essay prompt in spanish

Pluma y Papel: 50 Writing Prompts in Spanish

By: Author Valerie Forgeard

Posted on Published: August 17, 2023  - Last updated: August 21, 2023

Categories Writing

You’re about to dive into a world of Spanish writing prompts. They’ll not only improve your language skills, but also deepen your understanding of the rich Spanish culture.

Whether you’re a beginner or an advanced learner, you’ll find these exercises exciting and challenging.

So strap in, grab your pen, and let’s explore the power of writing in español together!

Key Takeaways

• Spanish writing prompts are beneficial for improving language skills and understanding cultural relevance.
• Writing in Spanish allows for the expression of rich tradition and history.
• Spanish writing prompts deepen appreciation for linguistic nuances.
• Personalized writing prompts yield great results for language learning.

50 Writing Prompts in Spanish

Familia y amigos.

• Escribe sobre tu mejor amigo y lo que te gusta de su amistad.
• Describe tu familia ideal.
• ¿Cómo celebras los cumpleaños o eventos especiales con tu familia?
• Escribe sobre un recuerdo divertido con tu familia.
• Describe la mejor cualidad de cada miembro de tu familia.
• ¿Cuál es tu materia favorita y por qué?
• Escribe sobre tu mejor maestro y lo que aprendiste en su clase.
• Describe tu día perfecto en la escuela.
• ¿Qué actividad extracurricular en la escuela es tu favorita?
• Si pudieras cambiar algo de tu escuela, ¿qué cambiarías?

Pasatiempos

• Escribe sobre tu pasatiempo favorito.
• Si pudieras aprender cualquier habilidad nueva, ¿cuál sería?
• Describe la mejor obra de arte que hayas creado.
• Escribe sobre tu libro favorito y por qué te gusta.
• Describe tu equipo o deporte favorito.
• ¿Cuál es tu comida favorita y por qué? Describe su preparación.
• Escribe sobre un plato tradicional de tu familia.
• Describe la mejor comida que hayas preparado.
• Si pudieras comer un solo alimento por el resto de tu vida, ¿cuál sería?
• Escribe sobre tu restaurante favorito y qué te gusta ordenar.
• Describe el mejor viaje o vacación que hayas tenido.
• ¿A qué país te gustaría viajar algún día?
• Si pudieras vivir en cualquier parte del mundo, ¿dónde vivirías?
• Escribe sobre un lugar histórico que te gustaría visitar.
• Describe la ciudad o pueblo perfecto para vivir.

Tecnología

• ¿Cuál es tu app o sitio web favorito y por qué?
• Describe cómo la tecnología ha cambiado tu vida.
• Si pudieras inventar algo, ¿qué inventarías?
• Escribe sobre tu robot ideal, cómo se vería y qué haría.
• ¿Cómo crees que cambiará la tecnología en el futuro?
• Describe tu animal favorito y por qué te gusta.
• Escribe sobre tu lugar favorito al aire libre.
• Si pudieras hablar con los animales, ¿qué les preguntarías?
• Describe la vista perfecta.
• Escribe sobre tu experiencia favorita en la naturaleza.

Tiempo Libre

• ¿Cómo te gusta pasar el tiempo con tus amigos?
• Describe tu día perfecto de relajación.
• ¿Cuál es tu posesión más valiosa y por qué?
• Escribe sobre tu actor o cantante favorito.
• Si pudieras ver cualquier concierto, ¿a quién verías?
• Describe una meta que tengas.
• ¿Qué te gustaría lograr este año?
• Escribe sobre algo que quieras aprender.
• ¿Qué consejo le darías a alguien que quiere alcanzar sus sueños?
• Describe dónde te ves en 10 años.
• Escribe sobre un momento en que te sentiste realmente feliz.
• Describe un tiempo en que sentiste miedo y cómo lo superaste.
• ¿Qué te hace sentir enojado o frustrado?
• Escribe sobre un momento triste y cómo lo superaste.
• ¿Qué cosas te causan estrés y cómo lidias con él?

Understanding the Importance of Spanish Writing Prompts

It’s crucial to understand the importance of Spanish writing prompts as they’re a great tool for improving your language skills. They provide language immersion, enabling you to dive deep into the linguistic nuances. You’ll start appreciating the cultural relevance embedded in each phrase and idiom.

When you write in Spanish, you don’t just jot down words; you paint a vibrant picture of life steeped in rich tradition and history.

You’re not simply learning a language; you’re embracing an entire culture. Think about it: every prompt is an invitation to ponder, explore, and even challenge your understanding of Spanish society.

Techniques for Utilizing Spanish Writing Prompts Effectively

You’ll find that applying certain techniques can greatly enhance your proficiency in the language. Utilizing Spanish writing prompts effectively is a key to unlock vocabulary expansion and cultural understanding.

When you encounter a prompt, don’t shy away from it. Embrace the challenge and start with prompt translation. Understand what’s being asked; this will enable you to respond appropriately. Remember, each word or phrase holds a world of cultural nuances.

Next, enrich your response by incorporating new words and idioms; this will not only expand your vocabulary but also deepen your grasp of the Spanish culture.

Exploring Various Types of Spanish Writing Prompts

Diving into various types of exercises can help you explore different aspects of the language, as each one is designed to target a specific skill or topic. Using Spanish writing prompts opens doors for cultural influence and vocabulary expansion. It’ll be like a thrilling journey through the marvels of the Spanish language and culture.

• Descriptive Prompts: You’re invited to describe scenarios or people using an expanded vocabulary, immersing yourself in the richness of Spanish adjectives.
• Narrative Prompts: Here, you’ll craft tales influenced by Hispanic traditions or customs, showcasing your understanding of our vibrant culture.
• Persuasive Prompts: You’ll debate topics relevant to Spanish-speaking societies.

Tips for Creating Your Own Spanish Writing Prompts

Crafting your own exercises can be a challenging yet rewarding task, as it allows you to focus on the areas you’re most interested in improving. When creating your Spanish writing prompts, remember prompt personalization is key. Tailor them around topics that fascinate you and incorporate elements of Spanish culture for cultural context.

Consider using idioms or phrases common in Spanish-speaking countries. For instance, write a dialogue using ‘Estar en las nubes’ or describe a scene inspired by ‘No hay mal que por bien no venga’. This not only improves your language proficiency but deepens your understanding of Hispanic traditions and perspectives too.

Case Studies: Success Stories Using Spanish Writing Prompts

Let’s now look at some success stories where tailored exercises played a significant role in mastering the language.

• Maria, an English speaker, struggled with Spanish verbs. Through prompt adaptation, she created sentences using different verb tenses daily. This practice dramatically increased her fluency.
• Carlos, keen on understanding Spanish culture and idioms, focused his prompts on colloquial phrases used in various Spanish-speaking countries. His cultural relevance understanding skyrocketed.
• Ana utilized writing prompts to prepare for her university entrance exam in Spain. Her focus on topics relevant to the test showed significant improvements in her written Spanish skills.

These cases show you how inserting your personal goals into writing prompts can yield great results! It’s not just about practicing; it’s about practicing smart!

So, you’ve navigated the world of Spanish writing prompts. You’ve seen their importance and learned techniques to use them effectively.

You’ve also explored various types of prompts and even created your own.

Now it’s time to put pen to paper! Remember, practice makes perfect.

Let these prompts guide you as you continue your journey mastering the beautiful Spanish language and culture. ¡Buena suerte!

SS #51: 17 journal prompts to build fluency

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There’s a mistake most learners make that keeps them frustrated.

It might be making you feel like your Spanish is worse than it is, and it’s something nearly everyone does.

Let me explain:

Picture Tom.

Tom is from Canada and his wife is from Puerto Rico. He’s been learning Spanish for a while and has reached a lower intermediate level. In an effort to improve, he tries to soak up as much Spanish as he can — reading the news, watching Netflix, listening to podcasts.

But most of it is slightly beyond comprehension. And not only that, he has the feeling that it’s not getting him any closer to having conversations with his in-laws.

He wants to participate so he can feel more like a part of the family when they get together.

But despite his efforts, he feels like a background character at dinners with her family, mind racing trying to keep up with their Spanish.

By the time he formulates a sentence in his mind, the conversation has moved on.

It’s discouraging.

Part of that is that it just takes time, and we tend to overestimate how fast it will be to speak fluently.

But the other part is obvious when you think about it: Tom has been learning things that aren’t relevant to his life.

The Spanish in the news or in Narcos isn’t relevant to conversations about his niece’s school or tomorrow’s trip to the beach.

Most of us make this mistake in our learning at some point. I definitely do sometimes.

I suspect we do this because we want to soak everything up as fast as possible. We figure, “if it’s in Spanish, I should be able to understand it.”

But there are tens of thousands of words in Spanish, most of which are not useful to your goal of having conversations with your friends, family, and neighbors.

So if it’s important to focus on what’s useful to you specifically… How do you figure out what that is?

There’s one reliable way I’ve found: journaling.

An inherent part of journaling is that it’s focused on things relevant to you. You write about your days, your goals, hopes, friends and family. You use vocabulary that pertains to your interests.

As you write, useful things pop up.

That’s because, unlike speaking, journaling gives you time to think. To consider your words, find synonyms , uncover new ways of saying things.

But if you’re like me, the  lack of knowing what to write about keeps you from opening the journal in the first place.

So even though I think it’s a great idea, I haven’t done it consistently in years because of this.

That’s why I put together a list of prompts — both for you and me.

Here’s how to use them.

• First, go find a notebook if you don’t have one yet. Any will do.
• Second, pick the prompts you like and write them on the first page.
• Third, pick one for today and start writing. If you use the same prompt for several days, you may find you get better at it. That’s progress! Repetition is important.

