Spanish 2 Quiz: Spelling And Capitalization
15 questions · exam conditions
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Spelling And CapitalizationQuestion 1 of 15

Which of the following sentences contains a spelling error involving the 'b/v' distinction or the 'c/s/z' distinction that results in a real but WRONG Spanish word being used?

'Voy a beber agua.' — 'beber' should be 'vever' because the /b/ sound between vowels is typically represented by 'v'.
'El chico es muy vello.' — if the intended meaning is 'beautiful/handsome,' 'vello' is incorrect; the correct word is 'bello.'
'Ella va a coser la ropa.' — if the intended meaning is 'to sew,' 'coser' is incorrect; the correct spelling is 'cozer.'
'Necesito acer la tarea.' — 'acer' is a misspelling that produces a nonexistent word rather than a real but wrong Spanish word.
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Spanish 2 Quiz

Spanish 2 Quiz: Spelling And Capitalization

Practice Spelling And Capitalization in Spanish 2 with focused quiz questions that help you check what you know, review explanations, and build confidence with test-style prompts.

What this quiz covers

This quiz focuses on Spelling And Capitalization, giving you a quick way to practice the rules, question types, and explanations that matter most for Spanish 2.

How to use this quiz

Try each quiz question before looking at the correct answer. Use the explanations to review missed ideas, then come back to similar questions until the pattern feels familiar.

All questions

Question 1

Which of the following sentences contains a spelling error involving the 'b/v' distinction or the 'c/s/z' distinction that results in a real but WRONG Spanish word being used?

  1. 'Voy a beber agua.' — 'beber' should be 'vever' because the /b/ sound between vowels is typically represented by 'v'.
  2. 'El chico es muy vello.' — if the intended meaning is 'beautiful/handsome,' 'vello' is incorrect; the correct word is 'bello.' (correct answer)
  3. 'Ella va a coser la ropa.' — if the intended meaning is 'to sew,' 'coser' is incorrect; the correct spelling is 'cozer.'
  4. 'Necesito acer la tarea.' — 'acer' is a misspelling that produces a nonexistent word rather than a real but wrong Spanish word.
Explanation: When tackling Spanish spelling questions, the key distinction to understand is between a misspelling that creates a nonexistent word versus one that produces a real but wrong word — a homophone trap. This question specifically asks for the latter. In Spanish, "bello" means beautiful/handsome, while "vello" means body hair or fuzz. Both are real, legitimate Spanish words — they just mean completely different things. So if you write "El chico es muy vello" intending to call someone handsome, you've accidentally said he's very hairy. That's a genuine spelling error using a real but contextually wrong word, making B the correct answer. Here's why the other choices miss the mark: A is factually backwards — "beber" is actually the correct spelling of "to drink," and the claim that intervocalic /b/ sounds are "typically" written with 'v' is a false rule. Spanish orthography doesn't work that way; both 'b' and 'v' represent the same sound, and correct spelling must simply be memorized. C tries to trick you into thinking "coser" (to sew) is wrong, but it's spelled perfectly correctly. The invented "cozer" doesn't exist in standard Spanish — the 'z' before 'e' is extremely rare and unnatural in this context. D is disqualified by the question itself: "acer" is not a real Spanish word, so it fails to meet the condition of being a real but wrong word. Your study tip: memorize classic b/v homophones like bello/vello, vaca/baca, and tubo/tuvo — these are favorite exam traps because both spellings look plausible and both words actually exist.

Question 2

A student writes a short journal entry: 'El sabado fui al mercado con mi familia. Compramos mucho: vegetales, jugo, y pan. ¡Fue un dia muy bueno!'

The passage above contains exactly TWO spelling or accent-mark errors. Which option correctly identifies both errors?

