Image: jpa1999 / E+ / Getty Images
About This Quiz
Spanish is a complex, lyrical language with a rich variety of — often infuriating — grammatical rules. (Not to mention exceptions to these rules ...)
Like French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian and the other Romance languages, Spanish evolved out of Latin. During the Roman Empire's rule over the Iberian Peninsula (the landform upon which present-day Spain and Portugal sit), Latin was, of course, the official language. Still, it quickly began to develop regional dialects as it took on influences from the local languages of the Celts, Iberians and others.
When the Iberian Peninsula fell under Visigoth rule in the wake of the Rome's fall and became closed off to the rest of the world, the proto-Spanish language was essentially left in an incubator to develop much of the characteristics we see today.
The next major influence in its development, something that really sets Spanish apart from its fellow Romance languages, was the Arabic language. The North African Moors conquered Spain in 711 A.D. and continued ruling large tracts of modern-day Spain for nearly 800 years. Thousands of contemporary Spanish words derive from Arabic, as do various grammatical conventions.
Today, Spanish is spoken all over the globe, particularly in Central and South America. According to the 2019 'Ethnologue' (ethnologue.com), it boasts the second-most native speakers after Mandarin, and the fourth-most speakers overall, after English, Mandarin and Hindi. It's definitely the top language in the U.S. after English. Want to dust off your high school Spanish and see how much you remember? What are you waiting for? Scroll down and start taking this quiz!
¡Buena suerte!
Estoy
Soy
Quiero
Tengo
The correct answer is "Tengo frio." In English, this translates literally to, "I have cold." If you want to say you're hot, you'd say, "Tengo calor." To say, "I am sick," however, would be "Estoy enferma," which translates the same in both languages.
Advertisement
Estoy
Soy
Although both "soy" and "estoy" mean "I am" in Spanish, they cover two different meanings of our English verb "to be." "Soy" refers to more permanent states of being, such as one's physical attributes and fundamental character traits. "Estoy" refers to more temporary states of being, such as emotions, physical conditions and activities one is currently in the process of doing.
Eres
Tengo
Advertisement
Cansado
Cansada
Most adjectives that end in "a" are feminine, and most that end in "o" are masculine. If you're a man, you'd say, "Estoy cansado" instead. There are, of course, exceptions to both of these rules as well as adjectives that end in neither letter.
Cansade
Cansadia
Advertisement
El avións
Los aviones
"Airplane" is a masculine word in Spanish. The singular masculine definite article (el) becomes plural (los). Since avión ends in a consonant, -es is added instead of just -s. Last, the accent is dropped. The stress in Spanish words falls naturally on the second-to-last syllable, so it's no longer needed.
Las aviónes
Els aviónes
Advertisement
Actrize
Actrizes
Actrices
When a word ends in "z," it's made plural by changing the "z" to a "c" and adding "es." As you can see, the Spanish verb "to be" (ser) also changes from third-person singular (es) to third-person plural (son).
Actrizen
Advertisement
La
"Universidad," like most Spanish words that end in -dad, is feminine, meaning that the definite article used is "la." If it were masculine, the correct choice would be "el," although that would be compounded with the "a" to form one word: "al."
El
Lo
Al
Advertisement
Escribe
All Spanish verbs end in -ar, -er or -ir. To form an informal command (like one you might use to jokingly chide a friend to finish their essay), drop the last two letters and add "a" for -ar verbs and "e" for -er and -ir verbs. So, "escribir > escrib > escribe." Formal commands have different structures.
Escribes
Escribis
Escriba
Advertisement
Estan
Son
Hay
The word "hay" means "there is" or "there are." It comes from the verb "haber," which is sometimes translated as "to have," but is generally used as an auxiliary or "helping" verb. "Hay" can also be used to form questions like, "Is there ..." or "Are there ..."
Somos
Advertisement
El
Una
Un
Un/una are the masculine and feminine ways to say "a," respectively. Because médico is masculine, we use "un" here. El/la mean "the" and would be used in reference to a specific doctor.
La
Advertisement
Yo
Me
The verb "gustar" (to please) is used to express likes and dislikes. To say that something pleases you (i.e., that you like something), you need to use the indirect object pronoun "me" along with gustar. The sentence "Me gustan las manzanas" translates directly to "The apples please me."
Mi
Le
Advertisement
Sabes
Entiendes
Te gusta
Conoces
"Conoces" is the second-person singular form of "to know." In question form, it means "Do you know ...?", as is, are you familiar with someone/something. "Sabes ...?" also means "Do you know ...?", but it refers to factual information (i.e., "Do you know where the bakery is?")
Advertisement
Nado
Nadas
Nada
Nadamos
"Nadamos" is the correct answer. "Nado" (I swim), "nadas" (you swim) and "nada" (he/she/it swims) are also correct conjugations but for different speakers. "Nadáis" means "you all swim" and "nadan" means "they swim."
Advertisement
Para
"Para" and "por" both mean "for," but they each have different usages. "Para" is used to indicate a recipient, as in this case. In terms of the other responses, "pero" means "but" and "perro" means "dog."
Por
Pero
Perro
Advertisement
Hablo
Hablaste
Hablas
Habla
"Habla" is the verb "hablar" (to speak) conjugated for he, she, it or the formal usage of "you". Hablo translates to "I speak," hablaste translates to "you spoke" and hablas translates to "you speak."
Advertisement
Nos
Ne
Nada
No
"Me gustan las zanahorias" translates directly to "Carrots please me," which is the standard way to express liking something in Spanish. To make the sentence negative ("Carrots don't please me"), simply add the word "no" to the beginning.
Advertisement
Pasé
Paso
Pasaste
Pasaba
Although "pasé" also means "I spent" or "I passed," the correct answer is "pasaba." These represent two different forms of the past tense. The first pertains to discrete events that happened at specific times. The second pertains to ongoing actions or events in the past.
