Food & Drink

To talk about what you eat in three timeframes: what you ate, what you normally eat and what you're going to eat.

The time words decide the tense: el domingo pasado, ayer and anoche take the preterite, normalmente and los domingos the present, and el domingo que viene, mañana and esta noche take ir a + infinitive. For comer: comí (I ate), como (I eat), voy a comer (I'm going to eat); cenar works the same way (cené, ceno, voy a cenar). Keep the accent on comí and cené, and don't use the present after a past time word: anoche cené, not anoche ceno.

Exam tip: The top language marks in AQA's 90-word task, Pearson's 80-90 and 130-150 word tasks and Pearson's conversation need all three timeframes.

Where English says "some" or "any", Spanish usually uses no article at all.

When you mean an amount of something rather than a particular one, Spanish leaves the article out: quiero pan (I want some bread), ¿tienes fruta? (have you got any fruit?). Don't translate "some" word for word with unos or unas here. For likes and dislikes in general the article comes back: me gusta el pan, odio el pescado.

To order in a café or restaurant: quisiera, me gustaría, ¿me pone...? or para mí.

Learn all four as fixed phrases: you don't need the whole tense behind them. Quisiera (from the imperfect subjunctive) and me gustaría (from the conditional) both mean "I would like", followed by a noun or an infinitive: quisiera el menú del día, me gustaría probar la paella. In Spain, ¿me pone...? ("can I have...?") is the everyday way to order in a bar or café, and para mí ("for me") answers the waiter's question: learn it as a set phrase (other pronouns after a preposition, like para ti or conmigo, are Higher). Quiero is correct but can sound blunt on its own, so use one of these with a waiter.

To say what you love, can't stand or prefer, and why.

Me encanta (I love) works like me gusta, so it agrees with the food: me encanta la paella, me encantan las fresas. Soportar and preferir are ordinary verbs: no soporto el pescado, prefiero la carne al pescado (I prefer meat to fish). Keep el or la before the food, because you're talking about it in general, and add a reason with porque: porque es sano.

To say what people should or shouldn't eat: hay que, debería or trato de + infinitive.

All three are followed by an infinitive. Hay que is impersonal ("you have to", meaning everyone) and never changes; debería is the conditional of deber and gives softer advice ("I should"), and at Higher deberíamos means "we should". Trato de means "I try to" and needs its de: trato de comer menos azúcar. Don't add que after deber: debo comer, not debo que comer.