Cuba Spanish Proficiency Exam for Foreign Students flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Seseo

Pronunciation of the letters z and c before e or i as [s] rather than [θ], standard in Cuba and Latin America. Thus casa and caza sound identical.

Aspiration of syllable-final /s/

In Cuban and Caribbean speech, /s/ at the end of a syllable or word weakens to [h] or disappears: los amigos becomes lo[h] amigo[h]. Meaning is recovered from context.

Preterite versus imperfect

The preterite reports completed, bounded events; the imperfect describes background, habits, or ongoing states. Combined, the imperfect sets the scene and the preterite interrupts it.

Ser versus estar

Ser expresses identity, origin, and inherent traits; estar expresses location, temporary state, and the result of a change. Compare es alegre with está alegre hoy.

Subjunctive after doubt

Expressions of doubt or denied certainty take the subjunctive: No creo que venga, Dudo que sea cierto. Affirmed belief takes the indicative: Creo que viene.

Si + imperfect subjunctive

Unreal conditional pattern: si plus imperfect subjunctive in the if-clause, conditional in the result. Si tuviera tiempo, viajaría contigo.

Por versus para

Por marks cause, exchange, duration, and movement through; para marks purpose, destination, deadline, and recipient. Compré el regalo por ti means on your behalf; para ti means intended for you.

Negative tú imperative

Negative commands use the present subjunctive form: no hables, no comas, no escribas. Object pronouns precede the verb: no me lo digas.

Affirmative pronoun attachment

With affirmative commands, infinitives, and gerunds, object pronouns attach to the end of the verb and often require a written accent: dímelo, decírmelo, diciéndomelo.

Inverted question mark

Formal written Spanish opens questions with ¿ and exclamations with ¡. Omitting the opening mark is a mechanical error in academic writing.

Accent rule for stress

Words ending in a vowel, n, or s are stressed on the penultimate syllable; all others on the last. Written accents mark exceptions to this default.

Accented interrogatives

Question words keep their written accent in indirect questions: No sé qué quiere, Preguntó cómo llegar, Dime cuándo vienes.

Discourse connectors

Explicit links between ideas: sin embargo and no obstante for contrast, por consiguiente for consequence, además for addition, en definitiva for summary.

Impersonal se

Construction that removes the agent: Se dice que…, Aquí se habla español. Very frequent in Cuban informational texts and in formal writing.

Vocabulary in context

For lexical items, test each option inside the original sentence, checking grammar and register. A dictionary meaning that breaks agreement is wrong.

Main idea versus detail

A main-idea option must cover the whole passage. An option that is accurate but limited to one paragraph is a detail distractor.

Inference items

Inference answers state something the text supports but never says directly. Options that copy a sentence verbatim are usually detail traps.

Cuban cultural referents

Recurring topics in Cuban texts: José Martí, the 1959 Revolution, the special period, son and rumba, baseball, and emigration. Recognizing them speeds gist reading.

Loss of final /d/

In casual Cuban speech, /d/ drops at the end of -ado and -ido: cansado becomes cansao, comido becomes comío. The grammatical meaning is unchanged.

Cuban [ʃ] for ch

In Havana and other Cuban varieties, the affricate ch is often pronounced as [ʃ]: muchacho sounds like mu[ʃ]a[ʃ]o. It is a regional variant, not a different word.

Fast-speech reductions

Common reductions to recognize as chunks: para becomes pa, está becomes tá, nada becomes na, verdad becomes verdá. Decode them as whole units.

Second-speaker rule

In short listening dialogues, the answer is usually in the second speaker's turn. The first turn sets the topic and often carries a distractor.

Numbers and dates dictation

Detail questions most often target numbers, dates, and proper names. Write them as digits immediately instead of in words to avoid losing them.

Essay paragraph structure

Examination essays need a thesis in the first paragraph, one idea per body paragraph joined by a connector, and a conclusion that restates without repeating the same wording.

Formal register in writing

Academic prose avoids informal tú; it uses usted or impersonal forms such as se observa, cabe señalar, conviene distinguir.

Revision checklist

Before submitting, check noun-adjective agreement, subject-verb agreement, ser versus estar, preterite versus imperfect, and pronoun placement with infinitives and gerunds.

Relative pronoun selection

Use que for restrictive clauses; el cual and la cual after prepositions and in non-restrictive clauses; quien mainly for persons, usually after a preposition.

Diminutive -ito

The suffix -ito or -ita marks smallness, affection, or politeness and is extremely frequent in Cuban speech: ahorita, un momentico. It carries register, not just size.

Voseo in Cuba

Voseo is not the Cuban norm. Informal address uses tú with its own verb forms (tú tienes, tú puedes), unlike Argentine vos tenés.

Turn-taking formulas

Interactive markers: bueno, pues to open; oye or mire for attention; ¿me explico? to check; perdón, ¿puedes repetir? to repair; es decir to reformulate.

Hedging expressions

Quizás, tal vez, and a lo mejor take the indicative; puede que and es posible que take the subjunctive. Hedging softens claims and shows interactional control.

Circumlocution strategy

When a word is missing, describe it: el aparato que sirve para… Examiners score communicative competence, so paraphrasing is not penalized as an error.