Image: Unsplash by Jon Tyson
About This Quiz
Spanish is one of the most useful languages you can learn! With 460 million speakers, it's the second-most spoken language in the world (after Mandarin Chinese.) Most of these speakers live outside of Spain; you probably know that Central and South America are predominantly Spanish-speaking. You probably also know that there are many "hispanohablantes" in the U.S. But did you know quite how many?
In 2015, Instituto Cervantes conducted a frequently cited study and reported that the U.S. was home to 41 million native Spanish speakers (who may or may not have learned English later in life), plus 11.6 bilingual English/Spanish speakers (primarily the children of immigrants.) That's a total of 52.6 million, meaning that the U.S. is home to the second-most Spanish speakers in the world! Only Mexico, our neighbor to the south, boasts more.
So whether you're digging into the language for the first time or brushing up on what you learned in high school, it never hurts to add to your Spanish vocabulary and keep it sharp through regular use. This quiz will test your know-how in various categories that tend to come up in basic conversations or travel situations, categories like greetings and salutations, the weather, restaurants, transportation, sports, the arts and more. See how well you can keep up! ¡Buena suerte!
Gente
Perro
Luna
Camisa
"La camisa" is Spanish for "shirt." Well, technically, "the shirt." This is a feminine word, so we use "la" for "the." "La gente," "el perro" and "la luna" mean "the people," "the dog" and "the moon," respectively.
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Cazuela
"Cazuela" is the Spanish word for casserole. "Abuela," though she might cook a delicious meal, is certainly not one herself — the word means "grandmother." Likewise, "consuela" (comfort) is not a meal, but you might derive it from one. "Tarántula" (tarantula) is one of the furthest things from a delicious meal we can think of.
Abuela
Consuela
Tarántula
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Prueba
"Prueba" is a Spanish term for quiz or test. It comes from the verb "probar," which means "to check." "El martillo," "la ambulancia" and "las actrices" translate to "hammer," "ambulance" and "actresses," respectively.
Martillo
Ambulancia
Actrices
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Farm animals
Insects
"Mariposa" is Spanish for "butterfly." Some other insects include "moscas" (flies), "hormigas" (ants), "abejas" (bees), "orugas" (caterpillars), "lombrices" (earthworms) "mariquitas" (ladybugs) and "cucarachas" (cockroaches ... and also a dance.)
Sea creatures
Birds
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Manzana
Reloj
Enfermera
An "enfermera" is a nurse. The masculine form would be "enfermero." A "manzana" is an apple, a "reloj" is a clock or watch and a "chismoso" is a gossip. (We don't really consider this a "job," although certain people do take it seriously.)
Chismoso
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Encierro
Esperanza
Ellas
Enero
"Enero" is the Spanish word for January. The other months, in order, are febrero, marzo, abril, mayo, junio, julio, agosto, septiembre, octubre, noviembre and diciembre. Unlike in English, the months aren't capitalized unless they come at the beginning of a sentence.
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Escritorio
"Escritorio" is the Spanish word for "desk." If you work in an office, you probably sit at one. "Enviar" is the verb "to send." "Fuego" means "fire" (like the hot kind, not the kind where you lose your job), and "fumar" means "to smoke," which is a bit of a stretch in terms of office work, although your office work certainly might drive you to do more of it.
Enviar
Fuego
Fumar
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Numbers
That's right, "trece" is a number: thirteen. Spelling out Spanish numbers can be tricky for those new to the language. Here are numbers 0-12: cero, uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, seis, siete, ocho, nueve, diez, once and doce.
Business/office
Greeting/salutations
Food
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Tenedor
Baloncesto
"El baloncesto" is the Spanish term for basketball. "Un tenedor" is a fork and "un libro" is a book. The verb "tocar" means "to touch" or "to play." In Spanish, this verb is used when talking about playing instruments (for example, "tocar la guitarra"), but when it comes to sports, it's "jugar al baloncesto."
