Download little handy words - Ormiston Denes Academy

Listening , reading and
translation
but you have the
General Exam Techniques:
Look at the number of
points for each answer and
ensure you have an answer
for each point
Ensure that the answer
matches the format
requested eg if it asks for
a letter don‟t write a
number!
If you get stuck move
on don‟t spend too long
on one question you can
always come back to it!
Read the question
carefully and highlight
any key points to ensure
you answer it correctly!
Pick out
cognates – words
that look like
English words
•If you make a mistake: If you change your mind about an answer, cross it
out neatly and write the answer alongside. This sounds obvious, but every
year candidates lose marks because the examiner can‟t read the answer
clearly. Also, make sure your handwriting of letters is neat or you will lose
the mark (A, B, C, D…)
Listening and Reading Exam
Multiple choice questions: Examiners like to mention all the pictures to confuse you! It
isn‟t necessarily going to be the first picture they mention. Be careful if they mention a
negative in the question, and listen out for the little words like “no”, “nunca”, “nada” in
the answer; what is the next picture they mention after a negative word?
English comprehension questions: Use the question to help you work out what you have to
listen for. “How many?” is asking for a number, “when?” is asking for a day or time,
“where?” for a place, “what?” for an activity, “why?” for a reason, and so on.
Make sure you are answering the question. Be careful when the question has a bold word
like “most”, “even worse”, “never”, etc, or is asking for a negative.
Listening and Reading Exam
Make sure you word the answer well with a verb included. (Example: What is Julia doing
after watching TV? Avoid answering just “homework” and aim to include a verb if necessary;
“doing homework”).
•Word Selection questions: Sometimes you have to choose the right words for the answers
from a selection box - there will usually be a few extra words added to make the exercise
more difficult. Concentrate on the words you will need and ignore unnecessary words.
Positive, negative or positive & negative questions: In this type of task you need to
carefully listen for key words that suggest positive connotations like “bien”, “bueno”,
“ventaja”, “mejor”, etc, or negative connotations like “mal”, “malo”, “peor”, “desventaja”, etc.
- In these types of questions you need to be careful with connectives mentioned: connectives
can help you find out whether it's P, N or PN.
- Connectives like “and” and “also” link two similar opinions, for example: “es aburrido y dificil”
or “no es caro, es cómodo también.” Therefor,e connectives like “y” and “también/además” link
either P opinions or N opinions.
- However, connectives such as “pero”, “aunque” or “sin embargo” link two different opinions,
for example: “es un trabajo bien pagado pero las horas son largas” or “es bueno para la salud,
sin embargo es caro”.
-Therefore, connectives such as “pero”, “aunque” or “sin embargo” can link P & N opinions.
Reading
Read the text through first to
get the gist and to help you know
where to look for the answers.
(Remember these are always in
order)
Ignore words which you don‟t
need to use to answer the
question
Work out the grammar behind
the words/phrases – is it past
tense/future tense?
Substitute English words, eg
Ella lee un libro =
She *somethings* a book
What type of text: poem,
newspaper article, brochure?
Examine pictures/title for clues?
Look at punctuation for
clues/question marks/capital
letters
Listen out for verbs and other
textual markers, such as tenses,
numbers, names, places, times,
colours, opinions, reasons ....
Listening
Use the reading time wisely and
pay particular attention to
questions which ask you to
answer by writing words or
phrases.
Make the most of both of the
play-throughs and double check
the second time as you might
have missed something vital. Use
the time between the questions
to continue to check your
answers and read ahead
Listen for bits you know will
come up and use them to help you
to put the other bits into
context.
Listen carefully to the
examples to ensure you
understand how to answer
each question
Read the question very, very
carefully and listen very, very
carefully. Don‟t switch off in
the long pauses, or you might
miss the beginning of the next
question!
Read the question.
Which keywords will come up?
Listen out for them.
Which words are around the
keywords?
Listening
Listen out for verbs and
other clues such as tenses,
names, times, opinions,
reasons… Listen to the tone
of the speakers‟ voices for
clues
Narrow down your options as
far as you can and then make
a calculated guess if
necessary. DO NOT LEAVE
ANY BLANKS!!
Even if you don‟t understand
all of it, what would make
sense? Can you guess the
answer from the context? Do
you have enough key words
to make an educated guess?
Watch out for negatives, especially
when one short word can change the
whole meaning, (no … in Spanish). Also
time phrases, such as when I was
younger.
Will the answer be split into
different sections with a pause (a, b,
c) or will you hear everything all at
once and have to work out which bit
goes where?