Here are your 17 Spanish journal prompts. 

Anótalos en tu diario y ponte a escribir!

“Hoy tengo ganas de…”

“El día comenzó con…”

“Al despertar, me di cuenta de que…”

“Me siento motivado/a para…”

“Hoy estoy pensando en…”

“Hoy tengo planeado…”

“Hoy me siento agradecido/a por…”

“Mi objetivo principal para hoy es…”

“No puedo dejar de pensar en…”

“La mejor parte de mi día de ayer fue…”

“Ayer, tuve una conversación con [persona] que me dejó pensando mucho sobre…”

“Uno de los momentos más memorables de ayer fue cuando…”

“Hace poco hice algo nuevo / algo que no había hecho en mucho tiempo, y fue…”

“Estoy emocionado/a por los días que vienen porque…”

“En los próximos días, tengo planeado…”

“Uno de mis mayores deseos para el futuro es…”

“Dentro del próximo año, espero que…”

As you start getting more comfortable in Spanish conversations, you’ll find yourself repeating the same words and phrases.

This gets tiresome, and writing helps.

It’s obvious you’re repeating yourself, and you’ll start looking for different ways to say the same thing.

It becomes even more powerful when you take it a step further:

Once you’ve written, it’s the perfect time to speak to yourself about the same topic. You’ve now put your thoughts together, and are as ready as you can be to talk about something.

But more on this in next week’s Saturday Spanish.

P.S. If you’re looking for something more, here are two ways I can help:

• Confident Spanish Pronunciation : Join dozens of motivated learners in this comprehensive, interactive course and community. It gives you the structure, strategies and training you need to speak clear, natural-sounding Spanish.
• Roadmap to Conversational : Build more confident speaking skills through real-world context and engaging conversations. Get notified first next time it opens for enrollment.

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Hey there, I'm Connor. I help motivated learners speak Spanish without slogging through grammar books or tapping through every new app. I started Breakthrough Spanish to give more people the confidence and focus to learn effectively Spanish from home. Learn more about me here .

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Spanish Writing Practice

Spanish writing exercises by level.

Practise your Spanish writing skills with our ever-growing collection of interactive Spanish writing exercises for every  CEFR level from A0 to C1! If you're unsure about your current proficiency, try our  test to get your Spanish level before diving into the exercises.

All writing exercises are made by our qualified native Spanish teachers to help you improve your writing skills and confidence.

Kwizbot  will give you a series of prompts to translate to Spanish. He’ll show you where you make mistakes as you go along and will suggest related lessons for you.

Boost your Spanish writing skills by adding the lessons you find most interesting to your  Notebook and practising them later.

Click on any exercise to get started.

A1: Beginner Spanish writing exercises

• A business meeting Employment Adjetivo Adjetivo demostrativo Adjetivo posesivo Noelia tells us about her business meeting.
• A day out with my daughter Family & Relationships Adjetivo Adjetivo posesivo Artículo definido Isabel plans to spend a delightful day out with her daughter.
• A declaration of love Family & Relationships Adjetivo Adjetivo demostrativo Adjetivo posesivo Read this declaration of love from Enrique.
• A hotel booking Monuments, Tourism & Vacations Adjetivo Adjetivo demostrativo Adjetivo posesivo Borja is going to spend a week in Barcelona and tells us about the hotel that he is going to book.
• A love story Family & Relationships Adjetivo Adjetivo posesivo Apócope Marta and Andrew meet in a bar...
• A march for rare diseases Sports & Leisure Adjetivo Adjetivo demostrativo Adjetivo posesivo Diego is participating today in a charity march.
• A mysterious invitation Family & Relationships Adjetivo Adjetivo demostrativo Adjetivo indefinido Guillermo tells us about a mysterious note he found inside his locker.
• A new space suit Technology & Science Adjetivo Adjetivo demostrativo Adjetivo invariable Sergio is going to travel to the moon in a new space suit!
• A perfect day in Granada Monuments, Tourism & Vacations Adjetivo Adjetivo demostrativo Adjetivo invariable Travel with Enrique to Granada.
• A piece of cake, please Food & Drink Adjetivo Adjetivo demostrativo Adjetivo posesivo Carolina loves celebrating her birthday in style with her favourite cake.
• A purple tide Politics, History & Economics Adjetivo Adjetivo demostrativo Adjetivo indefinido Learn about the purple tide in Spain.
• A royal dinner in Santo Domingo Food & Drink Adjetivo Adjetivo demostrativo Adjetivo invariable Indulge yourself with a royal dinner experience in Santo Domingo.
• A sunny Christmas in the Southern Cone Celebrations & Important Dates Adjetivo Adjetivo posesivo Artículo definido Humberto tells us about Christmas in Uruguay.
• A ticket for Malaga, please! Monuments, Tourism & Vacations Adjetivo Adverbio Artículo indefinido César wants to get a train ticket to travel to Malaga.
• A trip to the Sierra de Atapuerca Monuments, Tourism & Vacations Adjetivo Adjetivo demostrativo Adjetivo indefinido Pedro and Miguel are visiting Atapuerca tomorrow.
• A very interactive lesson with Kwiziq Language & Education Technology & Science Adjetivo Adjetivo demostrativo Adverbio Clara is using kwiziq for the first time and tells us about a lesson she is taking.
• Alexis Sánchez: a famous soccer player Famous People Adjetivo Adverbio Artículo indefinido Learn about Alexis Sánchez, a famous soccer player.
• Almendra market Food & Drink Adjetivo Adjetivo demostrativo Adjetivo posesivo Experience the charm of Vitoria's medieval market.
• Amelia Valcárcel: a famous Spanish philosopher Famous People Language & Education Adjetivo Adjetivo demostrativo Adjetivo invariable Learn about Amelia Valcárcel, a famous Spanish philosopher.
• An ergonomic steering wheel Technology & Science Adjetivo Adjetivo indefinido Adjetivo invariable Discover Sofia's revolutionary ergonomic steering wheel for the ultimate driving experience!
• An exhibition by Frida Kahlo Art & Design Famous People Adjetivo Adjetivo invariable Adjetivo posesivo Marcos is going to a Frida Kahlo exhibition.
• An exotic flower Art & Design Adjetivo Adjetivo demostrativo Adjetivo posesivo Learn about this Argentinian flower.
• An original costume Celebrations & Important Dates Adjetivo Adjetivo posesivo Adverbio Lucía's mum tells us about her daughter's costume.
• Ana's baby shower Family & Relationships Adjetivo Adjetivo posesivo Artículo definido Some friends are planning Ana's baby shower.
• Animal welfare Family & Relationships Adjetivo Adjetivo invariable Adjetivo posesivo Step into the realm of animal welfare, where compassion guides us to protect and care for our animal companions.
• Arón Bitrán: a Chilean violinist Music Adjetivo Adjetivo demostrativo Adjetivo indefinido Learn about Arón Bitrán, a famous Chilean violinist.
• At El Corte Inglés Sports & Leisure Adjetivo Adjetivo indefinido Adjetivo invariable Have you ever been to El Corte Ingles?
• At the cocktail bar Food & Drink Adjetivo Adjetivo demostrativo Adjetivo invariable Raúl is having a refreshing cocktail in Majorca.
• At the laundromat Technology & Science Adjetivo Adjetivo demostrativo Adjetivo posesivo Álvaro shows us how a laundromat works.
• At the nutritionist Food & Drink Adjetivo Adjetivo indefinido Adjetivo invariable Sheila is at the nutritionist looking for a healthier lifestyle.
• At the opera Music Adjetivo Adjetivo demostrativo Adjetivo invariable Ana plans to go to the opera tonight.
• At the science lab Technology & Science Adjetivo Adjetivo demostrativo Adjetivo invariable Marta and Javier love spending time in the lab.
• Bank of Spain Monuments, Tourism & Vacations Politics, History & Economics Adjetivo Artículo definido Artículo indefinido Learn about Bank of Spain.
• Be quiet! Celebrations & Important Dates Adjetivo Adjetivo indefinido Adjetivo invariable Immerse yourself in the enchanting silence of a northern Spanish procession.
• Benefits of sport Sports & Leisure Adjetivo Adjetivo indefinido Adjetivo invariable Mara tells us about exercising at the gym and its benefits.
• Blanca Paloma: Spanish candidate 2023 Music Adjetivo Adjetivo demostrativo Adverbio Meet Blanca Paloma, Spain's candidate for Eurovision 2023.
• Booking a table in a restaurant Food & Drink Adjetivo Adjetivo posesivo Artículo indefinido Learn how to book a table in a Spanish restaurant.
• Breakfast at home Food & Drink Adjetivo Adjetivo invariable Adjetivo posesivo Raúl loves having a healthy breakfast at home every morning.
• Buenos Aires International Book Fair Monuments, Tourism & Vacations Adjetivo demostrativo Artículo definido Artículo indefinido Learn about this cultural event in Buenos Aires.
• Calva: a traditional Spanish game Sports & Leisure Adjetivo Adjetivo demostrativo Adjetivo indefinido Learn about calva, a traditional Spanish game.
• Carnival in Rio de Janeiro Celebrations & Important Dates Adjetivo Adjetivo demostrativo Adjetivo invariable Julio is in Rio de Janeiro to visit its famous carnival.
• Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela Art & Design Monuments, Tourism & Vacations Artículo definido Contracción de artículo El Futuro Próximo John would like to visit the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela.
• Celebrating a new year Celebrations & Important Dates Adjetivo Adjetivo demostrativo Artículo definido Juan tells us his plans for New Year's Eve.
• Chocolate and roses Celebrations & Important Dates Adjetivo Adjetivo demostrativo Adjetivo posesivo Patricia describes us the most common presents for Saint Valentine's Day.
• Cibeles: a monument in Madrid Monuments, Tourism & Vacations Adjetivo Adjetivo demostrativo Adjetivo posesivo Learn about Cibeles, a famous monument in Madrid.
• Climate change Technology & Science Adjetivo Adverbio Aspecto progresivo Patricia doesn't feel happy at all about climate change.
• Coco: a lovely poodle Family & Relationships Adjetivo Adjetivo indefinido Adjetivo invariable Meet Coco, a lovely poodle.
• Colombian coffee Food & Drink Adjetivo Adjetivo posesivo Adverbio There is always a nice cup of Colombian coffee at Carlos Alberto's house!
• Colon Theatre in Buenos Aires Art & Design Adjetivo Adjetivo demostrativo Adjetivo indefinido Pedro tells us about a famous theatre building in Buenos Aires.
• Cuban rum Food & Drink Adjetivo Adjetivo demostrativo Adjetivo invariable Patricia tells us about her favourite Cuban drink.
• Load more …

