Spanish Quizzes for Beginners

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Basic Spanish Practice Quizzes

Both Spanish and English distinguish between nouns that can be counted [un libro = 'one book', dos libros = 'two books', etc.], others that cannot [?una agua =? 'one water', dos aguas = ?'two waters', etc.]. However, the languages do not always agree on whether a given concept is count or non-count. Spanish treats some concepts as count while English treats them as non-count:

Fui de vacaciones.  I went on vacation.
Compramos muchos muebles.  We bought a lot of furniture.
Las noticias son malas The news is bad.
Se cortó las barbas. He cut his beard.
El público le dió aplausos tremendos. The audience gave her tremendous.
Está perdiendo las fuerzas. He is losing strength.
Tenemos todos los datos. We have all the information/data.
Aquí están los informes. Here is the information.
Me dio buenos consejos. He gave me good advice.
¿Quién hizo las investigaciones? Who did the research?

Spanish treats some concepts as non-count [singular] vs. English count [plural]:

Subió la escalera. She went up the stairs.
Me puse el pijama. I put on my pajamas.
La gente está harta. The people are fed up.
Esta ropa está fuera de moda. These clothes are out of style.

Also note the differences below:
No me gusta la política. I don't like politics.
La física es muy interesante. Physics is interesting.
Sacaste un sobresaliente en matemáticas. You got an "A" in mathematics.

Basic Spanish Quizzes

All Spanish nouns, inanimate or animate, have gender; they are either masculine or feminine. Gender is generally signaled by the noun ending and/or the article/adjective that accompanies the noun.

Below are some noun endings that are fairly reliable indications of gender:

Generally masculine: Words ending in -o, -r, -l, -ama, -ema:

el carro = 'car', el dólar = 'dollar', el canal = 'canal/channel', el programa = 'program', el problema = 'problem'. But there are always exceptions like: la mano = 'hand', la modelo = '(fashion) model', la sal = 'salt', etc.

Generally feminine: Words ending in -a, -d, -ión, -is, -umbre, -z:

la banana = 'banana', la salud = 'health', la nación = 'nation', la tensión = 'tension', la crisis = 'crisis' -umbre = 'light', -la luz = 'light'. But: el día = 'day', el sistema = 'system' (see above), el ataúd = 'coffin', el camión = 'truck', el pez = 'fish'.

Of course, there are exceptions, such as false masculine words:
A number of short words beginning with a stressed a- carry the masculine singular definite article, but are actually feminine in gender [el agua/las aguas = 'water(s)', el alma/una alma/las almas = 'soul(s)', el águila/una águila/las águilas = 'eagle(s)'].

When the noun refers to a male and female animals or people, there are several possibilities.

The male/female distinction can be represented by different words: hombre/mujer = 'man/woman', marido/mujer = 'husband/wife', yerno/nuera = 'son/daughter-in-law'.

The same base noun can change its ending to signal gender: niño/niña = 'boy/girl', doctor/doctora = 'male/female doctor', español/española = 'Spaniard', gato/gata = 'male/female cat', gallo/gallina = 'rooster/hen', el tigre/la tigresa = 'tiger/tigress'.

The article/adjective marks gender, but there is no change in the noun form: el/la modelo = 'male/female model', el/la testigo = 'witness', el/la miembro = 'member', el/la artista = 'artist' , el/la idiota = 'idiot'.

Some nouns of this class are udergoing change as women become more common in traditionally male roles. For examples, el/la médico = 'male/female doctor', el/la abogado = 'lawyer', el/la presidente = 'president' now permit el médico/la médica, el abogado/la abogada, el presidente/la presidenta, respectively.

In the last case, the noun has fixed gender regardless of sex of referent [Jorge es la persona más interesante = 'George is the most interesting person'.].

Use of Interactive Spanish Exercises

Spanish Subject Pronouns: yo, tú, Ud., él, ella, nosotros, vosotros, Uds., ellos, ellas

Spanish subject pronouns, also called "personal pronouns" in Spanish, are generally used only to refer to human subjects so, for example, él/ella/ellos/ellas can only mean 'he/she/they (human), not 'it/they (non-human)'.

English requires all sentences to have a subject noun or pronoun. Spanish does not. Ssubject pronouns are only used for clarity, emphasis, contrast [¿Los dos vienen? No, él viene pero ella no. = 'Both are coming? No, he is, but she isn't.'].

There is no subject "It" in Spanish: Llueve. = 'It is raining.', not something like Lo llueve.

Spanish Comparative Pronouns: yo, tú, Ud., él, ella, nosotros, vosotros, Uds., ellos, ellas

These are identical to the subject pronouns because they are actually the subjects of abbreviated sentences. [Soy más inteligente que él (es). = 'I am more intelligent than he/him.']. Note that English usage varies (he or him) depending on register.

Like subject pronouns, they generally refer only to human subjects [Allí está mi casa. Los arboles son mas altas que ella. = 'There is my house. The trees are taller than it.']

Spanish Prepositional Pronouns: mí, tí, Ud., él, ella, nosotros, vosotros, Uds., ellos, ellas, sí

This set is identical to the subject pronoun set, except for 1st and 2nd person singular forms mí/tí and the reflexive form sí. However, the pronouns yo/tú are used after the prepositions [entre = 'between / among', según = 'according to', excepto/menos/salvo = 'except'].

There are special forms with con (conmigo, contigo, consigo) [Quiero bailar contigo. = 'I want to dance with you.' / Pedro no trajo su dinero consigo. = 'Peter didn't bring his money with him.'].

Unlike subject pronouns, él/ella/ellos/ellas can freely refer to non-human things [Veo un árbol; hay un venado detrás de él. = 'I see a tree; there is a deer behind it.' / Tengo una chaqueta, pero dejé la casa sin ella. = 'I have a jacket, but I left home without it.'].