Spanish B1: Intermediate

At B1 speech stops being a run of separate sentences. An opinion comes with a reason, a story has a beginning and an end, and a misunderstanding can be cleared up without anyone stepping in to help.

Mistakes still happen, but they no longer get in the way of being understood. This is the level at which a language becomes usable at work.

Tenses: present, past, future9

Verbs: ser, estar, subjunctive18

Ser, estar and hay

B1Adjectives with ser or estarser listo is clever, estar listo is ready.B1«become»: ponerse, quedarse, volverse, hacerseEnglish spreads «become» over get, go, turn and become — Spanish has five verbs of its own, chosen by the kind of change.

Requests and commands

B1The negative imperativeno plus subjunctive — the affirmative form does not exist here.B1Formal commands and «let's»One form for affirmative and negative — and vamos a for «let us».B1Pronouns with commandsAttached when affirmative, in front when negative — and the accent moves with them.B1Requests without an imperativeIn everyday speech a question is the commonest request.

Can, must, want

B1soler, volver a: used to, againTurns of phrase where English needs an adverb.B1May, can, shouldpoder covers can and may, deber gives the advice.

The subjunctive

B1Present subjunctive: the formsThe endings change sides; the stem comes from the yo form.B1When the subjunctive is usedWhen the main clause wishes, doubts, judges or denies.B1Subjunctive after wishes, feelingsWhoever wants something or judges it sends the clause into the subjunctive.

Conditional sentences

B1Second conditional: si tuvierasi plus imperfect subjunctive, main clause in the conditional.B1No present subjunctive after siThe one place in the language where it is forbidden.

The passive

B1Passive with seThe everyday form — and the verb agrees with the thing.B1Passive with serThe newspaper form — and the participle agrees.B1Third person plural as passiveMe han robado el coche — with no «they» in front of it.B1The impersonal se: «one»English has three words for it and dislikes all three.B1Past participle: hecho, dichoInvariable after haber, agreeing after ser and estar.

Nouns, articles and adjectives8

Nouns and articles

B1Noun + de + nounSpanish does not compound, it joins with de.B1Tricky genders: el mapaEnding in -a and masculine anyway — and two words where the gender changes the meaning.B1Diminutives and augmentatives-ito rarely means «small» and almost always says something about tone.

Adjectives

B1The superlative and -ísimoThe best of all — and the ending that needs no comparison.B1Adverbs in -menteFeminine form plus -mente, but only one per run.

Pronouns

B1Two object pronouns: se loPerson first, thing second — and le becomes se.B1Relative pronouns: que, quienque covers almost everything — the others come after a preposition.

Prepositions

B1Verbs with a fixed prepositionWhich preposition a verb wants is rarely the English one.

Sentence structure6

Questions and negation

B1Indirect questionsNo question mark, but the accent stays — and «whether» is si.B1Negative words: nunca, tampoco« Me neither » and « nor do I » are one word here.B1pero, sino and sino queEnglish uses «but» for two different jobs — Spanish gives each job its own word.

Subordinate clauses

B1Time clausesYour -ing form after «before» and «after» is an infinitive here.B1Cause, result and concession«So» is two different things, and Spanish has two words for them.B1Reported speechThe backshift is yours already — the infinitive is not.

Style and fine points1

Fine points and style

B1Written accents: the tricky casesWhen words grow, vowels collide and short words have a twin.

Word lists at level B1

Lists: 32 · words: 1421

All word lists →

Reading texts at level B1

Sentences from this level’s topics

¿Estás listo? Nos vamos.Are you ready? We are leaving.

Al oír la noticia, se puso pálida.When she heard the news, she went pale.

El martes tengo una reunión.I have a meeting on Tuesday.

¿Dónde está la parada de autobús?Where is the bus stop?

Practise level B1 only