Spanish questions, connectors and quantity
Join ideas, ask precise questions, compare choices and communicate time, amount and location clearly.
Exam scope and assessment notes
All Spanish passages, prompts, model answers, listening scripts and tasks are original StudyForA materials, not Cambridge assessment content. Vocabulary is taught in context, but Cambridge's 2028 vocabulary spreadsheet has not been mapped word by word. Grammar groups have not had an item-by-item Spanish-specialist audit, and a Spanish-language specialist should review the original Spanish before publication is described as complete. Browser speech synthesis is not Cambridge audio and cannot guarantee a regional accent, natural pace or pronunciation. Speaking is rehearsal and self-review, not the supervised centre assessment or examiner interaction; writing is not Cambridge-marked. No complete timed specimen paper or 130-hour course is included. Check your exam year, entry option and centre arrangements with Cambridge and your school. A 2025–2027 Version 2 lesson is intended for that syllabus cycle; use the separately labelled format from 2028.
Before you begin
Work on paper. Try each question before revealing help, and explain why your method works.
Quick readiness check
Which sentence makes a clear comparison?
What you will learn
- Use common adverbs and comparative or superlative forms.
- Connect clauses with coordination and subordination, including cause, contrast, condition and purpose.
- Form questions and use personal «a» and common prepositions appropriately.
- Express numbers, quantities, dates, times, duration and «desde hace» accurately.
Make relationships between ideas explicit
Common connectors include «y», «pero», «porque», «aunque», «cuando», «si», «para que» and «por eso». Choose the relation first: addition, contrast, cause, time, condition, purpose or result.
Comparisons include «más ... que», «menos ... que», «tan ... como», «mejor/peor que», «el/la más ...» and «-ísimo/a» for strong degree. Adverbs can describe manner («rápidamente»), time, place or degree. Do not turn «más» into a comparison without naming what is compared.
Ask, measure and locate
Interrogatives carry written accents: «¿Cuándo?», «¿Dónde?», «¿Cuánto?», «¿Quién?» and «¿Para qué?». The personal «a» commonly appears before a specific person as a direct object («Veo a Ana»). Prepositions show relation; «desde hace dos años» means for two years up to now.
Numbers and quantity words support dates, prices, fractions, times and measurements. In Spanish, use a decimal comma in many formal contexts; be attentive to the units and conventions used by the task. Dates normally put the day before the month.
Sources for this lesson
Pause and explain
Which question asks for purpose?
Worked example
A notice says: «El centro está a 2,5 km. El autobús tarda menos que el tren, pero sale cada hora. ¿Para qué hora necesitas llegar?» Summarise the distance, comparison and constraint.
Show the worked solution
- Attach 2,5 km to the centre.
- Compare travel time and identify the contrast after «pero».
- Recognise the final question asks for a target arrival time.
Answer The centre is 2.5 km away. The bus journey takes less time than the train, but the bus leaves only once an hour. The notice asks what time the traveller needs to arrive.
From guided practice to a new situation
Write your answer and reasoning first. Use a hint only if you are stuck. The model solution is for self-checking; your written work is not automatically marked.
Compare two transport options using travel time, price and a departure constraint.
Give me a hint
Use «más/menos ... que» and a contrast connector.
Compare my reasoning
- State which option is faster.
- Compare one cost or distance.
- Add a constraint with «pero» or «aunque».
Example: «El autobús tarda menos que el tren y cuesta menos, pero sale cada hora. Si necesitamos llegar antes de las nueve, debemos comprobar el horario.»
Look for these in your work
- Makes a grammatical comparison
- Includes a second criterion
- Connects the constraint to a next step
Read: «Vivo en esta ciudad desde hace tres años. La biblioteca, que está junto al río, abre a las 9:30. ¿Cuánto tiempo lleva abierta?» What duration is stated and what does the question ask?
Give me a hint
Keep the residence duration separate from the library's opening-time question.
Compare my reasoning
- Find how long the writer has lived in the city.
- Use «que» to locate the library.
- Translate the final question carefully.
The writer has lived in the city for three years. The library opens at 9:30. The final question asks how long it has been open, which cannot be answered from the notice alone.
Look for these in your work
- Reports three years
- Finds the library location
- Recognises missing information for the final answer
Ask a classmate three Spanish questions about when, where and why they study, then connect their answers into a short summary.
Give me a hint
Use «cuándo», «dónde», «por qué» and a connector that matches each relation.
Compare my reasoning
- Ask a time question.
- Ask about place and reason.
- Join only the information actually provided.
Example questions: «¿Cuándo estudias? ¿Dónde estudias? ¿Por qué estudias allí?» Summary frame: «Estudia ... por la tarde y estudia en ... porque ...». Replace the blanks with the classmate's real answers.
Look for these in your work
- Forms three clear questions
- Uses accented question words
- Does not invent the classmate's answers
Common mistakes
- Omitting the written accent from an interrogative
- Comparing options without stating the compared feature
- Confusing «desde hace» duration with a starting date
- Dropping units from a measurement
What can you explain now?
What does «desde hace dos años» usually express?
Compare with the explanation
A duration continuing up to the present
It says how long something has been happening, not the calendar date it started.
After trying it yourself, choose your next review. This is your self-assessment.
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Make it stick
Before leaving spanish questions, connectors and quantity, explain one idea from memory, answer the checkpoint and name one syllabus detail you still need to practise.
If you needed the solution, close it and solve the problem again from a blank page. A correct answer is stronger when you can explain the reason for each step.