A2: Lower Intermediate Spanish writing exercises

• A Christmas cocktail Food & Drink Adjetivo Adjetivo indefinido Adverbio Celebrate the season in style with our special cocktail.
• A Spanish course in Bogota Language & Education Adjetivo Adjetivo indefinido Adjetivo invariable Patrick tells us about his Spanish course in Colombia.
• A creepy recipe for this Halloween Food & Drink Adjetivo Adverbio El Futuro Próximo Enjoy a terrifying Halloween recipe!
• A cruise to Puerto Rico Monuments, Tourism & Vacations Adjetivo Adjetivo invariable Adjetivo posesivo Manuel feels excited about his next cruise trip to Puerto Rico.
• A day in Las Burgas Monuments, Tourism & Vacations Adjetivo Adjetivo indefinido Adjetivo posesivo Borja tells us about a relaxing day in Las Burgas.
• A day out at the park Family & Relationships Adverbio interrogativo Artículo definido Conjunción subordinante Pedro and Rosa are gearing up for a park day tomorrow.
• A day outside Sports & Leisure Adjetivo Adjetivo indefinido Adjetivo invariable Julián tells us about his amazing weekend.
• A different look Art & Design Adjetivo indefinido Adverbio Adverbio de cantidad Carmela went to the beauty salon and tells us about her experience.
• A documentary about the Sun Film & TV Technology & Science Adjetivo Adverbio interrogativo Artículo definido Javier watched a documentary about the Sun last night.
• A ghost tour Celebrations & Important Dates Monuments, Tourism & Vacations Adjetivo Adjetivo demostrativo Adjetivo indefinido David has booked a ghost tour for Halloween night in Madrid.
• A handmade gift Art & Design Adjetivo Adjetivo demostrativo Adjetivo indefinido Discover Juan's artistic touch in every detail of this special handmade gift.
• A horrible campsite Monuments, Tourism & Vacations Adjetivo Adjetivo indefinido Adverbio María describes us her unpleasant experience at a campsite.
• A horror film Film & TV Adjetivo Adjetivo indefinido Aspecto imperfectivo Marta watched a terrifying film yesterday.
• A job interview Employment Adjetivo Adjetivo demostrativo Adjetivo posesivo Ainhoa is ready to do her first job interview.
• A letter to Melchior Celebrations & Important Dates Adjetivo Adjetivo demostrativo El Presente Alberto wrote a letter to Melchior, his favourite wise man.
• A luxurious day in Marbella Monuments, Tourism & Vacations Aspecto imperfectivo El Pretérito Imperfecto El Pretérito Indefinido Aurelia tells us about her luxurious visit to a friend in Marbella.
• A memory-based challenge Sports & Leisure Adjetivo Adjetivo invariable Adjetivo posesivo Embark on an enchanting journey with Julia through the enigmatic labyrinth of memories.
• A mountaineering adventure in Jalisco Sports & Leisure Adjetivo indefinido Aspecto imperfectivo Conjunción coordinante While mountaineering El Diente in Jalisco, Julio faced tough trails and reveled in the breathtaking summit views.
• A movie marathon Film & TV Adjetivo Adjetivo demostrativo Adjetivo indefinido Carlos plans to have a movie marathon this weekend at home.
• A postcard from Madrid Monuments, Tourism & Vacations Adjetivo indefinido Adverbio Conjunción Raquel received a postcard from her best friend.
• A story of personal triumph Sports & Leisure Adjetivo Adjetivo demostrativo Adjetivo indefinido Pedro tells us his story of personal improvement after being in an accident.
• A stunning car in the newspaper Sports & Leisure Aspecto imperfectivo El Pretérito Imperfecto El Pretérito Indefinido Discover Antonio's latest passion.
• A superbike event Sports & Leisure Adjetivo Adverbio El Futuro Próximo Two friends have been to a superbike event.
• A surprise party Family & Relationships Adverbio Adverbio de cantidad Adverbio interrogativo Raquel doesn't know where her family is today.
• A tour of Buenos Aires Monuments, Tourism & Vacations Adjetivo Adverbio El Futuro Próximo Manuel tells us about his visit to Buenos Aires.
• A very healthy barbecue Food & Drink Adjetivo Adjetivo indefinido Adjetivo posesivo Discover Pedro and Maribel's recipes for their barbecue.
• A very noisy neighbour Family & Relationships Adjetivo Adjetivo invariable Adjetivo posesivo Sara has to deal with a really noisy neighbour living downstairs.
• A wedding in Las Vegas Family & Relationships Adjetivo Adjetivo demostrativo Adjetivo indefinido Discover what a wedding in Las Vegas means!
• A weekend in Sierra Nevada Monuments, Tourism & Vacations El Pretérito Indefinido Expresión idiomática con "estar" Gender of nouns in Spanish: masculine Mercedes tells us about her weekend in Sierra Nevada in the south of Spain.
• Acid rain Technology & Science Adjetivo Adjetivo demostrativo Adjetivo invariable Learn about some interesting facts about the acid rain.
• Aid to emancipate myself Family & Relationships Adjetivo Adjetivo demostrativo Adjetivo invariable Miguel tells us about his struggle to pay rent.
• Ainhoa Arteta: a Spanish soprano Famous People Music Adjetivo Adjetivo invariable Aspecto imperfectivo Learn about Ainhoa Arteta, a famous Spanish soprano.
• Aire fresco: an Argentinian film Film & TV Adjetivo Adjetivo posesivo Adverbio Learn about the Argentinian movie that Rodrigo saw yesterday.
• An afternoon in Caracas Monuments, Tourism & Vacations Adjetivo Adjetivo demostrativo Adjetivo indefinido María Elena spent an exciting afternoon with her friend Gabriela in Caracas.
• An aromatherapy session Sports & Leisure Adjetivo Conjunción subordinante El Futuro Próximo Discover what an aromatherapy session is like!
• An interview with Juanes Famous People Adjetivo Adjetivo demostrativo Adjetivo indefinido Learn about Juanes' music with this interview.
• An unusual taxi ride Monuments, Tourism & Vacations Adjetivo Artículo neutro El Pretérito Imperfecto Juan tells us about his strange experience in a taxi. In this exercise you'll practise El Pretérito Imperfecto and El Pretérito Indefinido.
• Aragonese jota Music Adjetivo Adjetivo indefinido Adverbio Pilar tells us about her local dance, the Aragonese jota.
• Argentina's journey towards a zero-waste lifestyle Technology & Science Adjetivo Adjetivo demostrativo Adjetivo invariable Argentina is striving for zero waste, prioritizing reduction, reuse, and recycling for a sustainable future.
• Arguiñano and his set menu Famous People Food & Drink Adjetivo Adjetivo posesivo Adverbio Minerva loves Zarauz and Arguiñano's restaurant.
• Armed Forces Immigration & Citizenship Politics, History & Economics Adjetivo Adjetivo demostrativo Adjetivo indefinido Learn about The Spanish Armed Forces
• Art therapy in Spain Art & Design Adjetivo Adjetivo indefinido Adjetivo interrogativo y exclamativo Learn about some art therapy exercises.
• At Cartagena beach Monuments, Tourism & Vacations Adverbio Adverbio de cantidad Aspecto imperfectivo Juan went to the beach with some of his friends yesterday.
• At a barbecue Food & Drink Adjetivo Adjetivo indefinido Adjetivo interrogativo y exclamativo Grill and chill at Sandra and her friends' barbecues.
• At a karate competition Sports & Leisure Adjetivo Adjetivo indefinido Adverbio Gabriel just participated in a karate competition.
• At our deli shop Food & Drink Adjetivo Adjetivo invariable Adjetivo posesivo Are you looking for something different to eat? If so, visit Leila's deli.
• At the circus Sports & Leisure Adjetivo Adjetivo invariable Adjetivo posesivo Irene tells us about a circus afternoon with her son.
• At the dry cleaner's Family & Relationships Adjetivo Adjetivo demostrativo Adjetivo indefinido Raquel just left the dry cleaners with a lovely just-ironed shirt.
• At the florist Art & Design Adjetivo Adjetivo interrogativo y exclamativo Adjetivo posesivo Marta is at the florist to buy her sister some flowers.
• At the office gym Employment Sports & Leisure Adjetivo Adjetivo posesivo Artículo indefinido Do you have a gym in your office?

