

Ifyou’redescribingsomethinginthepast,keepusingverbstodescribethepastactions.Ifitwasongoingorhabitual,keepusingtheimperfect;don’tsuddenlystartusingthepresentorthefuturetodescribethesamething.

Yes,useavarietyofverbtensesinadescription,butmakesurethattheydescribedifferentthings.

e.g.

WRONG

Cuandoerajovenmegustabaverlateleconmihermanoporqueescariñoso.

IMPERFECT IMPERFECT PRESENT

WhenIwasyoungIusedtolikewatchingTVwithmybrotherbecauseheiscaring.

-ThefactthatheiscaringNOWhadnoimpactonwhyyouUSEDtolikewatchingTVwithhim.Insteadweshouldsay “hewascaring” - “eracariñoso”.

5)Detail

Thisspeaksforitself.Shortanswersdonotgivethepersonmarkingitanopportunitytoseeandrewardyourskillorknowledge.

Forexample,if you've describedaproblemthatexistsnow,haveyoualsodescribeditsoriginsandwhattodotoimproveit?

6)Doesitreadwellandwithoutambiguity?

Ifthepersonreadingitcan’tworkoutEXACTLYwhatyouwantedtosay,thenyouwon’tgetthemarksyou hoped for.

-Readitoutloud(evenunderyourbreath).Ifit’shardtosay,it’sprobablynotright.

-Doeseachsentencehavealloftheverbsitneeds?

Makesureyoureadwhatyou’ve actually written,notjustwhatyouwantedtowrite.

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

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

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 caramba! ¡No puede ser! ¡Qué va! ¡Ni hablar! ¡Qué idiotez!

64)

65)Buy yourself time

66)Pues... / bueno… / mira… / es que…

Readthegrammarboxbelowtorevisethecontinuoustense.

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 doHaciendo= doing

72)Escribir = to writeEscribiendo = writing

73)

74)Some of the radical stem changing verbs are irregular, e.g.

75)Pedir = pidiendo, sentir = sintiendo, dormir = durmiendo, construir = construyendo

Readthegrammarboxbelowtorevisetheuseoftheimperfectsubjunctivewiththeconditionaltense.

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…

Rememberthattheverbsmustbeplacedinthefollowingorder:

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.

Theimperfectsubjunctive
Siestuviera/Siestuviese
Thecontinuoustense
corriendo
caminando
haciendodeberes
haciendodeporte
estudiando
cocinando
Theconditional
escucharía
or
megustaría
meencantaría
mechiflaría
nomegustaría
nosoportaría
noaguantaría
+
atypeofmusicorasongandjustifyyouranswer

Terms

InfinitiveThe 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

ereg comer

ireg 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 indicativeAll of the tenses referred to here are otherwise known as “indicative” tenses – they explain or indicate what happens at different times.

The pastAn unhelpful term in grammar – the past is not a tense- it’s a time reference.

The standard “past” tenses:

the preteritedescribes finished, completed actions (…ed)

the imperfectdescribes ongoing or habitual actions in the past (was / used to)

the perfecta recently completed action (have …ed)

the pluperfecta completed action further back in time (had …ed)

The futureAn unhelpful term in grammar – the future is not a tense – it’s a time reference.

The standard “future” tenses:

the simple futuredescribes what you are going to do in the near future

the futuredescribes what you will do at a more distant time

the conditionaldescribes what you would do if something else happened first

An adverbA descriptive word used to add detail to a verb. Often formed using “–mente” in Spanish and “-ly” in English.

A nounThe name of something - be it a person, an animal, object, quality or idea.

An adjectiveA 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 subjectThe 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 mean!

The objectThe item (person or other noun) which is having an action done to it.

1. Analyse the sentences below and label the requested grammatical elements.

noun,adjective,preteritetense

Elequipoespañolganóotravezanoche.

simplefuture,infinitive

Vanatomarpasosparareducirelefectodelapoluciónenlaszonasurbanas.

imperfecttense,preteritetense,noun,adjective

LeíaunlibrofascinantecuandomiamigaInmamellamó.

presenttense,subjunctive,infinitive,noun,adjective,adverb

Nocreoqueseaposiblecambiarsumentalidadnegativasindestruirlosobstáculospersonalmente.

subject,preteritetense,adverb,noun

Lamujerseacercólentamentealpuente,preocupadaporlosriesgosevidentesdesusacciones.

EXPRESSIONS OF FREQUENCY

Match the Spanish expressions with their English equivalents.

1una vez al día /  / a a lot
2dos veces a la semana /  / b after the evening meal
3todos los días /  / c always
4los domingos /  / d an average of
5durante la semana /  / e before I go to bed
6por las tardes /  / f during the holidays
7después de cenar /  / g during the week
8antes de acostarme /  / h every day
9durante las vacaciones /  / i from time to time
10mientras /  / j hardly ever
11hasta las dos de la madrugada /  / k in the evenings
12de vez en cuando /  / l never
13siempre /  / m not much
14nunca /  / n on Sundays
15apenas /  / o once a day
16muy a menudo /  / p rarely
17rara vez /  / q twice a week
18mucho/a(s) /  / r until 2 a.m.
19poco/a(s) /  / s notvery often/occasionally
20una media de /  / 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’.

Expressing positive and negative opinions

me encanta / me gusta
un poco / me gusta
bastante / me gusta
mucho / no me
gusta / no me
gusta nada / no aguanto / no 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
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!

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:

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:

- 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.

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!

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

nonot

nuncanever

nadanothing

nadienobody

ni … ni …neither ... nor

tampoconeither

ni siquieranot even

ya nono 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