Libro
Tocar
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Invierno
"Invierno" is the Spanish word for "winter." The other seasons are otoño (fall), primavera (spring) and verano (summer). The word "veneno" means "venom," a "granja" is a farm and a "bruja" is a witch.
Veneno
Granja
Bruja
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Tiburón
Destornillador
"El destornillador" ... aka, the screwdriver. This is definitely the answer choice that best pertains to construction, as the other options mean, respectively, shark, waiter and earthworm.
Camarero
Lombriz
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Nieve
"La nieve" is Spanish for "the snow." The verb "to snow" is "nevar" and the verb "to rain" is "llover." In terms of the other options, they mean "pen" (bolígrafo), "spoon" (cuchara) and "wood" (madera).
Bolígrafo
Cuchara
Madera
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Pets
Forestry
Transportation
"El barco" means "the boat." Some other types of transportation include "el tren" (the train), "el coche" (the car), "el avión" (the airplane), "el autobús" (the bus) and "la bicicleta" (the bicycle). The verb "to walk" is "andar" or "caminar."
Greetings/Salutations
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Ciao
"Ciao" is a casual term used frequently in many Spanish-speaking countries to say goodbye amongst friends and family. The word originally comes from Italy. "Tira" is a conjugated form of the verb "tirar" (to throw), "rato" is a small amount of time and an "oso" is a bear.
Tira
Rato
Oso
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Bombera
Profesora
The correct answer is "profesora" (or "profesor," in the masculine form). All of these answer options could also fall into the "Jobs" category; the others mean "firefighter," "boss" and "chef," respectively. They're all in the feminine form above; in the masculine form they become "bombero," "jefe" and "cocinero."
Jefa
Cocinera
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Bebidas
Pantalones
This one, as you might have guessed, means "pants." If you wanted to say "shorts," you'd say, "pantalones cortos" (literally, "short pants.") The first answer option, "bebidas," means "beverages." "Hombres" are men, and "luces" are lights.
Hombres
Luces
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Gato
Película
Taza
Saxofón
You could probably figure this one out, even if you didn't know it already. The "saxofón" is indeed the saxophone. Some other pretty self-explanatory instruments are "clarinete," "guitarra" and "piano."
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Oreja
"La oreja" in Spanish is "ear." "Un abogado" is a lawyer or attorney. "Una orilla" is a bank, as in the bank of a river. "Algodón" is the Spanish word for cotton, which derives from an Arabic root.
Abogado
Orilla
Algodón
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Holidays
Transportation
Nature
"Arból" is the Spanish word for tree. Some other handy nature words include "flor" (flower), "aves" (birds), "plantas" (plants), "montañas" (mountains), "el mar" (the sea), "suelo" (soil) and the word for nature itself, "naturaleza."
Jury duty
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Sentarse en una silla
Seguir una corazonada
Jugar al ajedrez
"Jugar al ajedrez" (to play chess) is definitely the pick of the litter here in terms of leisure activities. The other responses, in order of appearance, are: "to sit in a chair," "to follow a hunch" and "to lie to the baker."
Mentirle al pandero
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Mezquita
The word that best fits is the first, the Spanish term for "mosque." The word for mosquito in Spanish is the same as it is in English. The word "mestizo" was used historically in the New World to denote someone of mixed European and indigenous ancestry. A matador is a Spanish bullfighter.
Mosquito
Mestizo
Matador
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Nationalities
Colors
Jobs
Days of the week
That's right, this is a day of week: Sunday. In Spanish, the days of the week aren't capitalized. The others, beginning with Monday, are lunes, martes, miércoles, jueves, viernes and sábado.
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Religion
Restaurants
Greetings and salutations
In Spanish, this means, "See you later!" (Literally, "until later.") It's a common way to bid somebody goodbye. As you may have noticed, Spanish sentences that end in exclamation points also include an upside-down one at the beginning. The same goes for question marks.