Be very precise, especially when
the word „exactly’ is used – it
means full details are needed.
Translation
- Read through your piece carefully before you start.
- Work then at sentence level. For each, try to produce a Spanish equivalent. As you build each
sentence, use a mental checklist for accuracy
- Verbs : Look carefully at the verb endings to work out the tense (past, present, future)
- Subject – Verb agreement (Who is doing what?)
- Tense (When?)
- Position in the sentence
- Nouns
- Masculine/Feminine
- Singular/Plural
- Definite/Indefinite article
- Adjectives
- Noun – Adjective agreement
- Position
- If you don‟t know a word, try to think of a synonym or similar word
- If you can‟t think of a suitable replacement word, use a short paraphrase to describe it
- If a whole sentence is too complex, try to express the meaning with a more simple expression
- Look for words that are similar in English and Spanish
- If you know some of the words, try to figure it out with a polite guess (if you see the word
„video‟, it could be download, watch, upload …)
- Check for spelling, accents, and the items on your grammar checklist
- At the end, double check that your translation make sense
BE CAREFUL WITH THESE COMMON EXAMINERS’ TRICKS:
Negative words and negative meaning words
no – no
nunca/jamás- never
nada – nothing
ni – nor
ningún/a – not any
ningún sitio – nowhere
pero – but
tampoco – neither
excepto – except
sin – without
apenas – barely
casi – almost
sólo – only
sin embargo – however
alguno/a - some
evitar – to avoid
anular – to cancel
cancelar – to cancel
dejar de – to stop acabar – to end
rechazar – to reject
dimitir – to resign negar – to deny
rehusar - to refuse
Examiners‟ favourites:
un poco – a bit
poco - not very
mañana – tomorrow
la mañana – The morning
mañana por la mañana -tomorrow morning
pasado mañana - the day after tomorrow
anteayer - the day before yesterday
Lo mismo- The same
nadie – nobody
ya no – no longer
aunque – although
a pesar de - despite
parar – to stop
renunciar – to give up
La historia es un poco interesante.
La geografía es poco interesante.
Mi hermana llegará mañana a las diez.
Por la mañana hago los deberes.
Tendré los resultados mañana por la mañana
Voy a ir de vacaciones pasado mañana
Comí en un restaurante español anteayer
Es lo mismo
little handy words
PREPOSITIONS
Con - with
delante de - in front of
detrás de - behind
encima de - on top (of)
al lado de - next to
a la derecha de - to the right of
a la izquierda de - to the left of
debajo de - under
Entre - between
FREQUENCY
Siempre – always
Casi siempre - nearly always
A menudo – often
A veces - sometimes
De vez en cuando – from time to time
Pocas veces – not very often
Algunas veces - sometimes
Con frecuencia - frequently
Connectives & Conjunctions
Y = and
Donde = where
También = also
Pero = but
Sin embargo = however
Aunque = however/yet
Con = with
Sin = without
Luego = then
Después de = after
Antes de = before
Porque = because
Por un lado = on one hand
Por otro lado = on the other hand
Por fin = finally
Finalmente = finally
‘Fancy’ language
Siempre =
always
Después =
later
Otra vez=
again
En este momento = Now
No obstante = Nevertheless
Además = In addition/Furthermore
Por lo tanto = Therefore
Como resultado = As a result
Sin embargo = However/On the other hand
Todavía = Still
Aún =Yet
A causa de esto= Because of that
Gracias a esto = Thanks to that
Primero= Firstly
En segundo lugar = Secondly
Afortunadamente = Fortunately
Desafortunadamente = Unfortunately
A pesar de esto = In spite of this
Se trata de = It’s a question of
Mientras que = Whilst
No sólo…sino = Not only … but
No puedo soportar! = I can’t stand …!
