Spa 1102
Guide for Midterm

*Items since Quiz 1 indicated in RED

  1. Accents and Punctuation: Do you remember how to divide a word into its basic syllables? Where does the natural accent fall in Spanish?  Why are the "sticky" vowels so important?  (Review)
  2. Survival Sentences and Basic Conversation: What are the most important oral survival questions/phrases you have learned at this point in your Spanish studies?  How long of a conversation/paragraph can you write?  Do you know how to introduce and talk about your friends and family?  Can you share their daily activities and hobbies with someone?
  3. Question words: How many questions words have we learned (1, 2)? What is the question word for "do" in Spanish?  Can you create a question with each word?  When do you use "qué" versus "cuál"?  Can you create a question with "yo" as the subject?  Which verb conjugation accompanies "quién" or "quiénes"?
  4. Possession: How many possessive adjectives are there?  When do you use them?  In terms of adjective/noun agreement, is there anything special to remember about possessive adjectives?
  5. Prepositions: Have you reviewed all of your prepositions of place (under, over, in front of, behind, etc.) (170)?
  6. Verbs:  Have you been reviewing your AR, ER, and IR verbs?  This is our main list.  How many irregular verbs should you know (ser, estar, ir, tener, etc.)?  Do you know how to conjugate as well as determine when to use "ser" and "estar"?  How many compound verb structures can you create (for example, “tener ganas de”, “tener que”, “ir a”, “poder”, “deber”, and “necesitar”?  Have you studied all of the idiomatic expressions you can create with the verb "tener"?  Do you remember how to conjugate stem-changing verbs?  Have you studied the initial list of stem changing verbs as well as the second one?  Have you practiced generating a question/answer sequence for each verb?   How many GO verbs have we studied? Can you conjugate these verbs and use them in context?  Can you fill-in the blanks in a cloze paragraph?  What are your best strategies for completing this type of exercise?
  7. Direct Object Pronouns: What are “transitive verbs” and how do they limit when you can use a “direct object pronoun”? When and why do we use “direct object pronouns”? What are the “direct object pronouns” in Spanish and where do we place them? Which questions can we use so as not to mistake which object in a sentence is the direct object?
  8. Demonstrative Adjectives/Pronouns: Did you review the use of demonstrative adjectives? What is their relationship to the indicators of space (aquí, ahí, allá)? Did you remember that demonstratives can function as adjectives and therefore must agree in number and gender with the noun they describe? What is the difference between “ese” and “eso”? How can a demonstrative adjective be turned into a demonstrative pronoun? Where do you place the demonstrative pronoun's accent?
  9. Vocabulary: Have you studied all the greetings and farewells, titles, and colors (p. 19) in this Chapter?  Have you studied the survival commands that we learned using the acrostic “Las Vegas Race”?  Can you identify all of your family members by family relationship (brother, brother-in-law, etc.)?  Have you studied enough adjectives to describe your family members both in terms of physical appearance as well as personality? Can you identify the campus buildings in terms of the subject matter taught in them and give instructions on how to get there to a foreign exchange student? Have you studied the new vocabulary related to “pastimes” and “invitations”? Can you write a dialogue in which you invite your friend/s to participate in a leisure activity? Are there more polite ways of expressing “querer” in Spanish? Do you know how to courteously reject an invitation?