Travel & Tourism

To talk about holidays in three timeframes: where you went, where you usually go and where you're going to go.

The time words decide the tense: el verano pasado and el año pasado take the preterite, normalmente and todos los veranos the present, and el verano que viene and el año que viene take ir a + infinitive (or the future tense, iré). Ir is irregular: fui (I went), voy (I go), voy a ir (I'm going to go). Don't mix up fui (I went) and fue (he or she went, or it was).

Exam tip: A timeframe isn't a tense: both boards count a present with a future time word (el verano que viene voy a Italia) as a reference to the future, but ir a + infinitive makes it unmistakable, so use that in the exercises.

To say what you did on a holiday: where you went, where you stayed, what you visited.

The preterite tells the story of the trip: finished actions at a definite time (el verano pasado fui a Italia). Ir and ser share the same forms, so fui can mean "I went" or "I was", and the context tells you which. Keep the accent on regular yo and él forms (visité, visitó): without it, visito means "I visit".

To describe the weather and what places were like on that holiday.

Use the imperfect for the background: the weather, what places were like, how you felt (hacía sol, el hotel era grande, estaba cansado). The things that happened go in the preterite: hacía calor, así que fuimos a la playa. Weather takes hacer, not ser: hacía frío, not era frío.

To talk about your next holiday: the future tense or ir a + infinitive.

Both talk about the future. Ir a + infinitive is the everyday "going to" (voy a ir a la playa); the future tense adds endings to the whole infinitive (iré, me alojaré) and is common for plans further ahead. The singular forms are on both tiers; at Higher you'll also need the plurals (viajaremos, nos alojaremos). With ir a, keep the a: vamos a visitar, not vamos visitar.

Exam tip: A holiday answer is a natural place to refer to the past, present and future: the top language marks in AQA's 90-word task and in Pearson's 80-90 and 130-150 word tasks need all three timeframes.

To describe your dream holiday.

Me gustaría + infinitive (I would like to) is the easiest way in: me gustaría ir a México. Then add more verbs in the conditional, which puts -ía endings on the whole infinitive: visitaría, me alojaría, sería. Irregular verbs use the future's short stems: haría, podría, tendría.

Por for travelling through or around a place; para for where you are heading and why.

Por is for moving through, along or around a place: viajé por toda España, paseamos por la playa. Para points to a goal: a destination (salimos para Madrid) or a purpose, where it means "(in order) to" before an infinitive (ahorro dinero para viajar). After ir, the usual word for "to" a place is a: voy a Madrid.