El español
Intensifiers
Bastante
Demasiado
Muy
Realmente
+adjetivo
Verdaderamente
Extremadamente
Un poco
Tan
Adverbs of Frequency
quite
too
Opinions
very
really
really
extremely
a bit
so
Quantifiers
Mucho/a/os/as = a lot of
Un montón de = a load of
poco/a/os/as = a little of
Demasiado/a/os/as = too many/much
La mayoría de = the majority of
La mitad de = half of
es… = It is
Pienso que = I think that
Creo que = I believe that
Diría que = I would say that
Desde mi punto de vista = I’m of the opinion that
A mi modo de ver = I’m of the opinion that
A mi juicio = In my opinion
A mi parecer = I’m of the opinion that
Por mi parte = As for me
Fue… = It was…
duro/a = hard
horrible = horrible
terrible = awful
asqueroso/a = disgusting
aburrido/a= boring
difícil = difficult
soso/a = dull
excelente = excellent
genial = great
emocionante = exciting
Va a ser = It’s going to be…
bueno/a = good
fantástico/a = fantastic
será… = It will be…
guay = cool
interesante = interesting
divertido/a = fun/funny
sería… = It would be…
útil = useful
False
la lectura
el éxito
un suceso
la librería
los servicios
mal educado
molestar
la carpeta
actualmente
la asistencia
pasar un examen
advertir
recordar
retirado
sopa
chillar
disgusto
resumir
un balón
contestar
un delito
un compromiso
un collar
por desgracia
una discusión
ignorar
las noticias
la letra
la red
la dirección
revisar
unos pendientes
una pensión
friends: Words that look similar to words in English but mean something different
reading
success
an event
bookshop
toilets
bad mannered
to bother
file/desk
currently
attendance
to sit an exam
to warn
to remember
withdrawn
soup
to scream
displeasure
to sum up
a ball (large)
to answer
a crime
a commitment
a necklace
unfortunately
an argument
to not know
the news
lyrics/abcd
the internet
address
to check
earrings
bed and breakfast
simpático
embarazada
la arena
un argumento
familiar
estar constipado
un campo
un pariente
la sanidad
blando
una fábrica
una cita
largo
pretender
preocupar
realizar
soportar
firmar
emocionante
la falta
mayor
quitar
la carta
la jubilación
nice/pleasant
pregnant
sand
plot/debate
of the family
to have a cold
a field
a relation
health
soft
a factory
a date/appointment
long
to claim
to worry
to carry out
to bear/stand
to sign
exciting
the lack
older
to take away
a letter
retirement
la diversión
un licenciado
enjoyment
a graduate
verbs
PRESENTE
hablar to speak
habl-o
habl-as
habl-a
habl-amos
habl-áis
habl-an
FUTURO SIMPLE
comer
to eat
com-o
com-es
com-e
com-emos
com-éis
com-en
vivir
viv-o
viv-es
viv-e
viv-imos
viv-ís
viv-en
to live
nadar to swim
nadar-é
nadar-ás
nadar-á
nadar-emos
nadar-éis
nadar-án
PRETERITO
beber to drink
beber-é
beber-ás
beber-á
beber-emos
beber-éis
beber-án
abrir
to open
abrir-é
abrir- ás
abrir-á
abrir-emos
abrir-éis
abrir-án
preguntar to ask
pregunt-é
pregunt-aste
pregunt-ó
pregunt-amos
pregunt-ásteis
pregunt-aron
comer
to eat
com-í
com-iste
com-ió
com-imos
com-ísteis
com-ieron
escribir to write
escrib-í
escrib-iste
escrib-ió
escrib-imos
escrib-ísteis
escrib-ieron
The present tense is used to describe what you’re doing at the
present moment in time, e.g: “I am eating breakfast” or what you do
routinely, e.g: “I eat breakfast every day”.
The future tense is used to say what you will do in the future.
The preterite is sometimes known as the simple past. It’s used to
talk about events in the past, e.g. I asked, I ate, I wrote.
PRESENTE CONTINUO
CONDICIONAL
IMPERFECTO
hablar to speak
estoy hablando
estás hablando
está hablando
estamos hablando
estáis hablando
están hablando
comer
to eat
estoy comiendo
estás comiendo
está comiendo
estamos comiendo
estáis comiendo
están comiendo
vivir
to live
estoy viviendo
estás viviendo
está viviendo
estamos viviendo
estáis viviendo
están viviendo
The present continous tense is used to indicate what is happening at
the time of speaking, or when one action is happening at the same
time as another. Estar+past participle
PARTICIPIO PRESENTE
PARTICIPIO PASADO
-AR
-ER
-IR
-AR
-ER
-IR
-ando hablando
-iendo comiendo
-iendo viviendo
-ado
-ido
-ido
hablado
comido
vivido
The present participle or gerund is recognised in English by the
ending –ing .e.g. talking, eating, living.
To find the past participle of a verb in English, just imagine that the
words ‘ I have’ are in front of it. E.g. ‘to eat’ put ‘I have’ in front of it
you would say ‘I have eaten’ so ‘eaten’.
