WJEC GCSE Spanish is untiered (A*–G). This cluster gathers the structures you need to recognise and understand — the present subjunctive, the passive, the pluperfect, the gerund and the imperative — so you can decode them in reading and listening. A few useful bonuses — acabar de ("to have just…"), seguir + gerund ("to still…") and desde hace ("how long") — you can also use in your own writing.
Recognise this — understand it, don't produce it. The subjunctive, passive, pluperfect, gerund and imperative are all recognise-only in WJEC Spanish: your job is to understand them when you meet them, not to write or say them yourself. acabar de, seguir + gerund and desde hace are the exceptions you can also use.
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 subjunctive is a special verb form for things that are wished for, hoped, wanted, or not yet real. You only need to recognise it — spot it on a handful of high-frequency verbs, in the singular (yo / tú / él-ella-usted), so it doesn't trip you up in reading.
| 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:
Recognise, don't produce. You don't need to build these forms yourself — just understand what they mean when you read or hear them. Focus on the five common verbs in these four situations.
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.
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, don't produce: the se passive is everywhere in Spanish signs and texts (se vende, se prohíbe). Learn to read it — you won't be asked to write it.
Recognise this — understand it, don't produce it. The pluperfect says something had already happened before another past moment. It's the imperfect of haber (había, habías, había…) + a past participle.
How to spot it: look for había / habían + an -ado / -ido (or irregular) participle. In your own writing, stick to the perfect (he salido) from cluster 6.
Recognise this — understand it, don't produce it. The imperative gives orders and instructions. You meet it constantly in signs, recipes and directions, so you need to understand it — but you won't be asked to form it.
| you'll read/hear… | it means… |
|---|---|
| ¡Escucha! / ¡Escuchad! | Listen! |
| Gira a la derecha | Turn right |
| Empuje / Tire | Push / Pull (on doors) |
| No fumes / No entre | Don't smoke / Do not enter |
Negative commands too: no + a special form (no hagas, no vayas) means "don't…". Just read it as a prohibition — no need to build it.
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 when you read and hear them:
Use them for opinions and topics: Para mí, lo que importa es el medio ambiente — For me, what matters is the environment. Great for spotting in the future-ambitions and social-issues texts you read.
Tap a Spanish structure on the left, then tap its English meaning on the right.
Subjunctive — recognise only (haga, sea, vaya, venga, tenga): appears after cuando + future, wishing/wanting, que for a wish, and para que.
Passive — recognise only: ser + participle (agrees) — fue construida; or the far commoner se + verb — se habla español.
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.
You can now recognise the trickier WJEC Spanish structures. 🎉
Your stars: 0 / 0
Next in the spine: the final cluster ties everything together. Then lock this in with the Evaluate confidence quiz.