Dangerous pursuits
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Cars & trucks
Books & movies
Religion & spirituality
Friends & family
"Abuelo" is how the Spanish say "grandfather." Grandmother is "abuela." Some other Spanish family members are tía and tío (aunt and uncle), hermano and hermana (brother and sister) and primo/a (male cousin/female cousin.) The word for "friend" is amigo/a.
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Casa
"Casa" is an oft-used Spanish word; it means "house." The other answer options mean "bike," "goodbye" and "computer," respectively. Some other buildings include iglésia (church), tienda (shop), biblioteca (library) and rascacielos (skyscraper).
Bici
Adiós
Computadora
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Césped
Granjero
Smartphone
Many words pertaining to new technology in Spanish are borrowed from English. ("New" words as in smartphone-new, not rocketship-new ...) You could also say "teléfono inteligente." "Césped" means "lawn" or "grass" and a "granjero" is a farmer. Neither of which are the newest of inventions ...
Rocketship
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Calle
Sol
"El sol" is Spanish for "the sun." If you wanted to say, "It's sunny out," you'd say, "Hace sol." In order, the other options mean "street," "shoe" and, as you might have guessed, "hamburger."
Zapato
Hamburguesa
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Cantante
"Cantante" means "singer" and works as both a masculine and feminine noun. The other choices, respectively, mean "accountant," "runner" and "cowboy." Well, a lot of cowboys were certainly showmen, but we think "cantante" still works best. Those are all the masculine forms; the feminine versions are "contadora," "corredora" and "caballera."
Contador
Corredor
Caballero
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Holidays
Ho ho ho ... "la Navidad" is Spanish for "Christmas." Some other holidays include la Pascua (Easter), el Dia de Muertos (Day of the Dead), el Año Nuevo (New Year) and Cinco de Mayo. Hopefully, you don't need that one translated.
Celebrities
Spanish-speaking countries
Shakespeare novels (translations)
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Botella
Boleto
Bolero
Mesa
"Una mesa" is a table. Some other furniture items you might need are "una silla" (a chair), "una cama" (a bed) and una sofá (a sofa). In terms of the other answer options, "botella" means "bottle," "boleto" means "ticket" and "bolero" refers to a genre of Latin music and the dance that goes with it.
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Chocolate
Cactus
Industrial
Hotel
As you might have guessed, "hotel" means the same thing in Spanish as it does in English. You might not be staying at one every trip you take, but on average, it's a little more relevant to "travel" than chocolate (chocolate), cactus (cactus) or industrial (industrial).
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Pez de colores
Given the other options, a "pez de colores" (goldfish) is probably your best bet in terms of pets, unless you want to be responsible for taking care of a Siberian tiger (Siberian tiger), hombre-lobo (werewolf) or hombre loco (crazy man).
Tigre siberiano
Hombre-lobo
Hombre loco
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Payaso
Guerra
"La guerra" means "the war" and is undoubtedly one of the first words one needs to know in relation to military affairs. "Un payaso" is a clown, "una nariz" is a nose and "el jamón" is ham.
Nariz
Jamón
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Llama
Lana
"Lana" is the Spanish word for wool. A "llama" is a llama, which isn't itself a clothing material, although you can make a wool of sorts from its fur. "Llama" is also a conjugated form of the verb "llamar," or to call. "Hierro" is iron, and while you could perhaps still find chainmail somewhere, it's certainly not a "typical" clothing material. "Mantequilla" is butter. Good luck with that.
Hierro
Mantequilla
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Bate de béisbol
Evasión de impuestos
Una momia
Por favor
The first three choices (baseball bat, tax evasion and a mummy) don't seem likely to be particularly helpful in any sort of dining scenario we can think of. (Although, who knows ...) "Por favor," however, is first on the list to learn. Nobody should be ordering anything from anybody if they can't say "please" ...
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