B1: Intermediate Spanish writing exercises

• 5G network Technology & Science Adjetivo Adverbio El Futuro Simple Learn about the 5G network.
• 6th of January Celebrations & Important Dates Adjetivo Artículo neutro El Futuro Simple Eduardo is thinking about the 6th of January in order to get his Christmas presents.
• A Christmas jumper Art & Design Adjetivo El Futuro Simple El Presente de Subjuntivo Marcos must wear a Christmas jumper (US: sweater) for a party, but he is not very excited about it.
• A Halloween wish Celebrations & Important Dates Adjetivo Adjetivo indefinido Adverbio Daniela tells us about her special Halloween wish.
• A Mediterranean breakfast Food & Drink Adjetivo Adverbio de cantidad Adverbio interrogativo This food company has prepared a magnificent Mediterranean breakfast for you to start your day!
• A Tinder date Family & Relationships Technology & Science Adjetivo Adverbio de duda Artículo neutro Learn about Tomás's Tinder date.
• A bumpy flight Monuments, Tourism & Vacations Adjetivo Adverbio interrogativo Adverbio relativo Rosa tells us about her bumpy flight to Costa Rica.
• A day among dolphins Family & Relationships El Futuro Simple El Presente El Presente de Subjuntivo Marisa tells us about her mother's passion: dolphins.
• A family lunch on Easter Sunday Celebrations & Important Dates Family & Relationships Adjetivo Adverbio interrogativo Conjunción Javier tells us about what lunch on Easter Sunday is like for his family.
• A gala evening Art & Design Adjetivo Adjetivo indefinido Adjetivo invariable Sara has received an invitation for a special event.
• A human anatomy class Technology & Science Adjetivo Adjetivo indefinido Adjetivo interrogativo y exclamativo Dive into the marvels of the human body in our anatomy class!
• A jungle trip Monuments, Tourism & Vacations Adjetivo Adjetivo indefinido Conjunción subordinante Andrea tells us about her ideal holiday.
• A luxurious stay in Madrid Monuments, Tourism & Vacations Adjetivo Adverbio interrogativo Conjunción Stay in a top luxurious hotel in Madrid!
• A magic show in hospital Employment Adjetivo Adverbio interrogativo Apócope Alberto is starting a new job next week in a hospital.
• A night hike Sports & Leisure Adjetivo Adverbio Adverbio de cantidad Experience the thrill of a night hike with María and Alberto.
• A photo of our grandparents Family & Relationships Adjetivo Adjetivo interrogativo y exclamativo Adjetivo invariable Two brothers show us a heartwarming snapshot of their cherished grandparents.
• A roadside breakdown Technology & Science Adjetivo Adjetivo indefinido Adverbio Juan's roadside breakdown transformed his routine drive into an unexpected adventure.
• A romantic dinner Family & Relationships Adjetivo Adjetivo demostrativo Adverbio Sergio and Tania have a romantic dinner.
• A second chance Family & Relationships Adjetivo Adjetivo invariable Comparativo Manuela is asking Mateo to give their relationship a second chance.
• A trip to Majorca Monuments, Tourism & Vacations Adjetivo Adjetivo indefinido Adverbio interrogativo Discover the beautiful city of Majorca.
• A video game night Sports & Leisure Adjetivo Artículo neutro El Imperativo Learn about the benefits of playing with video games.
• A weekend in the Pyrenees Sports & Leisure Adjetivo Apócope El Presente Last weekend, Samuel and his friends ventured out of the city to seek adventure in the magnificent Pyrenees.
• A wonderful gardener Art & Design Adjetivo Adjetivo indefinido Adjetivo invariable Learn about Pedro, a high-skilled gardener.
• Acupuncture Sports & Leisure Adjetivo Adverbio Adverbio interrogativo Learn about acupuncture in Spanish.
• Adventures with friends Monuments, Tourism & Vacations Adjetivo Adverbio interrogativo Adverbio relativo Raquel loves spending time with her friends and going on trips with them.
• All Saints' Day Celebrations & Important Dates Adjetivo Adjetivo indefinido Artículo neutro Learn about how All Saints' Day is celebrated in Spain.
• As bestas by Rodrigo Sorogoyen Film & TV Adjetivo Adjetivo indefinido Adverbio interrogativo Discover As bestas, a Spanish thriller by the film director Rodrigo Sorogoyen.
• At Carlos Baute's concert Music Adjetivo Adjetivo indefinido Adverbio interrogativo María Fernanda went to a Carlos Baute's concert, a famous Venezuelan singer.
• At summer camp Employment Sports & Leisure Adjetivo Adverbio interrogativo Conjunción Maribel feels very excited about working as a group leader at a summer camp.
• At the Magic Fountain of Montjuïc Celebrations & Important Dates Adjetivo Adverbio interrogativo Apócope Ester plans to start the New Year at the Magic Fountain of Montjuïc.
• At the butcher's Food & Drink Adjetivo Adjetivo indefinido Adjetivo interrogativo y exclamativo Learn how to order some meat at the butcher's.
• At the gym Sports & Leisure Adverbio Adverbio interrogativo Conjunción Samuel wants to lose some weight and keep healthy.
• At the local gym Sports & Leisure Adjetivo indefinido Adverbio Adverbio interrogativo Pedro tells us about his workout at the local gym.
• At the market Food & Drink Adjetivo Adjetivo indefinido Adjetivo interrogativo y exclamativo Join us at the market for a delightful shopping experience.
• At the pediatrician Family & Relationships Adjetivo Adverbio Adverbio interrogativo Lucia's baby is not feeling well and she is at the pediatrician to get some advice.
• At the street market Food & Drink Adjetivo Adjetivo indefinido Adjetivo invariable Learn about the most famous street market in Madrid.
• At the tourist office Monuments, Tourism & Vacations Adjetivo Adverbio Adverbio interrogativo Mónica and Ángel are at the tourist office to get some information for their day trip to San Jose.
• At the vet Family & Relationships Adjetivo Adjetivo indefinido Adverbio Rodrigo takes Max to the vet as he is not feeling well.
• B-Travel Barcelona: a tourism fair Monuments, Tourism & Vacations Adjetivo Adjetivo invariable Adverbio de duda Learn about this interesting tourism fair in Barcelona.
• Baroque in Latin America Art & Design Adjetivo Adverbio interrogativo Adverbio relativo Learn about the baroque in Latin America.
• Bartering Politics, History & Economics Technology & Science Adjetivo Artículo neutro El Condicional Simple Interested in exchanging your stuff without using money?
• Buena Vista Social Club: a Cuban band Music Adjetivo Apócope Aspecto progresivo Learn about the Buena Vista Social Club, a famous Cuban band.
• Buying a second home in Spain Politics, History & Economics Adjetivo Adverbio Adverbio interrogativo This couple feels very excited about buying a house in Spain for their retirement.
• Captain Thunder Literature, Poetry, Theatre Adjetivo El Pretérito Imperfecto El Pretérito Indefinido Ramiro tells us about Captain Thunder.
• Changing schools Language & Education Adjetivo Adjetivo invariable Conjunción María is starting at a new school.
• Cheap smart homes Technology & Science Adjetivo Adverbio Adverbio interrogativo Learn about how to set up a cheap smart home.
• Circuit of Jarama Sports & Leisure Adjetivo Adverbio Apócope Learn about Rodrigo, a high-speed motorcyclist.
• Classical music in Mexico Music Adjetivo Adverbio interrogativo Apócope Learn about classical music in Mexico.
• Cleaning bots: revolutionizing household cleaning Technology & Science Adjetivo Adjetivo indefinido Adjetivo invariable Transform your cleaning routine with revolutionary cleaning bots!
• Climbing up and down stairs Sports & Leisure Adjetivo Adjetivo indefinido Adjetivo invariable Explore the benefits for your health and well-being by climbing the stairs.

