Life at School: Grammar and Phonics (AQA GCSE Spanish): Revision Note
Exam code: 8692
To talk about life at school , you can use comparatives to compare things, such as teachers, subjects, and facilities, and superlatives to talk about what is the most and least of something. Let's look at these grammar points in more detail.
Comparatives
Use comparatives to compare two things, e.g. when talking about which school subjects you find more difficult, more interesting, easier …
In English we often add -er to adjectives to form comparatives, e.g. ‘the sixth form is smaller than the high school’
In Spanish there are three important comparative structures:
más+ adjective + que = more + adjective + than
menos + adjective + que = less + adjective + than
tan + adjective + como = as + adjective + as
La ciencia es más divertida que el dibujo.
Science is more fun than art.
La ciencia es menos divertida que el dibujo.
Science is less fun than art.
La ciencia es tan divertida como el dibujo.
Science is as fun as art.
The adjective must agree with the first noun - in the examples above, the adjective is feminine as ciencia is feminine
Like in English, the words for ‘better’ and ‘worse’ are irregular:
La ciencia es mejor que el dibujo.
Science is better than art.
La ciencia es peor que el dibujo.
Science is worse than maths.
Examiner Tips and Tricks
It is important to use and practise grammar in context - use the structures above to say some sentences comparing different aspects of school life, e.g. subjects and teachers. Write them down before reading aloud if you need more support.
Superlatives
Higher tier only
This grammar is only required for Higher tier.
Use superlatives to say something is the biggest, the smallest, the best, etc. - it is the highest degree of something
In English we often use the words ‘most’ and ‘least’, e.g. ‘the most interesting’
In Spanish there are two important superlative structures:
el / la / los / las + más + adjective = the most + adjective
el / la / los / las + menos + adjective= the least + adjective
la asignatura más divertida
the most fun subject
la asignatura menos divertida
the least fun subject
The adjective must agree with the noun - in the examples above, the adjective is feminine as asignatura is feminine
Like in English, the words for ‘the best’ and ‘the worst’ are irregular
They agree with the noun in number and gender and are placed before the noun:
las mejores asignaturas
the best subjects
las peores asignaturas
the worst subjects
Life at school: phonics
[ge] is a hard, guttural sound in Spanish
la gente estudia geografía
Higher tier only
This phonics knowledge is only required for Higher tier.
Stress refers to the part of a word which is emphasised when you say it out loud, e.g. ‘my birthday is in November’.
Rules for word stress are important when reading aloud and writing in Spanish
To understand rules for word stress, here are some key terms:
vowel - there are five vowels in both English and Spanish - a, e, i, o, u
consonant - any letter which is not a vowel is a consonant, e.g. b, c, d …
accent - these are lines added to vowels when writing in Spanish - á, é, í, ó, ú
syllable - a ‘beat’ of a word - the Spanish word conversación has four syllables (con / ver / sa / ción)
penultimate - second to last - conversación
antepenultimate - third to last - conversación
There are several different rules for word stress in Spanish.
When reading aloud words in Spanish:
stress any vowel with a written accent
útil
stress the penultimate (second to last) syllable for words ending in a vowel, -n or -s if there is no accent
problema
examen
mochilas
if there is an accent for words ending in a vowel, -n or -s, and for all other words, stress the final syllable
mamá
educación
después
aprender
When writing words in Spanish, only write an accent on the stressed vowel for:
words with stress on the final syllable ending in a vowel, -n, or -s
así
información
inglés
words with stress on the penultimate (second to last) syllable for a word ending in a consonant other than -n or -s
fácil
azúcar
all words with stress on the antepenultimate (third to last) syllable
número
informática
Examiner Tips and Tricks
It is important to know how to say and spell Spanish words accurately. The sounds covered here can appear in any words throughout the course.
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