There is/are= hay
There was/were= había
In Spanish the infinitive form of a verb always ends with the letter r
and falls into three categories:
1) those which end with -ar (ar verbs) e.g. hablar = to speak
2) those which end with -er (er verbs) e.g. comer = to eat
3) those which end with -ir (ir verbs) e.g. vivir = to live
For regular verbs in the present, preterite and imperfect tenses, you
must first remove the -ar, -er or -ir endings from the infinitive form
of the verb, and then add the correspondent endings.
nadar
to swim
nadar-ía
nadar-ías
nadar-ía
nadar-íamos
nadar-íais
nadar-ían
beber to drink
beber-ía
beber-ías
beber-ía
beber-íamos
beber-íais
beber-ían
abrir to open
abrir-ía
abrir-ías
abrir-ía
abrir-íamos
abrir-íais
abrir-ían
trabajar to work
trabaj-aba
trabaj-abas
trabaj-aba
trabaj-ábamos
trabaj-ábais
trabaj-aban
comer
to eat
com-ía
com-ías
com-ía
com-íamos
com-íais
com-ían
escribir to write
escrib-ía
escrib-ías
escrib-ía
escrib-íamos
escrib-íais
escrib-ían
The conditional is recognised in English by the use of the word
“would” or sometimes “should”, e.g. “I would swim”
The imperfect tense is used for things that ‘used to happen’ or
‘were happening’ e.g.I worked, I used to work, I was working
FUTURO INMEDIATO
(I am going to +Verb)
PRESENTE
PRESENTPERFECTO
PASADO
I am going to work
hablar to speak comer
to eat
Hay
he hablado Había
he comido
there
has hablado there
has was/were
comido
ha hablado
ha comido
is/are
hemos hablado
hemos comido
habéis
hablado
habéis comido
Soy I am
Era/estaba
was
han hablado
han comido
voy
vas
va
vamos
vais
van
a
a
a
a
a
a
trabajar
estudiar
beber
comer
abrir
vivir
FUTURO
vivir
to live
he Habrá
vivido
hasthere
vivido
ha will
vivido
be
hemos vivido
habéis
vivido
Será
han vivido
The immediate future tense can be used to express what is going to
happen in the future. E.g. I am going to work, I am going to study, I
am going to drink, I am going to eat….
Es/esta
wasalways contains ‘has’estará
The
present perfectFue
in English
or ‘have’ in it.
E.g.I
is have spoken, I have eaten, I have lived.
will be
Most verbs in Spanish have six forms which correspond to their
respective pronouns and which will be listed in the following order:
1) yo (I)
2) tú (you-familiar a person you know well, a familiar relationship)
3) él/ella/usted (he/she/you-formal a person you don’t know, a
formal relationship)
4) nosotros/nosotras (we)
5) vosotros/vosotras (you-plural-familiar [only used in Spain])
6) ellos/ellas/ustedes (they/you-plural-formal [Spain]/you-plural [L.
America])
It’s essential that you get the correct ending for the person you’re
talking about in Spanish because pronouns don’t tend to be used in
Spanish.
PASADO PERFECTO
Tengo
Tenia
comer
to eat
I hablar
have to speak I had
había hablado
había comido
Tiene has
habías hablado
habías comido
había hablado
había comido
habíamos hablado habíamos comido
habíais hablado
habíais comido
Voy
I gohabladoFuihabían
I wentcomido
habían
Tendré
vivirI will to
live
have
había vivido
tendrá
habías vivido
he/she
había
vivido
habíamos
vivido
will have
habíais vivido
Iré vivido
habían
The past perfect is used to indicate an action that happened and
I will go
was completed before another action took place in the past. E.g.I
had spoken/lived/eaten
Hago I do
Hice Idid
Haré
I will do
Recognize past/present/future
• A - Time expressions
• B – Verb endings
Presente
Time
expressions
Common verbs
PRESENT
Hay
there
is/are
Soy I am
Es/esta
is
Tengo
I have
Tiene has
Voy I go
Hago I do
Verb endings
Pasado
Time
expressions
Common verbs
PASADO
Había
there was/were
Era/estaba was
Fue was
Tenia
I had
Fui I went
Hice Idid
Antes-before
Verb endings
Futuro
Time
expressions
Common verbs
FUTURO
Habrá
there
will be
Será
estará
will be
Tendré
I will have
tendrá
he/she
will have
después-after
Iré
I will go
Haré
I will do
Verb endings
Negatives - No
List of affirmative words and their negative counterparts:
algo (something)
nada (nothing)
alguien (somebody)
nadie (nobody)
algún (-o, -a, -os, -as) (some, something)
ningún (-o, -a, -os, -as) (no, none)
siempre (always)
nunca (never) jamás (never, ever)
Ya/already
Ya no/not yet
también (also)
tampoco (neither, not either)
o . . . o (either . . . or)
ni . . . ni (neither . . . nor)