Spanish I First Semester Final Exam Study Guide Units 1-3
A. Study ALL vocabulary. Most of it you should know already if you’ve been studying right along. The following are the
printed sheets I´ve given you throughout the semester, but remember the vocab you´ve written down or we´ve used
regularly: Unidad 1 p.38, Unidad 2 p.76, Unidad 3 p.114
B. Unidad 1
a) Contextos: Greetings & Goodbyes p.2-3
i) Los saludos y las despedidas (the greetings and goodbyes): You need to know these for the reading and
auditory sections. Make sure you also know that Buenos días means that it´s in the morning, Buenas tardes
is in the afternoon, and Buenas noches in in the evening/night (when it´s dark).
b) 1.1 Nouns and Articles p.12-14
i) Singular, Plural, Masculine, and Feminine NOUNS
ii) LOS ARTÍCULOS: Know the meanings of and how to use the singular and plural forms of el/la/los/las and
un/una/unos/unas
You will need to associate them with their nouns. Remember some nouns DON´T end in o/a and some just
DON´T follow the rules (el lápiz, la foto, el día, el borrador, el mapa, el problema).
o María tiene ______________ perro.
a. un
b. unos
c. una
d. unas
o Tengo _____________ clases de matemáticas y español los lunes y martes cada semana.
a. el
b. los
c. la
d. las
iii) Understand how to use hay in questions and in statements.
o ¿Cuántos libros hay? How many books are there?
Hay siete libros. There are 7 books.
c) 1.2 Numbers 0-30 p.16
i) Remember the number uno how you drop the “o” if it’s followed by a masculine noun and change the “o” to
an “a” if it’s followed by a feminine noun (1, 21, 31, 41, 101, 1001, etc.)
ii) Numbers with accents (16, 22, 23, 26 (and 21 if written veintún (veintiún libros))
d) 1.3 Ser p.19-21
i) Pronouns-they take the place of a noun
yo
nosotros/as
tú
vosotros/as
él, ella, Ud., it
ellos/as, Uds.
ii) Use to tell who you are
(1) ¿Quién es el señor con el perro? Él es mi profesor, Sr. Lemieux.
iii) What your occupation is (when using to tell what your occupation is, you do NOT need an article),
(1) Soy profesor de español. Soy estudiante. Él es doctor/dentista.
iv) Time,
(1) ¿Qué hora es? Es la una de la tarde. OR Son las tres y media de la mañana.
v) Physical/personality descriptions
(1) ¿Cómo eres? Soy alto, guapo y muy inteligente.
vi) Where you´re from,
(1) ¿De dónde eres? Soy de Ripon, California.
vii) To find out “whose” something is
(1) ¿De quién es el gato? El gato es de mi mamá.
e) 1.4 La hora p.24-25
i) Time is feminine (LA hora)
ii) Use “Es la una” (singular) for It´s 1:00
iii) Use “Son las dos, tres, cuatro, etc.” for It´s 2:00, 3:00, 4:00, etc.
iv) Add “y” to add minutes and “menos” to subtract minutes (if the time is 31 minutes or higher after the hour
(2:31-2:59)
(1) ¿Qué hora es? What time is it? Son las dos menos cuarto/quince.
(2) ¿A qué hora es? At what time is it? Es a las nueve de la noche.
v) Other Vocabulary: Mediodía and Medianoche, de la mañana, de la tarde, de la noche
C. Unidad 2
a) Contextos: En la clase p.40-41
i) Classroom supplies, school subjects, and other school terminology
b) 2.1 –AR verbs and GUSTAR
i) Drop the –ar off the infinitive and add the appropriate ending (hablar, enseñar, tomar)
(1) o
amos
as
áis
a
an
(2) Yo hablo español. Jorge y Raquel enseñan geografía.
(3) Remember that with Desear, Necesitar, and Esperar (when it means “to hope”), you conjugate these
infinitives and follow them with an unconjugated one.
(a) Necesito practicar tenis. (I need to practice tennis.) Juanita y yo esperamos viajar pronto. (Juanita
and I hope to travel son.)
ii) Mandatory Contractions
(1) a + el= al (Viajo al parque. I travel to the park.)
(2) de + el=del (El libro es del chico. The book is the boy’s.)
iii) With GUSTAR, only use two forms (gusta (with infinitives or when only one thing is liked) OR gustan (when
more than one thing is liked)
(1) You MUST use an I.O.P. (Indirect Object Pronoun) with gusta(n)
(a) me nos
te vos
le les
(b) Me gusta hablar español. Nos gustan los cuadernos azules.
(2) With “le” or “les,” you MUST specify who is doing the liking. For example, A Juan le gustan los libros. OR
A Julio y a mí nos gusta jugar fútbol después de clases. (A mí, a ti, or a nosotros are all optional and used
only for emphasis, but remember to still add the IOP afterwards)
c) 2.2 Forming Questions in Spanish p.55-56
i) Understand the Question words. You will see/hear/write/ask questions and need to choose the correct
answer to each.
ii) Three types of questions:
(1) Tag (Trabajas mucho, ¿verdad/no?)-Remember, you can only use “no” for the tag if the question isn´t
already negative (No trabajas mucho, ¿verdad?)
(2) Yes/No (Trabajas mucho?)
