Holiday Activities: Grammar and Phonics (AQA GCSE Spanish): Revision Note

Holiday activities: grammar

The specific grammar point you will see here associated with the topic 'Holiday Activities' is the use of the preterite tense. This is essential for talking about completed actions in the past (e.g., specific events on your last holiday).

The preterite tense (el pretérito)

• The Preterite is used to describe actions that were completed at a definite point in the past

• It is vital for narrating a sequence of events, such as what you did on holiday

Irregular preterite: Ensure you know the highly irregular forms of high-frequency verbs, which are often tested:

• ir (to go) / ser (to be) → fui, fuiste, fue, fuimos, fuisteis, fueron

• hacer (to do/make) → hice, hiciste, hizo, hicimos, hicisteis, hicieron

• tener (to have) → tuve, tuviste, tuvo, tuvimos, tuvisteis, tuvieron

Example phrases:

• Viajamos a España en avión. (We traveled to Spain by plane)

• Fui a la playa con mi familia. (I went to the beach with my family)

• Comimos tapas en un restaurante. (We ate tapas in a restaurant)

Holiday activities: phonics

• [rr] [r-]: Practice the strong 'r' sound, relevant in words like:

  • carretera (road)

  • ratón (mouse)

• [-r-] [-r]: Practice the soft 'r' sound, often found in the middle of words:

  • viajar (to travel)

  • pero (but)

• [ll]: Often found in words like:

  • llaves (keys)