B2: Upper Intermediate Spanish writing exercises

• 12 self-portraits by Pablo Picasso Art & Design Adjetivo Adjetivo indefinido Adverbio Learn about Pablo Picasso's self-portraits.
• A Christmas surprise Celebrations & Important Dates Adjetivo Adverbio Adverbio de cantidad Daniela is wondering who wrote her an anonymous message.
• A Christmas tale Celebrations & Important Dates Adjetivo Adjetivo invariable Adverbio A forgotten Christmas gift sparks a heartwarming holiday story.
• A big surprise! Monuments, Tourism & Vacations Adjetivo El Presente de Subjuntivo El Pretérito Imperfecto Adela tells us about an axciting surprise she got from her boyfriend.
• A change of career Employment Language & Education Adjetivo Apócope Conjunción Discover Vanessa's career plans.
• A delayed train Monuments, Tourism & Vacations Adjetivo interrogativo y exclamativo El Condicional Simple El Futuro Perfecto Ana is furious about the fact that her train is delayed.
• A family of potters Art & Design Adjetivo Adjetivo invariable Adverbio Get into the fascinating world of a family of master potters.
• A gift woven with care Family & Relationships Adjetivo Adverbio interrogativo Adverbio relativo Clara's skilled hands knit more than just a sweater.
• A homemade costume Art & Design Celebrations & Important Dates Adjetivo Adverbio de negación Conjunción coordinante Amalia plans to make her own costume for carnival.
• A letter to Santa Celebrations & Important Dates Adjetivo Conjunción El Condicional Simple Read this letter from my nephew.
• A letter to my love Family & Relationships Adjetivo Adverbio Adverbio interrogativo Sandra wrote a romantic letter to her love.
• A lost Nazarene Celebrations & Important Dates Adverbio Adverbio de duda Adverbio interrogativo Rodrigo got lost during a celebration!
• A magic piano Music Adjetivo Adjetivo interrogativo y exclamativo Adverbio interrogativo Learn about Pablo Alborán and his excellent piano skills.
• A message from the Three Wise Men Celebrations & Important Dates Adjetivo Adverbio Adverbio interrogativo Lucas is enchanted by a celestial message from the Three Wise Men.
• A saeta Celebrations & Important Dates Music Adjetivo Artículo neutro El Futuro Simple Jaime tells us about his experience in Seville during Easter celebrations.
• A snow storm Technology & Science Adjetivo Apócope El Pretérito Imperfecto Have you ever experienced a big snow storm?
• A special lunch Food & Drink Adjetivo Adjetivo indefinido Adjetivo interrogativo y exclamativo Arancha enjoyed a special lunch today.
• A tourist in my own city Monuments, Tourism & Vacations Adjetivo Adverbio de duda Artículo neutro Marta tells us about the pleasure of being in an empty city during the summer.
• A true friendship Family & Relationships Adjetivo Adverbio interrogativo Apócope What does a true friendship look like?
• A very nosy parrot Family & Relationships Aspecto progresivo Conjunción El Condicional Simple Meet Beru the parrot. It's hard to have a secret conversation with him around!
• A walk along the Guayas river Monuments, Tourism & Vacations Adjetivo Adverbio Conjunción Have a fun learning jorney with this tourist leaflet about the Guayas river in Ecuador.
• A weekend without new technology Family & Relationships Technology & Science Adjetivo Adverbio de cantidad Conjunción coordinante Carlos' mum was concerned about his health and recommended him to spend a weekend away.
• An afternoon around the fire Sports & Leisure Adjetivo Aspecto progresivo Conjunción subordinante What do you think of a warm afternoon around the fire?
• An appointment with the ENT specialist Family & Relationships Adjetivo interrogativo y exclamativo Adverbio interrogativo Conjunción Carlos got an appointment with the Ear, Nose and Throat doctor to get a treatment for his anosmia.
• An inspiring extreme sports story Sports & Leisure Adjetivo Adverbio interrogativo Adverbio relativo Unleash your adrenaline with an inspiring story of extreme sports triumph.
• An oasis in the middle of the desert Monuments, Tourism & Vacations Adjetivo Adverbio interrogativo Adverbio relativo In the barren desert, a hidden oasis offers solace to weary travelers.
• An online Carnival party Celebrations & Important Dates Technology & Science Adjetivo Adjetivo indefinido Adverbio Victoria is very excited about her upcoming online Carnival party.
• An online shopping gift voucher Technology & Science Adjetivo El Condicional Simple El Futuro Simple Lorena feels very lucky today with her online shopping gift voucher.
• An undercover investigation Employment Adjetivo Adverbio interrogativo Adverbio relativo In the shadows of the drug underworld, an undercover investigation reveals the truth.
• Apology letter to a client Free Language & Education Adjetivo Conjunción Conjunción subordinante Learn how to write a formal letter of apology in Spanish.
• Are you ready to adopt an animal? Family & Relationships Conjunción subordinante El Condicional Simple El Futuro Simple Find out if you are ready to adopt an animal.
• Art therapy exercises Art & Design Adjetivo Adverbio interrogativo Adverbio relativo Learn about some art therapy exercises.
• At the hairdresser's Art & Design Adjetivo indefinido Adjetivo interrogativo y exclamativo Adverbio de duda Clara goes to the hairdresser to change her look.
• Athleisure on social media Sports & Leisure Technology & Science Adjetivo Adjetivo indefinido Adverbio Laura loves following social media athleisure accounts.
• Basque Pottery Museum Art & Design Adjetivo Adverbio interrogativo Adverbio relativo Have you ever been to the Basque Pottery Museum?
• Be my Valentine! Celebrations & Important Dates Family & Relationships Adjetivo Adverbio Adverbio interrogativo Miguel is declaring his love for Jimena in front of everyone!
• Blanca Suárez: a Spanish actress Famous People Film & TV Adjetivo Conjunción coordinante El Pretérito Perfecto Subjuntivo Learn about the famous Spanish actress Blanca Suárez
• Breakfast, the most important meal of the day Food & Drink Adjetivo Adverbio Adverbio interrogativo Discover why breakfast is such an important meal for performing well at work.
• Campervan trip Monuments, Tourism & Vacations Sports & Leisure Adjetivo Adjetivo indefinido Adverbio Jesús and Mateo love their campervan and travelling around Spain
• Campsite activities Monuments, Tourism & Vacations Adjetivo Apócope Artículo neutro Get some fresh ideas for things to do when you go camping.
• Casa Decor Madrid Art & Design Adjetivo Adjetivo indefinido Apócope Adriana plans to attend an exclusive exhibition next year.
• Casillero del Diablo Food & Drink Adjetivo El Presente de Subjuntivo El Pretérito Imperfecto Rosa and Enrique tell us about their experience with this Chilean wine.
• Changing my wardrobe Art & Design Adjetivo Adverbio Adverbio interrogativo María plans to change the clothes in her closet for the new season.
• Chupachups: the Spanish lollipop Food & Drink Adjetivo Apócope El Pretérito Imperfecto Did you know that these lollipops were a Spanish invention?
• Colombia in the world Monuments, Tourism & Vacations Adjetivo Apócope Conjunción Why is Colombia a great place to visit?
• Couchsurfing in Spain Monuments, Tourism & Vacations Adjetivo Adjetivo indefinido Adverbio interrogativo Learn about Couchsurfing, a service that connects a global community of travelers.
• DIY Art & Design El Condicional Perfecto El Futuro Perfecto El Futuro Simple Do some DIY with Marta!
• Dancing an aurresku Music Adjetivo Adverbio El Imperativo Learn about the aurresku, a famous dance from the Basque Country.
• Dominican style salted cod Food & Drink Adjetivo Adverbio Artículo neutro Savor the Dominican touch with our Dominican style salted cod.
• Dream trips Sports & Leisure Adjetivo Adverbio interrogativo Adverbio relativo Have you ever experienced a dream trip?

C1: Advanced Spanish writing exercises

• 2021: the Year of the Ox Celebrations & Important Dates El Infinitivo Compuesto Jerga/ Expresión idiomática Modo subjuntivo Learn about the new Chinese year for 2021.
• A TikTok dance challenge Sports & Leisure Technology & Science Adverbio Adverbio de duda Artículo definido Celia's dance got popular in TikTok.
• A coffee shop for cats Family & Relationships Sports & Leisure Adjetivo Artículo neutro Gerundio/Spanish present participle Discover this unusual coffee shop where cats are the stars!
• A film review Film & TV Adjetivo Artículo neutro Aspecto progresivo Antonio makes us a review of a movie.
• A handyman at home Technology & Science Adjetivo Adjetivo indefinido Apócope Transform your living space with the expert touch of our skilled handyman services!
• A rock 'n' roll grandmother Family & Relationships Music Adjetivo Artículo definido Artículo neutro Sandra tells us about her unconventional grandmother, Carmen.
• A tornado Family & Relationships Adjetivo Artículo neutro Conjunción A fierce tornado struck Mar Azul, turning its tranquil shores into a tempestuous battleground.
• Alcoy and its textile industry Art & Design Adjetivo Artículo definido Artículo neutro Inés is telling her son Alberto about Alcoy's industry.
• Antonio Gaudi's architecture Art & Design Famous People Adjetivo Artículo neutro Conjunción coordinante Learn about Gaudí's architecture in Barcelona and practise relative pronouns and the passive voice.
• Benefits of art therapy Art & Design Adjetivo Artículo neutro Conjunción coordinante Have you ever heard about art therapy?
• Bilbao Book Fair Literature, Poetry, Theatre El Infinitivo Compuesto El Presente de Subjuntivo El Pretérito Imperfecto Subjuntivo Ready to visit the Bilbao Book Fair?
• Bungee Jumping Sports & Leisure El Condicional Perfecto El Condicional Simple El Futuro Perfecto Candela tells us about her first bungee jump.
• Castile comes from 'castle' Language & Education Adjetivo Artículo neutro Conjunción coordinante Learn about the etymological origin of the word 'Castile'.
• Cataract surgery Family & Relationships Artículo definido Artículo neutro Aspecto perfectivo Cecilia tells us about her upcoming cataract surgery.
• Centennial oak trees Sports & Leisure Artículo neutro Conjunción subordinante El Presente de Subjuntivo Shelter beneath the magnificent centennial oak trees.
• Charity Kings Parade Celebrations & Important Dates Artículo definido Artículo neutro Conjunción Are you a fan of The Three Wise Men?
• Chinese horoscope Technology & Science Artículo neutro Aspecto progresivo Conjunción Learn about the Chinese horoscope.
• Climbing the Gorbea Sports & Leisure Adjetivo Aspecto progresivo Conjunción Learn about this hill in the north of Spain.
• Cognitive inclusion at school Language & Education Artículo definido Artículo indefinido Artículo neutro Learn about this cognitive inclusion project.
• Combat sports: sport or violence? Sports & Leisure Adjetivo Conjunción coordinante Expressing need and obligation (deber, tener que, haber que, necesitar [que]) Do you think that combat sports are violent? Look at what Pedro thinks about them.
• Corruption Politics, History & Economics Adjetivo Aspecto progresivo El Presente Corruption in Spain is a serious problem that dates back centuries.
• Council housing challenges Art & Design Aspecto progresivo Conjunción subordinante El Condicional Simple Learn about the council housing situation in a Spanish city.
• Eating in the heights of Barcelona Food & Drink Adjetivo Adverbio interrogativo Adverbio relativo Interested in getting a high-flying meal?
• Elcano: sailing into history's horizon Politics, History & Economics Adjetivo Cambio de tiempos verbales inesperados Conjunción subordinante Join Elcano on a historic voyage, where the seas become a canvas for extraordinary tales.
• Frozen Film & TV Adjetivo Artículo neutro Conjunción Experience the magic of ice and adventure in 'Frozen'.
• Handicrafts Art & Design Adjetivo Artículo neutro Conjunción Discover what the traditional Honduran handicrafts are.
• Hatless women Politics, History & Economics Adjetivo Artículo neutro El Condicional Simple Learn about the hatless women from the twenties.
• History of Valencia FC Sports & Leisure Adjetivo Artículo neutro El Pretérito Imperfecto Learn about Valencia FC's history.
• History of ceramics in America Art & Design Adjetivo Artículo neutro El Pretérito Imperfecto Trace the evolution of American ceramics through the centuries.
• How to become an au pair Employment Language & Education Adjetivo Artículo neutro El Presente Are you looking for a host family to do some au pair work while improving a foreign language?
• I'm going everywhere with my GPS! Sports & Leisure Artículo definido Artículo neutro El Infinitivo Compuesto Pedro tells us about the GPS he just bought.
• Ice on the moon? Technology & Science Adjetivo Adverbio interrogativo Aspecto progresivo Is there or was there water on the Moon?
• Improving the circulation of my veins Technology & Science Adjetivo Adjetivo interrogativo y exclamativo Adverbio Elisa has decided she needs to improve her circulation and embrace a healthier lifestyle.
• Intarsia Art & Design Adjetivo Expresión idiomática con "ser" Infinitivo Learn about intarsia, a very old traditional woodwork technique.
• Is it cake? Film & TV Adjetivo Adverbio interrogativo Adverbio relativo Learn about an amazing TV show on Netflix.
• Jose Ortega y Gasset: a Spanish philosopher Famous People Language & Education Adjetivo Artículo neutro El Pretérito Imperfecto Learn about Ortega y Gasset and his philosophy.
• Kitchen Nightmares Film & TV Adjetivo Artículo neutro Expressing need and obligation (deber, tener que, haber que, necesitar [que]) Step into the world of 'Kitchen Nightmares', where culinary rescues and transformations unfold in each episode.
• Last-minute travelling Monuments, Tourism & Vacations Adverbio interrogativo Adverbio relativo Artículo definido Marisa is tempted to travel last minute this summer.
• Lost among cacti Family & Relationships Adjetivo Conjunción subordinante El Pretérito Imperfecto Lucía found herself adrift in a prickly sea of cacti.
• Madeira Centro hotel Art & Design Monuments, Tourism & Vacations Adjetivo Conjunción coordinante Gerundio/Spanish present participle Discover this beautiful hotel in Benidorm.
• Marmitako to keep warm Food & Drink Adjetivo Artículo neutro El Condicional Simple Blanca feels like cooking a hot tuna dish to warm herself up after a rainy day.
• Mexicans in the USA Immigration & Citizenship Adjetivo Artículo neutro Conjunción coordinante Amelia is impressed by Mexican culture and cuisine in the USA.
• Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba Art & Design Monuments, Tourism & Vacations Conjunción Expresión idiomática con "ser" Expressing need and obligation (deber, tener que, haber que, necesitar [que]) Have you ever visited the Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba?
• My father's self-portrait Art & Design Adverbio de cantidad Expresión idiomática con "estar" Gerundio/Spanish present participle Daniel had a lot of fun with his father's self-portrait.
• My relationship with my parents Family & Relationships Adjetivo Artículo neutro Conjunción Learn about Pablo's relationship with his parents.
• Myths associated with Valentine's Day Celebrations & Important Dates Adjetivo Artículo neutro Conjunción Discover some myths behind Valentine's Day.
• On the moon Technology & Science Adjetivo Adverbio interrogativo Adverbio relativo Learn about Clara's adventure in an unknown place.
• One day on the radio Film & TV Adjetivo Adverbio de duda Artículo neutro María is looking forward to participating in a radio session.
• Our energy bill Technology & Science Adjetivo Artículo neutro Conjunción Samuel and his wife are not happy at all with their last electricity bill.
• PISA report: Spain Language & Education Adjetivo Artículo neutro Conjunción coordinante Carlos, headmaster of a Spanish school, shares his thoughts about the latest PISA report.

