1st Year Xmas Exam

Your Christmas exam will be based on units 1-5 of Primer Paso. Be sure to know the following:

Verbs:

Ser, Estar and Tener and learn the phrases that go with them. For example Estar cansado, Tener frío, Ser alto etc.

Remember we use SER to say ‘What’ things are and Estar to say ‘Where or How’ things are.

Also don’t forget to go over the verb form ‘Hay’ or the possessive ‘Mi’ which means my, for example ‘Mi familia’ means ‘My family.

Be careful though because if you were saying ‘My brothers’ it would be ‘Mis hermanos’ because ‘hermanos’ is of course plural.

The definite and indefinite article:

Remember there are 4 for each in Spanish depending on number (singular or plural) and gender(masculine or feminine)

Indefinite article – un, una, unos, unas

Definite article – el, la, los, las

And don’t forget that the adjectives also agree with the noun. So for example:

Un chico alto            /      Una chica delgada

Un coche nuevo          /           una casa vieja

 

Vocabulary:

Animals – Only the ones from the book

Classroom objects – learn them all.

The family – Again learn them all.

The numbers – You’ll need to learn the numbers 1 – 100 not just those in the book.

 

The best way to prepare for the exam is to go over all the old posts on the blog and practice the flashcards and games but the vocabulary from the book is the most important so be sure to know that.

Also try to write a little bit about yourself or your family such as how to say your name and age and describe yourself a little.

For example – Me llamo ….., tengo ….. años, en mi familia hay…. personas, tengo dos hermanos y un gate etc.

Use the book to help you with this and to check your mistakes.

Good luck.

 

5th Year Christmas Test

Ok, just a quick review of the grammar topics and thematic units we’ve covered in class up to now. It is of course possible that not all of what is listed below will appear on the exam but any part of it could.

Exam Format

Oral Exam – As explained in class this will be worth around 15% of the total mark and will run for 4 minutes or so. It will begin with a general conversation in which you talk about yourself, family, friends, neighborhood, daily routine, etc Basically anything we’ve covered in class. Use El Español Bien Hablado and La Pluma to help with possible questions and answers.

Reading Comprehensions – The exam will consist of series of reading comprehensions to begin with (from both OL and HL papers) some of which will feature questions asked in Spanish and others which will have questions in English. Remember to respond in the language in which the question was asked. You won’t get marks for answering a question asked in Spanish in English and vice versa.

Grammar Exercises – The comprehensions will be followed by a grammar section which will likely consist of a series of gap fill exercises or some form of structured exercise. For example with the imperative you may be required to give a series of orders to direct completion of  a task.

Vocabulary – the vocabulary section will follow the usual format whereby you’ll have to put several words into sentences that make sense so as to make the meaning of the word clear.

Written Expression – In this final section you will be asked to write a piece but will be given several points in particular to which you must refer in your response (check any of the past exam papers on examination.ie to see what I mean by this, or check La Pluma). Again you won’t be expected to write about something you haven’t covered yet but also remember that any of the topics mentioned in the oral exam section above could be referred to. You will only be expected to respond in a tense we’ve studied so that does narrow it down a bit. Of course it doesn’t do any harm to throw in the past tense if you remember it.

 

Revision 

To revise the topics simply run back through the posts from the blog under 5 Curso or run back over the exercises in De Acuerdo.

If you’d like me to add anything in particular to aid revision create a wordpress account, leave a comment and I’ll try to get something up as soon as possible. If you do create a wordpress account be sure to follow the blog that way you’ll be notified automatically when new posts are added.

The Future Tense – Infinitive + verb endings

The other way to speak in the future tense in Spanish is to use what we would call the simple future. Here you just follow 2 simple steps:

STEP 1 – Take the infinitive of the verb – Hablar, Comer, Vivir

STEP 2 – Add the verb endings as follows
-é
-ás
-á
-emos
-éis
-án

**** Note that these verb endings are the same for all the verbs whether they’re -AR, -ER or -IR verbs plus the irregulars which you can see below.

Future Tense Irregulars

poder = podr–

poner = pondr–

salir = saldr–

tener = tendr–

venir = vendr–

valer = valdr–

haber = habr–

saber = sabr–

querer = querr–

decir = dir-

hacer = har–

 

CLICK HERE FOR A GOOD REVIEW OF THE FUTURE TENSE

CLICK HERE FOR A PRACTICE QUIZ

The immediate future in Spanish

The easiest way to speak about plans for the future in Spanish is by using ‘Ir a + infinitive‘.

For example ‘voy a visitar…‘ means ‘I am going to visit…’. Follow these 3 simple steps to form the immediate future:

STEP 1
Take the present tense form of the irregular verb Ir (to go):

Voy                 –   I go
Vas                 –   You go
Va                   –   He/She goes
Vamos           –   We go
Vais               –    You (pl) go
Van                –    They go

STEP 2
Add the letter ‘a’

STEP 3
Add whatever infinitive you like to talk about what you are ‘going to do’ i.e. Hablar, Comer, Escribir

Voy a hablar – I am going to speak
Vas a comer – You are going to eat
Vamos a escribir – We are going to write.

CLICK HERE FOR A GOOD REVIEW OF IR A + INFINITIVE

AND HERE’S A PRACTICE QUIZ

YOU CAN PRACTICE WITH SOME VOCABULARY TO USE WITH THE FUTURE TENSE HERE

Another phrase that work this way is Pensar + infinitive

Pensar + infinitive – Pienso ir a España el verano que viene = I plan to visit Spain next summer. *** Note there is no need for the ‘a’ here. ***

Prepositional Verbs in Spanish.

Below you’ll find a few links to review and then practice with the prepositional verbs we saw in class (and more). Don’t forget to review those verbs that take a preposition in English but not in Spanish, you’ll find a few of them at the bottom of the page on the first link.

A review of common prepositional verbs but unfortunately no practice sessions here. 

Practice with the flashcards here and test yourself with the activities below once you’ve learned them.

Practice here with verbs ending in a, de or en.

Practice here with those associated with A, con, de o en: 1, A, con, de o en: 2 and A, con, de o en: 3.

Remember that with vocab and phrases like this it is repetition that is key. Keep going over these exercises remembering where you went wrong on previous attempts and it becomes second nature.