Sport + technology

SpanishAQAGCSEUnit: Theme 2 — Popular Culture
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The basics

Vocabulario deportivo — Sport Vocabulary

🏃 Vocabulario deportivo — Sport Vocabulary

Spanish uses three different verbs for sport activities — and examiners notice which one you use. Jugar al is for competitive sports you play against others; practicar is for athletic disciplines; hacer covers general physical activities. The table below shows the standard GCSE construction for each sport.
Deporte Verbo + ejemplo Significado
el fútbol jugar al fútbol to play football
el baloncesto jugar al baloncesto to play basketball
la natación practicar la natación to do swimming
el atletismo practicar el atletismo to do athletics
el ciclismo hacer ciclismo to do cycling
el tenis jugar al tenis to play tennis

Spanish uses THREE different verbs for sport: jugar al (competitive sports), practicar (athletic disciplines), hacer (general activities). Choose the right one for your topic.

Spotlight
La tecnología en la vida diaria — Technology in Daily Life

Technology vocabulary is tested across all four skills. The key traps are gender (internet is masculine but rarely takes an article in set phrases) and the correct preposition in navegar por internet. Master these phrases and you will stand out from students who rely only on basic words like el móvil.

Exam tip

Earn the mark scheme marks

⚠️ Errores comunes — Two Mistakes to Avoid

These errors appear in almost every set of GCSE scripts. Knowing why they are wrong helps you remember the correct form under exam pressure.

❌ Error 1: Practico el fútbol los martes.

✅ Correcto: Juego al fútbol los martes.

Why it costs marks: Fútbol is a competitive team sport, so it uses jugar al, not practicar. Practicar is used for athletic disciplines such as la natación, el atletismo, and la gimnasia. If you say practico el fútbol, examiners will understand what you mean, but it sounds unnatural and is not the standard AQA construction for team sports. Using jugar al signals that you know the distinction — and that distinction is exactly what mark-scheme descriptors at the higher bands look for.

❌ Error 2: Navego el internet todos los días.

✅ Correcto: Navego por internet todos los días.

Why it costs marks: In Spanish, internet does not take a definite article in this phrase — you do NOT say el internet in this construction. The correct phrase is navegar por internet (no article, with por). Compare: Estoy en internet is also fine, but navego el internet is not standard Spanish and immediately flags as a direct translation from English. The preposition por is the one to learn: por internet, por teléfono, por correo electrónico — all follow the same pattern.

Now try it yourself

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