A1 quiz
You can introduce yourself, ask for things, and handle a shop or a taxi if people speak slowly. Everything here assumes you are starting from nothing.
Every answer is on the page with an explanation, so you can use this as a self-test or just read it as revision.
A1 placement paper
Twenty-six questions covering everything an A1 course should have given you — sounds and stress, gender, articles, ser and estar, hay, question words, numbers and time, and the Peruvian phrasing you need in week one. They get harder as you go, so the point where you start hesitating is your real level. Every answer comes with an explanation on this page.
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1You walk into a shop in Lima at ten in the morning. The greeting you will hear most is:
Answer
Buenos días. — *Buenos días* until about midday, *buenas tardes* after it. In a shop you will also hear just *buenas*, which is warm, clipped and works at any hour.
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2You have just met your friend's mother. ¿Cómo ___ usted?
Answer
está — *Está* — *usted* takes the same verb form as *él* and *ella*. *¿Cómo estás?* is the *tú* form, and with someone you have just met in Peru you start with *usted*.
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3At a fruit stall the woman says *quince*. You owe:
Answer
S/ 15 — *Quince* is fifteen. Prices drop the word *soles* when the number is obvious, and *quince cincuenta* said as two numbers in a row is S/ 15.50.
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4Necesito ___ taxi.
Answer
un — *Taxi* is masculine and singular, so *un*. *Uno* only ever stands alone — *tengo uno* — and shortens to *un* in front of a noun.
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5The plural of *la ciudad* is:
Answer
las ciudades — A noun ending in a consonant adds *-es*, and the article goes plural with it. The gender never changes on the way — *ciudad* stays feminine.
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6Las casas son ___.
Answer
blancas — *Casas* is feminine plural, so the adjective is too. The adjective copies the noun it describes, never the person speaking.
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7___ es tu cumpleaños? — El tres de abril.
Answer
¿Cuándo — *Cuándo* asks when. Note the date too: *el tres de abril* is 3 April, because Peru runs day then month and uses plain numbers after *el primero*.
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8Somebody asks *¿cuántos años tienes?* You answer:
Answer
Tengo veinte años. — Age is *tener* — literally how many years you have. *Soy veinte años* is the most recognisable beginner slip in the language, and it is a single fact to fix.
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9___ una farmacia por acá?
Answer
¿Hay — *Hay* asks whether something exists at all. Once you know which pharmacy you mean, you switch to *estar*: *¿dónde está la farmacia?*
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10Which pronoun is never used in Peru?
Answer
vosotros — *Vosotros* is Spain only. Latin America uses *ustedes* for every plural you, formal or not, and Peru has no *vos* either — *tú* and *usted* is the whole system.
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11Nosotros ___ en Miraflores.
Answer
vivimos — *Nosotros* takes *-imos* on an *-ir* verb. It is also the one form that looks the same in the present and the pretérito, which context sorts out.
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12It is half past three. In Spanish:
Answer
Son las tres y media. — *Son las* for every hour except one o'clock, and *media* is feminine because it agrees with *hora*. In Peru you will also hear *son las tres con treinta*.
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13Which of these words is stressed on its last syllable?
Answer
hablar — A word ending in a consonant other than *-n* or *-s* is stressed on the last syllable — *hablar*, *ciudad*, *papel*. The other three end in a vowel or *-n*, so the stress falls one back.
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14How many syllables are there in *restaurante*?
Answer
four — *Res-tau-ran-te*. The *au* is a diphthong and counts as one syllable — split it into two and you put the stress in the wrong place.
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15Your phone rings while you are eating lunch. You say:
Answer
Estoy almorzando. — *Estar* plus *-ando* or *-iendo*, never *ser*. Spanish keeps this form for what is genuinely happening at this moment, so it is used far less than the English *-ing*.
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16Mañana ___ ir al mercado.
Answer
voy a — *Ir a* plus the infinitive is the everyday future. The *a* is not optional, and *vamos a* would change who is going.
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17El mercado está al lado ___ banco.
Answer
del — *De* plus *el* always contracts to *del*, and *a* plus *el* to *al*. The only *de el* you will ever write is in front of the pronoun *él*.
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18Getting out of a taxi, what you actually say is:
Answer
Acá está bien, gracias. — *Acá* rather than *aquí* in Peru, and *está bien* because you are judging this particular spot. *Es bien* is not a Spanish construction at all.
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19Which one is wrong?
Answer
la mapa — It is *el mapa*. Nouns ending in *-ma* that came in from Greek are masculine — *problema*, *tema*, *idioma* — and *la mano* is feminine in spite of the *-o*.
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20La puerta ___ cerrada.
Answer
está — *Está* — being shut is a state the door was put into, not what a door is. Permanent against temporary is no help here; state against identity is.
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21Which means their house?
Answer
su casa — *Su* covers his, her, their and your formal, and it agrees with the thing owned rather than the owner — *su casa*, *sus casas*. *De ellos* gets added only when it would otherwise be unclear.
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22S/ 700 written out is:
Answer
setecientos soles — *Setecientos*, not *sietecientos*. The same shift catches *quinientos* for 500 and *novecientos* for 900, and all three turn up in prices constantly.
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23The *h* in *hola* is:
Answer
silent — Spanish *h* is silent everywhere — *hola*, *hora*, *ahora*, *hambre*. The breathy English sound in that slot is one of the clearest giveaways.
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24Tengo dos chompas ___.
Answer
azules — *Azul* ends in a consonant, so it has no separate feminine form and simply adds *-es* in the plural. And it is *chompa* in Peru, not *suéter*.
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25You did not catch what someone said. The natural thing to say is:
Answer
¿Cómo? — *¿Cómo?* is the polite sorry-what in Peru. A bare *¿qué?* is understood but lands blunt, and *¿puede repetir, por favor?* is the full version.
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26Which sentence is wrong?
Answer
Hay el baño al fondo. — *Hay* never takes a definite article. If you already know which one you mean you are locating it, and locating takes *estar* — *el baño está al fondo*.