In this section

• Hanukkah 2023 Menorah
• Christmas 2023 Advent Calendar
• Tips and ideas to improve your Spanish writing skills
• Spanish Glossary and Jargon Buster

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10 Creative Ways to Practice Your Spanish Writing Skills

Are you ready to start your Spanish writing practice?

Writing is one of the four core aspects of language learning. You simply can’t master a language without it! It’s time to learn about the types of Spanish writing and the best ways to practice your Spanish writing skills. 

The 10 creative and fun practices in this post will have your words flowing onto paper with ease. 

New skills come with time and Spanish writing practice. Keep writing regularly and you will see improvement in your abilities.

Ready? Set? Write!

How to Start Writing in Spanish

Writing in Spanish doesn’t have to be complicated. Just follow these three simple steps and you’ll be writing away in no time!

1. Start with Simple Sentences

Learning to write in Spanish takes practice and patience. Begin by writing simple sentences. These types of sentences normally have a single subject and verb. Stick with easy vocabulary words that you are already familiar with. 

Here are a few example sentences to get you started!

Mi gato es naranja. My cat is orange.

Tengo hambre. I am hungry. 

Quiero dormir.  I want to sleep. 

Esperó al tren. He waited for the train. 

2. Add Transition Words

Transition words are an easy way to connect your sentences. They show the reader how your ideas are related. Common transition words include

• however – sin embargo
• finally – finalmente
• still – todavía
• additionally – adicionalmente

Memorize this list of useful transitions so that you can easily add them into your paragraphs as you write. 

Here are a few ways to use transition words!

Primero, reúne los ingredientes. First, gather the ingredients.

Sin embargo, no estoy de acuerdo. However, I do not agree. 

Todavía estoy esperando. I am still waiting. 

3. Expand Your Vocabulary

Spice up your sentences! 

Strong writers stand out thanks to their illustrative and descriptive vocabulary words. Replace generic words like “good,” “bad,” and “said” with something more creative. Start with this guide to 100 describing words in Spanish !

Check out the before and after of these example sentences. 

Él dijo que no. He said “no.” 

El gerente enfadado gritó, “¡no!” The angry manager yelled “no!”

Me gusta comida.  I like food. 

La tarta de cereza es mi postre favorito. Cherry pie is my favorite dessert. 

Quería una bebida. He wanted a drink. 

El estudiante necesitaba desesperadamente otra taza de café.  The student desperately needed another cup of coffee. 

Types of Spanish Writing 

Not all Spanish writing practice is the same! Your school essays in English probably look a lot different than your text messages with your friends. Spanish is the same way. Knowing the difference between casual and formal writing in Spanish helps you sound appropriate and natural in every situation. 

Casual Writing

Casual writing includes messages, friendly letters, and journal entries. Each region and country has its own slang and colloquial terms that appear in casual writing.

What to Look For

• Informal you ( tú )
• First-person perspective
• Colloquial terms

Formal Writing

Formal writing appears in books, articles, essays, and other important documents. It takes a more objective and scientific approach. Formal writing is usually written in third person. 

What to Look for

• Complex structure
• Objective approach
• Third-person perspective
• Scientific terms

10 Easy and Free Spanish Writing Practices

Grab your pen and paper—it’s time to jump start your Spanish writing practice! These creative exercises will help you master writing in your second language. 

1. Daily Journaling  

Journals are perfect for Spanish sentence writing practice! Pick up a new notebook or grab your laptop to start. Label each entry at the top to practice writing dates in Spanish . 

2. Download WordReference

WordReference is a must-have for any language learner! It’s the ultimate online language dictionary. Look up the translation of any word or phrase, even slang! Find out how to conjugate verbs, use words in a sentence, and pronounce words.

3. Use Spanish Writing Practice Prompts

Have a case of writer’s block? Don’t worry! There are thousands of writing prompts online to help inspire your creativity. 

4. Visit the Library

Ask your local librarian where the Spanish section is! Reading in Spanish is an excellent way to learn new vocabulary and writing skills. 

5. Add a Spanish Keyboard to Your Phone

Want to text your friends in Spanish? Whether you have Apple or Android , it’s super easy to add another language to your keyboard! This new keyboard will enable you to type in Spanish and add accent marks more easily. 

6. Start a Blog

Blogging is not only a fun way to document your life experiences, but also an amazing opportunity to write about your life and adventures in Spanish! Keep up your blog just as you would in English, but challenge yourself to use Spanish writing practice as much as possible. 

7. Find a Penpal

Write Spanish with a friend! Start sharing letters back and forth with a Spanish-speaking friend or acquaintance. Your penpal can give you writing pointers and help you sound like a native speaker!

8. Make To-Do Lists

Spanish writing is all about practice! An easy way to add a quick language lesson to your week is by writing all of your to-do lists in Spanish. You will automatically learn relevant vocabulary as you detail your chores, groceries, and errands. 

9. Make Sure Your Auto-Correct is in Spanish

If you plan to practice your Spanish on a laptop or computer, it’s important to check spelling and grammar in the proper language. Microsoft Word and Google Drive enable you to set the proofing language or even set it automatically.

10. Interact with Spanish Social Media

The best way to get better at Spanish is by making practice a daily habit. Spanish social media is a great way to stay up-to-date on the latest happenings in the Spanish-speaking world while also improving your language skills.

Engage in Spanish Writing (and Speaking) Practices

Did you know that Spanish writing practice actually improves your cognition and decision-making abilities ? When you switch between languages, you’re actively working the neurons in your brain and strengthening their pathways. This is one of the many benefits of being bilingual!

Homeschool Spanish Academy enables you to gain fluency faster by practicing with native-speaking instructors from the comfort of your own home! Our flexible, 1-to-1 online classes are hosted by certified teachers from Guatemala who help you take your Spanish to the next level. Try out a free trial class today!

Want more free Spanish lessons, fun content, and easy learning strategies? Check these out!