  1. 'sabado' is missing an accent (should be 'sábado') and 'dia' is missing an accent (should be 'día'). (correct answer)
  2. 'sabado' is missing an accent (should be 'sábado') and 'vegetales' is misspelled (should be 'begetales').
  3. 'jugo' is misspelled (should be 'zugo') and 'dia' is missing an accent (should be 'día').
  4. 'mercado' is misspelled (should be 'mercato') and 'sabado' is missing an accent (should be 'sábado').
Explanation: When reading Spanish text, you should always scan for two things: missing accent marks on stressed syllables and incorrect letter substitutions. Both types of errors appear in this journal entry. In Spanish, the word for Saturday is sábado — the stress falls on the first syllable, "sá," and that stress must be marked with a written accent. Without it, "sabado" is misspelled. Similarly, día (day) is a two-syllable word where the accent mark serves a special purpose: it breaks up the diphthong, forcing "di-a" to be pronounced as two separate syllables rather than gliding together. Without the accent, "dia" is also technically incorrect. These are the two errors, making A the correct answer. Choice B incorrectly claims "vegetales" should be "begetales." In Spanish, both v and b make the same sound, which causes confusion — but the correct standard spelling is vegetales with a v, so this is not an error at all. Choice C claims "jugo" should be "zugo," which is simply wrong — jugo is the correct Spanish spelling for juice, and z has no place there. Choice D invents a fake error by suggesting "mercado" should be "mercato," which is an Italian-sounding word, not Spanish. "Mercado" is spelled correctly. A helpful strategy: on Spanish spelling questions, first check every day, month, and common noun for missing accent marks — these are the most frequently tested errors. Then verify that b/v words use their standard dictionary spellings rather than phonetic guesses.

Question 3

A student wants to write: 'I hope that you (tú) feel better soon.' In Spanish, which of the following is the correctly spelled and accented version of the key verb form needed to complete 'Espero que tú   mejor pronto'?

  1. 'te sientas' — present subjunctive of 'sentirse,' with the e→ie stem change and the -as ending for tú (correct answer)
  2. 'te cientas' — using 'ci-' by analogy with words like 'ciencia' to spell the /s/ sound
  3. 'te sentas' — dropping the stem change because the subjunctive supposedly resets to the infinitive stem
  4. 'te sientes' — using the -es ending from the present indicative instead of the subjunctive form
Explanation: Whenever you see a verb following "Espero que" (or any expression of hope, doubt, or emotion), that's your cue to use the present subjunctive — not the indicative. For reflexive verbs like sentirse, you also need to keep the reflexive pronoun (te for tú) and apply any stem changes. For sentirse, the stem vowel e → ie in all present-tense forms except nosotros and vosotros — and this stem change carries directly into the present subjunctive. The tú form in the present subjunctive takes the ending -as (for -AR verbs) or -as after the stem change here. So the process is: sent- → sient- + -as = sientas. Combined with the reflexive pronoun: te sientas. That makes choice A correct. Choice B (te cientas) is a spelling trap. The /s/ sound before -e or -i is spelled with s, not ci-. Mixing up ciencia (a noun) with verb spelling is a false analogy — verb stems simply don't work that way. Choice C (te sentas) makes two errors: it drops the e→ie stem change and uses a wrong ending. The subjunctive does not reset to a plain infinitive stem — it follows the same stem-change rules as the present indicative. Choice D (te sientes) uses the correct stem change but applies the present indicative tú ending (-es) instead of the subjunctive ending (-as). After Espero que, the subjunctive is required. Study tip: Remember the acronym WEIRDO (Wishes, Emotion, Impersonal expressions, Recommendations, Doubt, Ojalá) to spot subjunctive triggers — and always carry stem changes from the indicative into the subjunctive.

Question 4

A student must choose the correct spelling for the following sentence: 'We   to the park yesterday.' The Spanish verb needed is the preterite tense of 'ir' (to go) for 'nosotros.' Which option is spelled correctly?