(3) Questions Requesting Information (Always start with a question word)
Cuándo, Qué, Cuál(es), Quién(es), Cómo, Dónde, Adónde, De dónde, Cuánto/a, Cuántos/as, Por qué,
o ¿Quién es el señor con Luisa?
a. Muy bien, gracias. ¿Y tú?
b. Está en Argentina.
c. Él es mi nuevo profesor, señor Vásquez.
d. Él es de México.
d) 2.3 Estar and Prepositions p.59-60
i) REMEMBER THAT SER AND ESTAR BOTH MEAN “TO BE” BUT WE USE THEM FOR DIFFERENT THINGS!
(1) Don´t forget the accents for this one!!! Estoy and estamos are the only one´s without one.
(2) Used for location,
(a) ¿Dónde está la biblioteca? Está cerca de la cafetería.
(3) Health
(a) Alejandro está enfermo hoy.
(4) Well-being
(a) ¿Cómo están tus padres? Ellos están muy bien, gracias.
ii) Prepositions-these are phrases/words that show specific location and are often used with estar (location).
Refresh on these on p.60
e) 2.4 Numbers 31 and Higher p.63-64
i) Refresh on the tens (40, 50, 60, etc.) and the 100s (100, 200, 300, etc.). Remember 100, 500, 700, and 900
do not follow the pattern)
(1) Starting with 31, numbers are written as 3 words (treinta y uno, cuarenta y dos, cincuenta y tres, etc.)
(2) 100 even is “cien” but becomes “ciento” at 101
(a) 1.100 is mil cien, 10.100 is diez mil cien, 100.000 is cien mil, etc.)
(b) 101 is ciento uno, 1.101 is mil ciento uno, 158 is ciento cincuenta y ocho, etc.)
(3) Starting with 200, the hundreds can change gender depending on what is being numbered. For example,
doscientas mochilas, cuatrocientos cincuenta mujeres.
(4) Uno still follows the original rules no matter how big the number
(5) Millones is followed by the word “de” (Dos millones de cuadernos)
D. Unidad 3
a) Contextos: La familia p.78-79
i) Refresh on family members and relationships as well as occupations
b) 3.1 Descriptive Adjectives and Nationalities p.88-90
i) Know the adjectives and how to describe the physical appearance and personality of yourself and other
people. REMEMBER THAT WE USE SER FOR THIS. For this section you will need to make sure the adjective(s)
agree in GENDER AND NUMBER with the noun(s) they describe.
o Rodolfo es ______.
a. alto
b. altos
c. alta
d. altas
o Juan, Ricardo y Elisa son _______________.
a. altos y divertidas
b. altos y divertidos
c. altas y divertidos
d. altas y divertidas
You will also see sentences where you need to fill in the blank with the adjective that agrees but also makes the most
sense. So in other words, I´ll be testing you on understanding of the vocab in context.
o
No me gusta la clase de arte porque el profesor es __________________.
a. estricto
b. divertido
c. primero
d. bueno
e. guapo
ii) Adjectives generally come after the noun in Spanish so that we know what the gender and number needs to
be. For example, La mujer china es una buena profesora.
iii) If the adjective ends in “o” or “a” it will change gender, but if it ends in “e” the gender does not change.
Check for some of the other exceptions in the book though if you feel rusty on this. Some words end in other
letters and have different rules (trabajador, francés, inglés, alemán, etc.). Be aware of the accent changes on
some of the nationalities when you change them from singular to plural or vice-versa.
iv) Adjectives of quantity placed BEFORE the noun (mucha tarea, dos libros)
v) Bueno y Malo can come before or after noun, but if they come before a masculine singular noun, drop “o”
vi) Grande can come after and means large, but if you place in front, it changes to “gran” and means great.
c) 3.2 Possessive Adjectives p.93
i) DON´T CONFUSE PROUNOUNS AND POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES. Possessive adjectives show possession.
Pronouns just allow you not to have to repeat someone´s name a million times.
(1) mi(s) nuestro/a(s)
tu(s) vuestro/a(s)
su(s) su(s)
ii) These adjectives still MUST agree in gender and in number with the noun they describe just like descriptive
adjectives and nationalities!!
d) 3.3 –ER and –IR verbs p.96-97
i) Remember that –ER verbs are the same as –AR except you change the “a” to “e”
ii) The –IR verbs are the same as the –ER except the nosotros and vosotros forms which change the “e” to an
“i.” Remember the BOOT to distinguish the difference. The two forms OUTSIDE the boot change.
Everything inside stays the same as –ER endings.
iii) –ER
-IR
o
emos
o
imos
es
éis
es
ís
e
en
e
en
e) 3.4 Tener and Venir p.100-101
i) Most of the forms of these verbs are irregular, although the endings match for –er and –ir verbs even
though the roots of the infinitives change.
ii) Venir is “to come”
(1) Venir “de” is “to come from”
iii) Tener is “to have”
(1) There are MANY expressions used with the verb tener. Please make sure you learn these!!! They will
come up often on the final exam in writing, multiple choice, and speaking portions. p.101 (Reference
the handout I made for you to learn them) 3 general categories the expressions fall into
(a) tener + noun = to be + adjective
(i) Tengo calor/frío. (I am hot/cold.)
(b) tener ganas de + infinitive = to feel like + infinitive
(i) Mi mamá tiene ganas de viajar. (My mom feels like travelling.)
(c) tener + que = to have to + infinitive
(i) ¿Tienes que estudiar para el examen final? (Do you have to study for the final exam?)
o Yo _________________ que limpiar la casa.
a. tienen
b. tengo
c. tenemos
d. tiene
e. tienes