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Spanish Essay Phrases: 40 Useful Phrases for an Impressive Writeup

7  Comments

May 30, 2019

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Do you need to write a lot of essays in Spanish? If you do, don’t worry. It's about to get a little bit easier for you because here in this article, we’ve listed many useful Spanish essay phrases that you can readily use in your essays.

Feel free to pepper your essays with the words and expressions from this list. It would certainly elevate your essays and impress your teachers. You're welcome!

Get the PDF ( + MP3!)

No time to read now? Then you might opt to get the list in PDF instead. If you sign up to the newsletter, you'll get the list of Spanish essay phrases in PDF format plus free audio files. 

Spanish Essay Phrases

Additional Resources

You can also check out the following resources:

84 Spanish Expressions for Agreeing and Disagreeing

Common Spanish Verbs

Expresiones útiles para escribir en español

Looking for more Spanish phrases? Check out this e-book with audio!

Try to use the essay phrases in Spanish that you learned in this lesson and write a few example sentences in the comments section!

About the author 

Janey is a fan of different languages and studied Spanish, German, Mandarin, and Japanese in college. She has now added French into the mix, though English will always be her first love. She loves reading anything (including product labels).

VERY VERY useful !! Gracias

Amazing! This will definitely help me in tomorrow’s spanish test 🙂

Sounds good

Thanks for the assistance, in learning Spanish.

Amazing article! Very helpful! Also, this website is great for Spanish Beginners.

It’s easy when you put it that way

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60+ Writing Prompts for Kids (In Spanish & English)

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Last Updated on December 1, 2021 by Bilingual Kidspot

Writing Prompts for Kids (In Spanish & English)

A list of writing prompts in Spanish and English for kids to help them exercise their writing skills.

These Spanish writing prompts also include the English translations in the post. Check out our whole series Learn Spanish for Kids .

What are writing prompts?

Writing prompts or essay prompts are questions or statements that direct students to write about different topics.

Why are writing prompts important?

Writing prompts are an effective strategy used for developing good writers.

It helps kids by exercising and even challenging their writing skills, making them think deeply about different subjects and looking at things from different perspectives.

Reading and writing is an integral part of our language use and it’s very important to develop these skills in the target language if we want children and adults to be truly bilingual.

For this reason, we have developed a series of fun English and Spanish writing prompts that can be used for students of different ages. Below you will find:

• English & Spanish writing prompts for kids early writing
• English & Spanish writing prompts for kids Grade 1-2
• English & Spanish writing prompts for kids Grade 3-4
• English & Spanish writing prompts for kids Grade 5-6
• English & Spanish writing prompts for kids Grade 7-8
• English & Spanish writing prompts for kids High School

Writing Prompts in Spanish & English for Early Writing

When children are first learning their letters and letter sounds, a great way to start them with their writing is through drawing.

Presenting them with opportunities to express themselves and tell a story through drawing is the beginning of writing for them.

It’s important to let children draw freely and then ask them questions about what they have drawn. As they tell you what each thing is, you can write out the words in their drawing.

You can also ask them to write the first letter of whatever they have drawn.

1. ¿Cuál es tu animal favorito? What is your favorite animal?

2 . ¿Cómo es tu familia? What is your family like?

3 . Haz un autorretrato. Draw a self-portrait.

4. Dibuja un día en la playa. Draw a day at the beach.

5. Diseña un carro. Design a car.

6. ¿Cuál es tu cuento favorito? Haz un dibujo sobre el. What is your favorite story? Make a drawing based on it.

7. Dibuja tu juguete favorito. Draw your favorite toy.

8. ¿Cómo es tu mejo amigo/amiga? Haz un retrato de el o ella. What is your best friend like? Draw a portrait of them.

9. Haz un retrato de tu mascota. Draw a portrait of your pet.

10. ¿Qué quieres ser cuando seas grande? What do you want to be when you grow up?

Writing Prompts in Spanish & English for 1 st and 2 nd Grade

First and second grade is a special time for children, whether they are going to school or being schooled at home. They are finally “big kids” and have a lot of emotions and ideas to contend with.

Helping them learn how to express themselves will serve them well for the rest of their lives.  Here are some Spanish writing prompts for this age group.

1. ¿Cómo sería tu vida  si fueras un pirata? What would like as a pirate be like?

2. ¿Cómo sería el mundo si el cielo fuera rojo y la grama fuera morada? What would it be like if the sky was red and the grass was purple?

3. ¿Qué te gusta hacer cuando hace calor afuera? What do you like to do when it’s warm outside?

4. ¿Quién es el mejor personaje de dibujos animados? ¿Por qué? Who is your favorite cartoon character? Why?

5. ¿Cuál es tu animal favorito? ¿Por qué? What is your favorite animal? Why?

6. Escribe sobre un momento en que te disgustaste por algo que sucedió en la escuela o en tu casa. ¿Que hiciste? Write about a time when you got upset by something at school or at home. What did you do?

7. ¿Qué es algo especial que haces con tus padres? ¿Cómo te hace sentir? What is something special you do with your parents? How does it make you feel?

8. ¿Cuál es tu parte favorita del día? ¿Por qué? What is your favorite part of the day? Why?

9. Si pudieras viajar al espacio, ¿qué te gustaría ver? What would you like to see if you traveled to space?

10. ¿Cuál es tu modo favorito de transporte? ¿Por qué? What is your favorite method of transportation? Why?

Writing Prompts in Spanish & English for 3rd and 4th Grade

By the time students are in 3 rd and 4 th grade, they should be writing regularly and know how to tackle a few different styles.

Sometimes, the hardest part may be knowing how to get started. Here are a few writing prompts in Spanish & English that will inspire them!

1 . Piensa en algo que te asusta y explica por qué. Write about somethign that scares you and why.

2. Imagina que puedes teletransportarte,  ¿a dónde irías? Imagine if you could teleport, where would you go?

3. ¿Qué acto bondadoso harías para alguna otra persona si tuvieras $50 dólares para hacerlo? What act of kindness would you do for someone else if you had $50 to do so?

4 . ¿Qué significa ser un buen amigo? What does it mean to be a good friend?

5. Algunos niños en 3er grado tienen teléfonos celulares. ¿Crees que eso es bueno o malo? Do you think it’s ok for a 3rd or 4th grader to own a cell pone? Why or why not?

6. Escribe el proceso paso a paso para hacer un sándwich de mantequilla de maní y mermelada. Describe the step by step process of making a PB&J sanwhich.

7 . ¿De qué tareas domésticas eres responsable? Explica cómo las haces. What chores are you in charge of? Explain how you complete them.

8. Alguna vez has estado en una emergencia? ¿Qué hiciste? Have you ever been in an emergency? What did you do?

9. Investiga un insecto y escribe un ensayo al respecto. Investigate an insect and write abotu it.

10. ¿Los grandes tiburones blancos son realmente comedores de hombres? Investiga esta pregunta y escribe un ensayo sobre el tema. Are Great White Sharks really man eaters? Write about this subject.

Writing Prompts in Spanish & English for 5th and 6th Grade

5 th and 6 th graders are at the gates of adolescence. Pre-teens begin dealing with a whole new slew of issues, and teaching them to think for themselves and be able to express those feelings is crucial at this age.

These Spanish writing prompts will be helpful in this practice.

1. ¿Cuál es la diferencia entre un privilegio y un derecho? What’s the diference between a priviledge and a right?

2. ¿Quién es tu héroe de la vida real? Who is your real life hero?

3 . Escribe sobre la sorpresa más grande que hayas recibido. Write about the biggest surprise you’ve ever received.

4 . ¿Dónde te sientes más en casa? ¿Qué te hace sentir tan cómodo? Where do you feel most at home? What makes you feel so comfortable?

5 . Escribe sobre un momento en que no cumpliste una promesa. ¿Cómo te sentiste? ¿Hiciste algo para remediarlo? Write about a time when you didn’t keep a promise. How did you feel? Did you do something to make-up for it?

6 . Haz una lista de las cosas que quieres hacer en tu vida antes de morir. ¿Por que son importantes para ti? Write out your bucket list. Why are these things important to you?

7. Escribe sobre un momento en que hiciste algo porque todos los demás lo estaban haciendo. ¿Cómo te sentiste después? Write about a time when do did something because everyone else was doing it. How did you feel afterwards?

8 . ¿Qué significa tener una responsabilidad con alguien? What does it mean to be responsable to someone?

9 . Escribe sobre un problema mundial y cómo se pudiera resolver. Write about a global problem and how it could be solved.

10 . Si pudieras retroceder en el tiempo, ¿a qué período irías? ¿Qué te gustaría ver? What time period would you visit if you could go back in time? What would you like to see?

Writing Prompts in Spanish & English for 7th and 8th Grade

Writing ss a form of learning and as an outlet. That’s where our 7 th and 8 th grade students are. Getting them to learn, process and create information is an important step in helping them face their teenage years both personally and academically.

Here are a few Spanish writing prompts to get them started:

1. Escribe sobre una persona que admiras. ¿Cómo puedes emularlo? Write about someone you admire. How can you emulate them?

2. ¿Cuál es tu mayor sueño? Escribe sobre por qué es tán importane para ti. What is your greatest dream? Why is it so important to you?

3. ¿Alguna vez sentiste que tenísa que hacer algo porque un amigo te lo pidió? Escribe sobre tu experiencia. Have you ever felt like you had to do something because a friend asked you to? Write about your experience.

4. ¿Cuál es tu pasatiempos favorito? ¿Por qué? What is your favorite hobby? Why?

5. ¿Con qué frecuencia participas de voluntario? ¿Que haces? ¿Por qué crees que es importante hacerlo? How often do you volunteer? What do you do? Why do you think it’s important?