  1. 'fuemos' — an incorrect regularization of the preterite stem, applying a familiar -emos/-amos ending
  2. 'íbamos' — the imperfect form of 'ir' for nosotros, incorrectly used here for a completed past action
  3. 'fuimos' — the irregular preterite of 'ir' for nosotros, sharing forms with 'ser' (correct answer)
  4. 'ibamos' — the imperfect of 'ir' for nosotros, misspelled because the required accent mark on the 'í' is omitted
Explanation: When tackling Spanish past-tense questions, your first step is identifying which past tense is needed. A completed, one-time action (like going to the park yesterday) calls for the preterite, not the imperfect. The verb ir (to go) has a famously irregular preterite: it shares its forms entirely with the verb ser (to be). For nosotros, that form is fuimos — no accent mark, no regular -ir ending, just a completely unique stem. This makes C the correct answer. The form follows the pattern: fui, fuiste, fue, fuimos, fuisteis, fueron. Here's why the other options miss the mark. A) fuemos is a trap for students who try to regularize the preterite by attaching a familiar -emos ending to the fu- stem — but ir's preterite is fully irregular and never takes standard endings. B) íbamos is actually the correct imperfect form of ir for nosotros, but the imperfect describes ongoing or habitual past actions ("we used to go," "we were going"), not a single completed event like going to the park yesterday. D) ibamos is also the imperfect, but it's additionally misspelled — Spanish requires an accent on the í in íbamos, making this doubly wrong. As a study tip, memorize the preterite of ir/ser together as one set of forms (fui, fuiste, fue, fuimos, fuisteis, fueron), since context alone tells you which verb is meant. This irregular group appears frequently on Spanish exams and is almost always tested.

Question 5

Los   del club son simpáticos.

  1. jovenes
  2. jóvenes (correct answer)
  3. jóven
  4. joven
Explanation: The article "Los" and verb "son" make the noun plural, so you need the plural form "jóvenes." The accent on the o is required because the plural is esdrújula. The most tempting mistake is "jovenes," which leaves off that necessary accent.

Question 6

Ojalá que ella   venido.

  1. haya (correct answer)
  2. halla
  3. allá
  4. haiga
Explanation: Ojalá triggers the present subjunctive, and with venido you need the auxiliary haber, whose subjunctive form is haya. So 'Ojalá que ella haya venido' means 'I hope she has come.' The tempting wrong choice is halla, which is a form of hallar ('to find'), not the auxiliary haber; it sounds identical but changes the meaning.

Question 7

¿Qué oración usa bien tú y tu?

  1. Tu tienes tu mochila.
  2. Tu tienes tú mochila.
  3. Tú tienes tú mochila.
  4. Tú tienes tu mochila. (correct answer)
Explanation: The pronoun 'tú' means you and always has an accent when it is the subject. The word 'tu' means your and is a possessive adjective, so it has no accent. Therefore the correct sentence is 'Tú tienes tu mochila.' The tempting error is 'Tú tienes tú mochila' because it accents the subject correctly but wrongly accents the possessive.

Question 8

No fui a clase   estaba enfermo.

  1. porqué
  2. por qué
  3. porque (correct answer)
  4. por que
Explanation: The sentence needs a conjunction meaning 'because' to connect the reason to the result. 'Porque' is one word, no accent, and means 'because'. The tempting mistake is 'por qué' (two words, with accent), which means 'why' and is used for questions, not statements of cause. 'Porqué' is a noun meaning 'reason', and 'por que' is not used here.

Question 9

¿Cuál oración está bien escrita?

  1. Los mexicanos hablan español. (correct answer)
  2. Los Mexicanos hablan español.
  3. Los mexicanos hablan Español.
  4. los mexicanos hablan español.
Explanation: In Spanish, nationalities and languages are written in lowercase, so 'mexicanos' and 'español' should not be capitalized. Only the first word of the sentence takes a capital: Los. The most tempting mistake is capitalizing Español or Mexicanos because English capitalizes languages and nationalities, but Spanish does not.

