· 22 lists · 1101 words

Language and expression

Not what is said, but how.

What holds these lists together

Here are the words for talking about language itself, for holding a text together, and for saying the same thing grandly, plainly or casually. Spanish makes a distinction audible that modern English has given up: English has one «you», while Spanish chooses between tú and usted, and the line falls differently in Madrid and in Bogotá. In Buenos Aires the familiar form is vos, with verb forms of its own — vos tenés instead of tú tienes. Knowing the variants lets you understand more and hear where somebody comes from. The proverbs and the irony are here too, where the literal meaning gives least away.

The 22 lists

B2Talking about languageRegister, varieties, meaning, misunderstanding — words for the tool.50 words B2Holding a text togetherThe phrases a written text runs on — and that nobody says out loud.51 words C1Register and toneThe same thing said politely, curtly, officially, warmly, ironically.50 words C1Verbs of sayingClaim, concede, mutter, stress — each verb says how it was said.50 words C1Set expressionsFixed phrases whose meaning does not follow from the words.50 words C1Translating and interpretingSource text, target text, terminology, certification — the craft this site is made of.50 words C2Latin phrasesFormulas left untranslated in Spanish law, in scholarship and in the newspaper.50 words C2Formal turns of phraseSet phrases that live in the essay, the judgment and the leading article, and almost never in talk.50 words C2Regional variantsWords that are said differently, or meant differently, on the two sides of the Atlantic.50 words C2SemioticsSign, signifier, signified, code — how meaning is made and where it slips.50 words C2PhilologyTransmission, textual criticism and editing — the craft behind every ancient text anybody can read today.50 words C2PragmaticsSpeech acts, implicature, politeness and context — what a sentence does rather than what it means.50 words C2SociolinguisticsVarieties, prestige, language contact and language policy — where society becomes visible in speech.50 words C2Phonetics and phonologyArticulation, phonemes, syllable structure and intonation — the description of what really happens when people speak.50 words C2History of the Spanish languageFrom spoken Latin to the present norm — sound change, layers of vocabulary, and the road to being written down.50 words C2Fine distinctions between verbsVerbs that share one dictionary translation and mean different things in a sentence.50 words C2Proverbs in useOld sentences that still turn up in conversation — with the setting they really occur in.50 words C2Humour, irony and mockeryThe words for what happens between the lines — and for the fine differences between a joke and a sneer.50 words C2Noises and soundsVerbs and nouns for single noises — creaking, rustling, booming, chinking, each with a word of its own.50 words C2Light and colourBrightness, shadow and hue — named exactly.50 words C2Surfaces and materialsHow something feels — and how a material is told apart.50 words C2Taste and smellFrom « delicious » to a description that says something.50 words

Spread across the levels

The category runs across the levels — it is an area, not a difficulty. If you practise it, you can also choose a level at the top of the practice page and then get only the part that sits there.

Level	Words	Share
B2	101	9 %
C1	200	18 %
C2	800	73 %

Practise this category

Multiple choice and gaps, across all 22 lists and all 1101 words. Whatever you get wrong comes back tomorrow.