Translation into Spanish
English sentences into accurate Spanish, every word and every ending counted.
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Translation into Spanish, explained point by point
Everything the GCSE specification expects you to be able to do, and how to actually do it - the same lesson a signed-in student studies from.
Know how the translation into Spanish is set and marked
It is on the writing paper with both boards, for 10 marks. AQA sets at least 35 words of English at Foundation and 50 at Higher, split into 15 elements: each one whose meaning comes across earns a tick even with a small slip, the ticks give up to 5 marks, and the other 5 are for your knowledge of vocabulary and grammar across the whole translation. Edexcel sets five sentences at Foundation, getting harder and ending in the past, and a short paragraph at Higher: 6 marks for the meaning you carry across and 4 for the accuracy of your Spanish.
Spot the grammar each sentence is testing
Each sentence is built around a point of grammar: a tense, an agreement, a negative, a pronoun. 'Last week we visited my aunt' tests the past for we and the personal a: La semana pasada visitamos a mi tía. Find the point first, then build the sentence around it.
Translate the meaning, not the English word order
Spanish often orders words differently: adjectives usually follow the noun (un perro negro) and object pronouns go before the verb (lo veo, I see it). 'I like football' becomes me gusta el fútbol, with an article English leaves out. Questions open with ¿.
Get the verb right: tense, person and ending
Most of the meaning hangs on the verbs. Decide the tense from the English (did, used to, is going to, will, would), then the person, then the ending: 'she used to live' is vivía and 'we are going to eat' is vamos a comer. Learn the common irregulars, such as fui, hice, tuve and dije, so they come out right.
Choose ser, estar or tener where English says be
English be splits three ways in Spanish. Ser says what something is like (es simpática), estar says where it is and how someone feels (está en casa, estoy cansado), and tener gives age, hunger and thirst (tengo quince años, tengo hambre). Choose before you write.
Translate every word and make it agree
Small words are elements too: 'very', 'also', 'always', 'my', 'some'. Make articles and adjectives agree with their noun (las casas pequeñas), and put no before the verb for a negative (no tengo). Leave nothing out.
Keep to language you know, then check
If a word escapes you, say the same meaning with words you know: a sensible alternative can still carry the element. Then check spellings, accents and endings: también, está, fútbol and año all need their marks.
Translation into Spanish key terms
The words the specification and the mark schemes use, each defined the way an examiner wants it.
- Element
- One of the 15 chunks a translation into Spanish is divided into for marking. Each one whose meaning comes across earns a tick, even with a minor slip.
- Rendering of meaning
- Getting the meaning across in the other language. In the translation into Spanish it earns up to 5 of the 10 marks.
- Agreement
- Making articles, adjectives and verbs match their noun or subject, as in mis hermanas son altas.
- Personal a
- The a Spanish puts before a person who is the object of a verb, as in visito a mi abuela. English has no word for it.
- Ser and estar
- The two verbs for to be: ser for what someone or something is like, estar for where it is and how someone feels.
- Me gusta and me gustan
- I like, with the thing liked as the subject: me gusta el fútbol, but me gustan los deportes for more than one.
- Major error
- An error that gets in the way of the meaning, such as a past tense where the English is in the future, or a missing negative.
- Minor error
- A slip that does not affect the meaning, such as a missing accent that does not change the word.
Common mistakes in Translation into Spanish
The slips that cost marks year after year, and what to do instead.
Translating word by word in English order, such as yo gusto fútbol for I like football.
Translate the meaning with Spanish structures: me gusta el fútbol. Learn the common structures that work differently from English, such as gustar, tener for age and hace for the weather.
Using the present tense for a sentence about the past or the future.
Look for the English time words (yesterday, last year, tomorrow, used to) and choose the tense before you write: 'Yesterday I went' is Ayer fui, not Ayer voy.
Forgetting to make adjectives agree, as in mi madre es alto.
Find the noun each adjective describes and match its gender and number: mi madre es alta, mis amigos son simpáticos.
Leaving out a word or a phrase that is hard to translate.
Each element can earn a tick, so a gap loses one for certain while a sensible attempt may still earn it. Write the best Spanish you can, using a simpler word with the same meaning if you need to.
Dropping accents and the ñ, or writing esta where you mean está.
Accents are part of accurate spelling, and some change the word: está means is, esta means this. Check each word on your final read-through.