Drop a Spanish Letter Online Quiz | Languages

Drop a Spanish Letter Trivia Quiz

I give you an English word and you tell me the Spanish translation. For the next question, drop or add a letter as instructed and rearrange to form the next word. Accents are not used in answers.

A multiple-choice quiz by lorance79. Estimated time: 6 mins.

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. First word: What is "music" in Spanish?

Answer: musica

An easy one to start with! The English and Spanish words both come from the Greek root "mousike" ("of the Muses"). The Italian, German, Dutch and Danish words for music all share the same origin.

2. Take the Spanish word for "music", drop a letter and rearrange to form an adjective meaning "dirty" (in its feminine form).

Answer: sucia

The word "sucia" (or "sucio" in the masculine form) is derived from the Latin word for moisture, "sucus". The same root gives us the Spanish word for juice ("jugo"), which is hopefully not dirty at all. Yuck!

Fun fact: The San Juan Islands archipelago in the US state of Washington include Sucia Island, named by a Spanish explorer for its dangerous (or "foul") shoreline.

3. Take the Spanish word meaning "dirty" (feminine form), drop a letter and rearrange to get "almost".

Answer: casi

The Latin word "quasi" is the origin of "casi". "Quasi" is used in English, usually in conjunction with another word, to suggest that something is not quite the same as what it's being compared to. For example, a qasar is a quasi-stellar radio source.

4. Translate "almost" into Spanish and drop a letter to form a word meaning "so" or "therefore".

Answer: asi

"As�" derives from the Latin word "sic", meaning "thus". "Sic" is used in English, untranslated, to indicate that an error in a piece of quoted material was in the source, not the transcription. I find that using it gives my writing a good snobby tone when I need it!

5. Drop a letter from the Spanish word for "so" or "therefore" to reach the affirmative.

Answer: si

"S�", with an accent over the "i", comes from the Latin word "sic", and is closely related to "asi".

The Spanish language also has a "si" without an accent, meaning "if". This is a direct loanword from Latin.

6. Now we're going to give the answers in English, adding one letter at a time. Add a letter to the Spanish word for "yes" to give the English translation of "su" (masculine).

Answer: his

"Su" is a handy little Spanish word, used for "his", "hers", "their", "its" and also (in formal speech) "your". It is yet another Spanish word of Latin origin. In contrast, the English possessive pronouns are based on the Proto-Germanic language.

7. Take the English word equivalent to the Spanish "su" (masculine form), add a letter, and give me the translation of "esta".

Answer: this

"Este" and "esto" are also used to indicate "this" in Spanish, depending on the gender of the object. All forms come from the Latin word "iste" which, confusingly, means not "this" but "that". Got that?

8. If you add a letter to the English translation of "esta" and mix it up you get this word, which in Spanish is "vista" or "visi�n".

Answer: sight

At last we are back on comfortable ground with words that are recognisably related. While "sight" is based on an Old High German root, the Spanish "vista" comes from Latin (vid�re: to see), which is the origin of our "video". For the kids, a video is like an old, slow, bulky DVD :)

9. Spanish word: "vista" or "vision". Translate into English, add a letter and scramble. Now you have a word that is "cosas" in Spain.

Answer: things

"Thing" is another Middle English word that we got via Proto-German. The Spanish equivalent, on the other hand, is based on...wait for it...Latin! There's a pretty strong pattern emerging here: English "th" sounds are commonly Germanic in origin rather than Latin. Don't ask me why; I'm just an amateur etymologist.

10. Add a letter to the English equivalent of "cosas", mix things up and tell me what "caballeros" are.

Answer: knights

I thought I'd throw you one from left field to finish up the quiz. The English word derives from a Proto-German word meaning attendant or servant. In contrast, a Spanish knight is a Latin horseman. I know which one I'd prefer to be!

Source: Author lorance79

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor stedman before going online.
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Drop a Spanish Letter Trivia Quiz

I give you an English word and you tell me the Spanish translation. For the next question, drop or add a letter as instructed and rearrange to form the next word. Accents are not used in answers.

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