Question 10

A student is writing a short paragraph in Spanish and wants to spell and capitalize the following sentence correctly: 'my friend is from mexico and she speaks spanish and english every day.'

Which of the following versions of the sentence above correctly applies Spanish capitalization and spelling conventions?

  1. Mi amiga es de México y ella habla español e inglés todos los días. (correct answer)
  2. Mi Amiga es de México y ella habla Español e Inglés todos los días.
  3. mi amiga es de mexico y ella habla español e inglés todos los días.
  4. Mi amiga es de México y ella habla Español e Inglés todos Los días.
Explanation: When answering Spanish capitalization questions, remember that Spanish and English follow different rules — and this difference is exactly what's being tested here. In Spanish, the following words are not capitalized (unlike in English): nationalities, languages, and days of the month. Only the first word of a sentence and proper nouns (like names of countries and cities) are capitalized. So "español," "inglés," and "todos los días" should all appear in lowercase, while "México" is capitalized because it's a country name. Answer A follows all of these rules perfectly: the sentence begins with a capital "Mi," "México" is properly capitalized as a proper noun, and the languages "español" and "inglés" remain lowercase. B incorrectly capitalizes "Amiga," "Español," and "Inglés." "Amiga" is a common noun, not a proper noun, so it gets no capital letter. Capitalizing languages is a direct transfer of English rules into Spanish — a classic error to avoid. C fails to capitalize the very first word of the sentence ("mi"), which violates the one rule both Spanish and English share: sentences always begin with a capital letter. It also leaves "mexico" uncapitalized, which is wrong since it's a proper noun. D capitalizes "Español" and "Inglés" unnecessarily (same mistake as B), and oddly capitalizes "Los" in the middle of a phrase, which has no grammatical justification in either language. A helpful tip: whenever you see languages, nationalities, or days of the week in a Spanish sentence, they should almost always be lowercase. When in doubt, ask yourself — is this a specific name of a place or person? If not, keep it lowercase.

Question 11

A student writes the following sentence: 'El martes, la profesora García enseña historia de España en la universidad.' Which word or phrase in this sentence contains a capitalization ERROR according to standard Spanish conventions?

  1. The sentence contains no capitalization error; all words are correctly capitalized as written. (correct answer)
  2. 'martes' should be capitalized because it begins a date reference that follows a comma in formal writing.
  3. 'historia' should be capitalized because it refers to a specific academic subject being taught at an institution.
  4. 'universidad' should be capitalized because it is a specific institution mentioned in an academic context.
Explanation: Capitalization rules in Spanish differ significantly from English, and this question tests whether you know those differences. The key principle: Spanish uses far fewer capital letters than English does, particularly for categories that English always capitalizes. In Spanish, days of the week, months of the year, languages, nationalities, and academic subjects are not capitalized unless they begin a sentence. So martes, historia, and universidad are all correctly written in lowercase in this sentence. The sentence 'El martes, la profesora García enseña historia de España en la university' follows standard Spanish orthographic conventions perfectly — making A the correct answer. Now let's address the traps. Choice B claims martes should be capitalized because it begins a date reference. This is an English-speaker's instinct — in English we sometimes see "Tuesday" capitalized in formal writing — but in Spanish, days of the week are never capitalized mid-sentence, regardless of context or punctuation. Choice C suggests historia needs a capital because it's an academic subject. Again, this mirrors English convention (where we might write "History of Spain"), but Spanish does not capitalize course names or academic disciplines. Choice D argues universidad deserves capitalization as a specific institution, but the sentence doesn't name a specific university (like "Universidad de Madrid") — it simply says "the university," which is a common noun and stays lowercase. As a study tip: whenever you see a capitalization question in Spanish, mentally apply the rule "Spanish capitalizes less than English." Days, months, languages, nationalities, and subjects are your most tested categories — memorize them as the lowercase group.

Question 12

Which of the following pairs of Spanish words is spelled correctly AND the accent marks correctly distinguish the two different meanings?

