These are the structures that lift an answer above the crowd: the present subjunctive (just five verbs), the passive, the imperfect subjunctive, acabar de ("to have just…"), seguir + gerund ("to still…"), and desde hace for "how long".
One tier for everyone. Edexcel International GCSE Spanish (4SP1) is untiered (grades 9–1), so every candidate meets these structures. Most are productive — you're expected to use them. But two are marked receptive-only: the passive voice and the imperfect subjunctive. You need to recognise and understand those two, not produce them. The Recognise only badge flags them as you go.
Work through each screen and answer the questions as you go — some ask you to recognise the right form, some ask you to produce it by typing. Collect ⭐ stars and press Start.
The present subjunctive is a special verb form for things that are wished for, hoped, wanted, or not yet real — and you're expected to produce it. The spec keeps the scope tight: five high-frequency verbs, in the singular persons (yo / tú / él-ella-usted).
| verb | yo / tú / él |
|---|---|
| hacer (to do/make) | haga / hagas / haga |
| ser (to be) | sea / seas / sea |
| ir (to go) | vaya / vayas / vaya |
| venir (to come) | venga / vengas / venga |
| tener (to have) | tenga / tengas / tenga |
Formation tip: take the yo present, drop the -o, add the "opposite vowel" endings — -ar verbs take -e, and -er/-ir verbs take -a: hablar → hable, comer → coma, vivir → viva.
Only four triggers are in scope. Learn to spot each one:
Stay in scope for producing. To produce the subjunctive you only need these five verbs, singular, in these four situations. The imperfect subjunctive is different — it's receptive-only (recognise, don't produce), and you'll meet it a few screens on.
Pick the form that fits each gap.
In a passive sentence the thing comes first and the action is done to it. Spanish builds it with ser + a past participle, and the participle agrees (like an adjective). Add por + the doer:
Agreement: construida is feminine (matching la casa); it would be construido for a masculine noun, construidos/as for plurals.
🟣 Recognise this — you need to understand it, not produce it. The passive is receptive-only in 4SP1. Be able to work out what fue construida ("was built") means when you read or hear it; in your own writing you can side-step it (see the se passive next, or just make the doer the subject).
Spanish usually avoids the ser passive and uses se + the verb in the 3rd person instead. It's the everyday way to say something is done without saying who:
🟣 Recognise this — you need to understand it, not produce it. The passive is receptive-only, so your job with se habla / se venden is to read them correctly ("is spoken / are sold"). If you ever want the idea in your own writing, the se form is the easy one to borrow — but you won't be penalised for avoiding it.
The imperfect subjunctive is the past version of the subjunctive. You'll meet it most in polite requests and "if…" sentences. You only need to recognise it — you're not expected to produce it.
Spot it by its endings: the tell-tale look is -ara / -aras / -ara (from -ar verbs) and -iera / -ieras / -iera (from -er / -ir verbs) — hablara, tuviera, viniera. If you see one after si ("if") or a polite quisiera / me gustaría que, that's the imperfect subjunctive.
🟣 Recognise this — you need to understand it, not produce it. The imperfect subjunctive is receptive-only in 4SP1. Read Si tuviera… as "If I had…"; in your own writing you can stick to the present subjunctive and the plain tenses you already know.
Use acabar de (in the present) + an infinitive to say something has just happened:
Note: conjugate acabar like a normal -ar verb (acabo, acabas, acaba, acabamos, acabáis, acaban), keep de, then the infinitive never changes.
Use seguir + the gerund (the -ando/-iendo form) to say an action keeps happening / is still going:
Watch the boot: seguir is an e→i stem-changer, so the singular forms shift: sigo, sigues, sigue, then seguimos, seguís, siguen.
Related: llevar + time + gerund tells you how long something's been going: Llevo dos años estudiando español — I've been studying Spanish for two years.
To say you've been doing something for a length of time (and still are), Spanish uses the present tense + desde hace + the time:
Present, not past: the verb stays in the present because the action is still going on. Don't use a past tense here. (The imperfect desde hacía is out of scope for GCSE.)
Some openers wish, want or aim at something not-yet-real (subjunctive). Others just state a fact (normal / indicative). Sort them.
Light-touch, but worth recognising and dropping into your writing:
Use them for opinions and topics: Para mí, lo que importa es el medio ambiente — For me, what matters is the environment. Great for the future-ambitions and social-issues questions in your writing.
Tap a Spanish structure on the left, then tap its English meaning on the right.
Subjunctive (5 verbs, singular): haga, sea, vaya, venga, tenga — after cuando + future, wishing/wanting, que for a wish, and para que.
Passive recognise only: ser + participle (agrees) — fue construida ("was built"); or the commoner se + verb — se habla español ("is spoken"). Understand it; you needn't produce it.
Imperfect subjunctive recognise only: endings -ara / -iera — Si tuviera… ("If I had…"), quisiera ("I'd like"). Recognise it; you needn't produce it.
acabar de + infinitive = "to have just…": acabo de llegar.
seguir + gerund = "to still / keep…": sigo estudiando.
desde hace (with the present) = "for (how long)": estudio español desde hace tres años.
Extras: ya no / tampoco / ni…ni…; para mí, conmigo, contigo; lo que.
These structures push you into the top bands. Press Finish to see your score.
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Next in the spine: the final cluster ties everything together. Then lock this in with the Evaluate confidence quiz.