Food and Drink: Grammar and Phonics (AQA GCSE Spanish): Revision Note
Exam code: 8692
To say what you eat and drink and when, you need to know how to use the verb tener to say that you are hungry or thirsty and how to say what time you eat different meals. Let’s look at these grammar points in more detail.
Tener + noun
There are some expressions in Spanish where we use the verb tener to mean ‘to have’ + noun, where in English we use the verb ‘to be’ + adjective:
Spanish | English | literal English | Examples | |
tener hambre | to be hungry | to have hunger | Tengo mucha hambre. | I am very hungry. |
tener sed | to be thirsty | to have thirst | No tiene sed. | He / she is not thirsty. |
tener sueño | to be sleepy | to have sleepiness | ¿Por qué tienes sueño? | Why are you sleepy? |
tener suerte | to be lucky | to have luck | Tuvimos mucha suerte. | We were very lucky. |
Telling the time
To say when you eat meals, you need to be able to give the time in Spanish
To say ‘at’ + a time, use a
Use las before the number, except for la una
Add the words for ‘quarter past’, ‘quarter to’ and ‘half past’ after the number
tomo | el desayuno | a las | siete | y cuarto |
I eat breakfast at quarter past seven | ||||
tomo | café | a las | ocho | menos cuarto |
I drink coffee at quarter to eight | ||||
como | patatas fritas | a la | una | y media |
I eat chips at half past one | ||||
Food and drink: phonics
The Spanish sounds [v] and [b] are exactly the same - they are both pronounced like the English ‘b’
bebo un vaso de vino
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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