  1. 'más' (more, adverb) and 'mas' (but, literary conjunction) — accent on the conjunction only
  2. 'tú' (your, possessive adjective) and 'tu' (you, subject pronoun) — accent on the possessive only
  3. 'sé' (reflexive pronoun) and 'se' (I know / be!) — accent on the reflexive pronoun only
  4. 'el' (the, masculine article) and 'él' (he, subject pronoun) — accent on the pronoun only (correct answer)
Explanation: Spanish uses accent marks (tildes) not just for pronunciation, but to distinguish between two words that are spelled the same way — this is called a tilde diacrítica. When you see a question like this, your job is to verify two things: which word in the pair gets the accent, AND whether the meanings assigned are correct. Start with D: el (without accent) means "the," the masculine definite article, while él (with accent) means "he," the subject pronoun. The accent mark sits on the pronoun — not the article. The spellings, meanings, and accent placement are all exactly right, making D the correct answer. Now look at the traps. Choice A gets the accent placement backwards — más (more) carries the accent, while mas (but) does not. The question claims the accent goes on the conjunction, which is the opposite of reality. Choice B makes the same reversal error with tú and tu: tú (with accent) means "you" as a subject pronoun, and tu (without accent) means "your," the possessive adjective. The question swaps their meanings AND misassigns which form gets the accent. Choice C is doubly wrong: sé (with accent) means "I know" or the command "be!" — not a reflexive pronoun. The unaccented se is the reflexive pronoun. Both the meanings and the accent description are scrambled. A useful study trick: for pronoun/article pairs like él/el and tú/tu, remember that the pronoun always gets the accent — it needs to stand on its own as a subject, so it gets marked to stand out.

Question 13

A student writes the following note to a friend: 'Oye, ¿viste la pelicula nueva? Se llama "el secreto del bosque". ¡Es genial! La directora es de Buenos Aires, Argentina.'

The student's note contains errors in capitalization of a title and a missing accent mark. Which option correctly identifies BOTH errors?

  1. 'pelicula' needs an accent (→ 'película') and 'Buenos Aires' should not be capitalized because city names follow the same rules as languages in Spanish.
  2. 'pelicula' needs an accent (→ 'película') and the film title should be fully capitalized as 'El Secreto Del Bosque' (every major word capitalized).
  3. 'genial' needs an accent (→ 'géniál') and the film title should be capitalized as 'El Secreto del Bosque' (nouns and adjectives capitalized).
  4. 'pelicula' needs an accent (→ 'película') and the film title should be capitalized as 'El secreto del bosque' (capital E on the first word only). (correct answer)
Explanation: This question tests two distinct Spanish grammar rules at once: accent mark placement and title capitalization conventions — both of which differ from English rules in important ways. Let's start with the accent mark. The word pelicula is stressed on the second-to-last syllable (pe-LI-cu-la), making it an esdrújula (stressed on the third-to-last syllable — actually, it's esdrújula since stress falls on the antepenultimate syllable). In Spanish, all esdrújulas always require a written accent mark, so the correct spelling is película. This is the error both choices A, B, and D correctly identify. Now for title capitalization: Spanish titles follow a much simpler rule than English — only the first word and proper nouns get capitalized. So "el secreto del bosque" becomes El secreto del bosque. That makes D the correct answer, as it applies exactly this rule. Here's why the other choices miss the mark: A is wrong because it incorrectly claims city names like Buenos Aires follow the same capitalization rules as languages (languages like español are actually lowercased in Spanish, while city names are still capitalized — so Buenos Aires is correctly written). B is wrong because capitalizing every major word (El Secreto Del Bosque) is an English rule, not Spanish. C fails on both counts — genial needs no accent mark at all since it follows standard stress rules, and the capitalization pattern described isn't correct Spanish convention either. Your study tip: remember that Spanish title capitalization is "first word only" — resist the English habit of capitalizing every important word.