Advertisement
Es
Está
"Está" is the third-person singular of the verb estar, one of the Spanish verbs for "to be." Although "es" is also a third-person singular of a verb "to be" (in this case, the verb "ser"), "estar" is the correct choice when talking about something's location.
Eres
Soy
Advertisement
Como
Quien
Cuando
Porque
"Porque" is the Spanish word for "why." ("Estas" can mean either "You are" or "Are you ...?" and "aqui" means "here.") The other responses are also question words. "Como" means "how," "quien" means "who" and "cuando" means "when."
Advertisement
Mejor / que
Mejor / de
Mejores / que
The word "mejor" means "better" in Spanish. Because "los gatos," the subject of the sentence, is plural, an -es is added to mejor to make it plural as well. "Que" is a conjunction used in comparisons that in this case means "than."
Mejores / de
Advertisement
Menos / que
"Menos" is a comparison of inequality meaning "less" or "fewer." It's combined with "que" (than) to form sentences. "Mas" is its opposite, meaning "more." "Mejor" and "peor" mean "better" and "worse." They're typically combined with "que" as well, not "de."
Mas / que
Mejor / de
Peor / de
Advertisement
Mejor / alta
Mejor / alto
Más / alto
According to Spanish grammar, the way we say this sentence verbatim is, "Juan is more tall than Rhys." The word for "more" is "mas." ("Mejor," on the other hand, is "better.") The adjective "tall" is "alto." If Juan were a girl, we'd say "alta' instead.
Más / alta
Advertisement
Está / peor / en
Está / menos / a
Es / menos / a
Es / peor / en
In this sentence, we use "es" (is) rather than "esta" (is) because the former indicates an overall quality rather than a temporary state of being. (If we were to say that Martina is playing worse *today*, that would be a different story.) "Peor" means "worse," whereas "menos" means "less." In Spanish, we say "in basketball" (en baloncesto) rather than "at basketball" (a baloncesto).
Advertisement
Rubia / morena
Rubio / morena
Most of the time (although not all of the time), adjectives that end in -o are masculine whereas adjectives that end in -a are feminine. If Jack was the brunette, for instance, he'd be "moreno."
Rubia / moreno
Rubio / moreno
Advertisement
Que
Al
De
Although the word "que" is used to mean "than" in comparisons of inequality (for example, "Carlos has more money than Pedro"), "de" is used when saying that something is more or less than a specific numerical value.
Son
Advertisement
Tan
Tanto
Tanta
Tantos
"Tantos/as ... como" is how we say "as many ... as" in Spanish. Since the word for "cars" is masculine, we use "tantos." In the case of a feminine word (for example, "plumas" for "pens") we'd say "tantas."
Advertisement
Viajo
Viajaré
Save for some irregular exceptions, the simple future tense in Spanish is formed by taking the verb (in this case, viajar or, "to travel") and adding a suffix. The suffix for the first-person singular is -é.
Viaja
Viajaba
Advertisement
Yo me compro
Yo voy comprar
Voy a comprar
This is called the informal future tense in Spanish. It's formed using the verb "ir" (to go), which in this case is conjugated as "voy" ("I go" or "I am going"), the preposition "a" (to) and an infinitive verb.
Me compra de
Advertisement
Ven
Miran
Vieron
The verb "mirar" is generally translated as "to look at" and "ver" as "to see." Around the Spanish-speaking world, there are different regional usages of each pertaining to movies/television. In any case, "vieron" is the only option above that's conjugated for "they" in the past tense.
Miraba
Advertisement
Bueno
Bien
"Bien" means "well," as in you are doing well. "Bueno" means "good," which isn't technically grammatically correct. Neither is "bienvenido," (welcome) given the sentiment of the question. "Botas" are boots.
Bienvenido
Botas
Advertisement
Es
Estás
Está
"Usted" is a second-person singular pronoun used to address someone with formality, such as a teacher, a dignitary, an elder, etc. With usted, verbs are conjugated the same way as they are for he, she and it.
Estará
Advertisement
Como
Cuantas
Since "personas" is a feminine plural noun, we use "cuantas." If it were a masculine plural noun, like "perros" (dogs), we'd say "cuantos" instead. "Como" (how), "quienes" (who) and "tantas" (as many) are all Spanish words but not correct here.
Quienes
Tantas
Advertisement
Se
Le
The verb "gustar" is used in Spanish in the same context we'd use the verb "to like" in English. However, it literally translates to something being pleasing to someone. Therefore, we need an indirect object pronoun, which for "she" (ella) is "le." This sentence, then, technically reads: "To her it pleases her to play the guitar." (Which is perfectly normal to say in Spanish.)
Te
La
Advertisement
Soy
Estuve
Estaba
Era
As indicated by "me gustaba," this is the past imperfect tense. It refers to events or circumstances that occured continuously or habitually in the past rather than discrete actions. "Era" is how we'd say "I was" in this case, because it refers to a state of being (childhood) that occurred over a long span of time.
Advertisement
Puedo
Puede
Pueda
"I doubt I can use the subjunctive" is completed using "pueda" for "can." Generally, the present subjunctive is conjugated by taking the first-person singular of the verb (in this case, "puedo"), dropping the -o and adding the appropriate suffix. For an -er/-ir verb in the first-person, that suffix is -a.
Pudo
Advertisement
Gusta
Gusto
Gustaré
Gustaría
The conditional tense is saying that you *would* do something, rather than that you *do* do it. It can indeed be used to express conditions (i.e. "I *would* visit my aunt if she lived closer"), or it can be used like in this case as a more polite way to say "I *will* order food now."
Advertisement
You Got:
/35
