Spanish Proficiency Exercises
Describe your typical daily activities.


Simplified and native speakers:

• Simplified Example
• Leonardo G.
• Claudia V.
• Alberto R.
• Medardo C.
• María M.

.m4v (iPod) downloads
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• Simplified Example
• Leonardo G.
• Claudia V.
• Alberto R.
• Medardo C.
• María M.

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Key vocabulary for this task


Example phrases for this task


Grammar points for this task

Simplified Example
"Mis actividades diarias siempre incluyen más o menos las mismas cosas..."
Leonardo G.
México, D.F.
"Me levanto temprano, generalmente a las 7:00..."
Claudia V.
Perú, Lima
"Normalmente me levanto a las siete y media de la mañana..."
Alberto R.
España, Pamplona, Navarra
"Me levanto a las seis de la mañana y desayuno..."
Medardo C.
República Dominicana, Santo Domingo
"Voy a la universidad tres veces a la semana..."
María M.
Bolivia, Oruro
"Mi día típico puede ser no muy común..."
actor (m)   actor
convivir   to live together, side by side
descansar   to rest
espectáculo (m)   performance
facultad (f)   university school (e.g., law)
maravilloso (adj)   marvelous
noticiero (m)   newscast
pasear   to take a walk
periódico (m)   newspaper
practicar   to practice
refrigerio (m)   snack
regresar   to return
tesis doctoral (f)   doctoral dissertation
Soy formado en teatro. I have my degree in drama.
Es cosa de todos los días. It's a daily thing.
Despierto más o menos a las seis y media. I wake up around 6:30.
Mi programa es muy pesado. My schedule is very full.
Veo los noticieros antes de dormir. I watch the news before I go to sleep.
Siempre leo hasta muy tarde. I always read until late at night.
Me gusta reunirme con mi amigos para tomar un café o una cerveza. I like to get together with my friends to drink a coffee or beer.
Es difícil hacer el mismo trabajo todos los días. Doing the same job everyday is difficult.
Reflexive verbs

Whenever the subject of the sentence (the doer of the action) and the object of the sentence (the receiver of the action) refer to the same person, we use the reflexive form of the verb. In English this is shown by the use of words such as myself, yourself, himself, herself, etc. Notice that even though English speakers might use the words myself, yourself, himself, etc., sometimes other words are used too (e.g., "get"). The important fact is that the doer and the receiver of the action of the verb is the same person.

I dress myself every morning at six o'clock. (Reflexive) I dress my son every morning at six o'clock. (Non-reflexive)
  He gets washed up before eating. (Reflexive) He washes the dog on Saturdays. (Non-Reflexive)

Reflexive in Spanish

Spanish speakers use reflexive forms in many instances, some of which are not clearly obvious to speakers of English. You always know when a verb is reflexive in Spanish because the infinitive form is written with the reflexive pronoun "se" (e.g., lavarse, levantarse, llamarse, etc.).

In English we sometimes drop the reflexive pronoun in regular speech, but in Spanish every reflexive usage requires a reflexive pronoun. For example, in English we can say "I shave every morning" or "I shave myself every morning." In Spanish there is only one option, "I shave myself every morning" (Yo me afeito toda mañana). The reflexive pronoun is placed before the conjugated verb. The following example shows how reflexive pronouns are used with the verb "afeitarse".

Yo me afeito. I shave myself.
  te afeitas. You shave yourself.
  Marcos se afeita. Marcos shaves himself.
  Nosotros nos afeitamos. We shave ourselves.
  Ellos se afeitan. They shave themselves.