Question 14

A student writes the following paragraph opener for a composition: 'En mi opinion, el ingles es un idioma dificil para los hispanohablantes. Sin embargo, muchos estudiantes de los estados unidos aprenden el español con mucho exito.'

The passage contains multiple accent-mark omissions and one capitalization error. Counting ONLY the missing accent marks (not the capitalization error), how many accent marks are missing?

  1. Five accent marks are missing: 'opinión,' 'inglés,' 'difícil,' 'hispanohablantes,' and 'éxito.'
  2. Three accent marks are missing: 'opinión,' 'difícil,' and 'éxito,' but 'inglés' does not require an accent mark.
  3. Four accent marks are missing: 'opinión,' 'inglés,' 'difícil,' and 'éxito.' (correct answer)
  4. Four accent marks are missing: 'opinión,' 'inglés,' 'éxito,' and 'embargo,' which should be written as 'émbargo.'
Explanation: When working with Spanish accent marks, you need to apply the rules of tildación (accentuation) systematically to every word in the passage, not just the obvious ones. Let's walk through the passage carefully. The word opinión needs an accent because it's an aguda (stress on the last syllable) ending in -n. Inglés is also aguda, ending in -s, so it requires an accent. Difícil is esdrújula (stress on the third-to-last syllable) — these always get accent marks. Finally, éxito is esdrújula as well, so it must carry an accent. That gives you exactly four missing accent marks, confirming that C is correct. Now let's address why the other choices miss the mark. A claims hispanohablantes is missing an accent — this is the trap. Hispanohablantes is a llana (stress on second-to-last syllable) ending in -s, which follows the default rule and requires no accent mark. Choosing A means you incorrectly applied accent rules to a word that doesn't need one. B claims inglés doesn't require an accent, which is wrong — agudas ending in -s always take an accent. This is a common oversight students make with loan words or familiar-looking terms. D invents a nonexistent word: émbargo is not correct Spanish. The word embargo is a llana ending in a vowel, so it follows the default rule and needs no accent. Study tip: Always categorize each word as aguda, llana, or esdrújula and check the ending before deciding whether an accent is needed. Esdrújulas always get accents — memorize that rule first.

Question 15

Which of the following Spanish words is spelled INCORRECTLY for the meaning given?

  1. 'Haber' — the auxiliary verb meaning 'to have' (as in 'haber comido')
  2. 'Haver' — the auxiliary verb meaning 'to have' (as in 'haver comido') (correct answer)
  3. 'Saber' — the verb meaning 'to know' (a fact or skill)
  4. 'Deber' — the verb meaning 'to owe' or 'should/must'
Explanation: When studying Spanish vocabulary, it's easy to overlook spelling, especially for common verbs that appear frequently in written and spoken language. This question tests whether you can identify a misspelled Spanish word. In Spanish, the auxiliary verb meaning "to have" — used in compound tenses like "haber comido" (to have eaten) — is spelled haber. There is no "v" in this word. Spanish does use the letter "v," but "haber" specifically is spelled with a "b." Choice B, "haver," substitutes a "v" for the correct "b," making it an incorrectly spelled word that does not exist in Spanish. That's your answer: B is the incorrectly spelled word. Choices A, C, and D are all correctly spelled. Choice A, "haber," is spelled properly and accurately described as the auxiliary verb for compound tenses — so this is a correct spelling, not the answer. Choice C, "saber," is correctly spelled and does mean "to know" a fact or skill (as opposed to "conocer," which means to know a person or place). Choice D, "deber," is also correctly spelled and accurately means "to owe" or expresses obligation like "should" or "must." The key trap here is the b vs. v confusion in Spanish, which is extremely common. Native Spanish speakers themselves often mix these up because "b" and "v" sound nearly identical in Spanish. As a study tip, memorize that "haber," "saber," and "deber" all end in -ber with a "b" — rhyming them together can help you lock in the correct spelling for all three.