6. Escribe acerca de cómo la tecnología podría cambiar la forma en que los estudiantes aprenden en el futuro. Write about how technology could change education in the future.

7. Escribe sobre una forma en que actúas de manera diferente en casa que en la escuela. Write about the ways in which you act differently at home than at school.

8. Escribe una reseña sobre un libro que hayas leido recientemente. Write a review on a book you have recently read.

9. Escribe sobre una notícia que hayas leído recientemente. Write about a news article you have read recently.   

10. ¿Cuál es tu cualidad favorita de ti? ¿Por qué? What is your favorite quality about yourself? Why?

High School Writing Prompts in Spanish & English

Writing in high school takes on a new tone. Students are expected to communicate well, while honing their critical thinking, grammar and language skills.

More and more they are expected to become producers of information. These prompts are more mature and will help students grow and hone their skills.

1. ¿Cómo es tu relación con tus padres? What is your relationship with your parents like?

2. ¿Cuáles son los problemas y las soluciones al “activismo de las redes sociales”? What are the problems and solutions to “internet activism”?

3. ¿Alguna vez has tenido sentimientos por alguien que no fueron correspondidos? ¿Cómo manejaste la situación? Have you ever had feelings for someone that weren’t reciprovated? How did you handle the situation?

4. ¿Cuál es tu libro favorito? ¿Por qué es tu favorito y cómo te ha afectado? What is your favorite book? Why is it your favorite and how has it affected you?

5. ¿Cuáles crees que son los pros y los contras de la experimentación con animales? What are the pros and cos of animal testing?

6. ¿Cómo será tu vida en 10 años? What will your life be like in 10 years?

7. ¿Cuál crees que debería ser la edad legal para votar? Escribe un ensayo corto defendiendo tu posición. What should the legal voting age be? Write an essay to defend your position.

8. ¿Cuál es la relación más importante en tu vida en este momento? Describe esa relación. What is your most important relationship right now? Describe that relationship.

9. ¿Cuáles son tus planes después de la graduación de la escuela secundaria? What are your plans for after graduation?

10. ¿Qué significa para ti ser bilingüe? ¿Cuáles cree que son los beneficios y los inconvenientes? What does being bilingual mean to you? What are the benefits and drawbacks?

Spanish Writing Prompts for Kids & Students

We hope that these Spanish writing prompts will help your children and students begin writing in Spanish.

If Spanish is a second (or even third) language, it might be intimidating to start this process.

However, as with anything else, you have to start somewhere. Writing is a muscle that needs to be flexed and the more often that you and your children practice it, the better it will get!

How about you guys? Do you ever use writing prompts for kids? What are some of your favorites?

Author : Keli Garcia Allen is a certified Spanish teacher & Head of Content for Learn Safari. She is currently working on Spanish Safari , a Spanish Learning game for kids 4-10 years old. Follow her on  Facebook ,  Instagram ,  Twitter.

Bilingual Kidspot

Bilingual Kidspot is a website offering practical advice for parents seeking to raise bilingual or multilingual children; with inspiration, support and strategies based on experience as a parent, and as a teacher of a foreign language to children.

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How to Write in Spanish: The Step-by-step Guide to Perfecting Your Writing Skills

Do you want to improve your Spanish writing skills and get even closer to fluency?

If you want to make Cervantes blush with your mastery of Spanish writing, you have come to the right place.

This step-by-step guide will show you how to write in Spanish, including information on spelling, grammar and more, as well as give you the tools to write practically anything!

Key Spanish Writing Rules

Spanish spelling, capitalization rules in spanish, spanish punctuation, spanish sentence structure, spanish abbreviations, other differences between english and spanish writing rules, how to write letters in spanish, how to write an email in spanish, how to write an essay in spanish, texting in spanish, spanish creative writing, journaling in spanish, other types of spanish writing, how to type in spanish, main differences between english and spanish keyboards, and one more thing….

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)

If you want to be the next Cervantes, you should get acquainted with the main Spanish writing rules and the major differences between writing in English and writing in Spanish. Here are a few of them.

Spelling in Spanish is much more intuitive than it is in English.

This may sound almost too good to be true, but written words in Spanish are actually designed to reflect what they sound like! There are far fewer cases of silent letters, double letters or different spellings for the same sounds. Also, vowels each have their own specific sounds that don’t change, no matter what other letters surround it.

However, there are a couple of spelling “situations” that can give you a bit of a headache if you do not pay attention:

• The letter h has no sound. Regardless of its position in a word, it will always be soundless (zanahoria — carrot, hoguera  — bonfire , hueso  — bone). This letter changes the sound of the letter c when they go together (chaleco— vest , coche  — car , noche  — night), and even though it has no sound, it can change the meaning of a word (ola— wave, hola  — hello).
• There are some letter pairs that can be confusing. It would be impossible for you to learn every word containing these pairs, so the best you can do is check a dictionary in case of doubt. The letters that normally cause problems to learners of Spanish are b/v, r/rr, g/j, ll/y and the “triplets” c/k/q and c/s/z .
• Spanish uses accent marks . Accent marks may be small, but they are very important. If a word has an accent mark in Spanish, do not ignore it, because accent marks can easily change the pronunciation and meaning of words (tráfico — traffic , trafico — I smuggle , traficó — he smuggled).

If you want to improve your Spanish spelling skills, you can try some Spanish spelling games . They will make the learning process much more enjoyable, and the topic more accessible to you.

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Additionally, you may want to install a Spanish spell checker . This way you can be sure the majority of spelling errors you make while writing in Spanish will be detected and corrected.

Learning Spanish capitalization is actually pretty straightforward. You just have to remember the words that are not capitalized in Spanish.

For instance, Spanish does not capitalize, among others:

• Days of the week
• Nationalities
• Religions and their adjectives
• Social and political movements
• The pronoun yo (I) unless it is the first word in a sentence
• Book titles (except for the first word)
• Movie titles (except for the first word)
• Personal titles (except when they are the first word in a sentence)

Punctuation is another area where English and Spanish share a lot of features.

However, there are some Spanish punctuation rules that may be surprising for learners of Spanish.

These are the main ones (some of them have already been mentioned):

• Spanish has an opening question mark and an opening exclamation mark (¿,¡).
• Spanish does not capitalize the first word after a colon.
• Spanish uses the colon in the opening of letters. While English uses a comma (Dear Mrs. Petunia,), Spanish uses a colon (Estimada señora Petunia:).
• In Spanish, there is no Oxford comma at all. The last two items of a list will always be joined with a conjunction like y (and) or o (or) .
• Spanish and English write out numbers differently. In Spanish, you use a period to separate groups of thousands (e.g. 1450 or 1,450 would be 1.450 in Spanish). Spanish uses the comma as the decimal separator (so 1.5 would be 1,5 in Spanish).
• Spanish normally leaves commas, periods and other punctuation marks outside the quotation marks. (English: “I love you.” vs. Spanish “Te quiero”.).
• Dialogue formatting is very different in Spanish. The biggest difference is possibly the fact that Spanish uses a dash to open a dialogue (instead of quotation marks) and to enclose the dialogue tag (instead of commas). For example: 

English: “I love him,” she said, “I always have. “

Spanish: –Lo amo –dijo ella–. Siempre lo he amado.

Sentence structure refers to the internal organization of a language, i.e. the order we have to put elements in a sentence so that it is grammatically correct.

Many learners of Spanish think that since both Spanish and English follow the general pattern S + V + O (Subject + Verb + Object), both languages build sentences in the exact same way.

This is true sometimes, as in the following two examples:

Marta está bebiendo café. (S + V + O) Marta is drinking coffee. (S + V + O)

Unfortunately, this is not always the case, and learners of Spanish should take into account a couple of Spanish sentence structure rules if they want to come up with correct sentences, even if they are trying to produce basic Spanish sentences :

• In Spanish, you can omit the subject. If you know who you are talking or writing about, you do not need to mention that person (Tengo hambre — I am hungry). This is possible because verbs in Spanish have a different ending for each grammatical person.
• Adjectives come after the noun in Spanish. There are a few exceptions with a change in meaning, but overall, adjectives always come after the noun (la camisa blanca — the white shirt).
• Nouns and adjectives have to agree in Spanish. When you write a sentence in Spanish, you have to take a look at the nouns. Every determiner, quantifier, adjective and adverb that refers to a noun must have the same gender and number (el perro negro  — the black dog, all words masculine and singular in Spanish; las tazas rojas  — the red cups, all words feminine and plural in Spanish).
• Negation is very simple in Spanish. The majority of sentences become negative in Spanish by adding no in front of the main verb. No other changes are normally needed. You can also make negations in Spanish by using negative adverbs like nunca (never) and nadie (no one).

Abbreviations can be used in both formal and informal contexts, and even though they tend to work similarly across languages, there are a couple of things you should know about Spanish abbreviations and how to use them when writing in Spanish:

• Even though personal titles are not capitalized when written in full, their abbreviations are capitalized. For example:

señor — Sr. / Mister

señora  — Sra. / Mrs .

doctor  — Dr. / Doctor

• There are some abbreviations that appear very frequently in Spanish correspondence. For instance:

usted  — Vd. / formal you

se ruega contestación — S.R.C. / RSVP

• Ordinal numbers are gendered. They are adjectives, so they take on the gender of the noun they are referring to. Because of this, their abbreviations are also marked for gender (1º/1ª, 2º/2ª…).
• Spanish abbreviations can have a plural form. Normally, abbreviations add -s to form their plural (página — pág. / page, páginas  — págs. / pages). If the abbreviation has only one letter, they normally double it (página  — p. / page , páginas  — pp. / pages).
• Some acronyms do not accept the plural ending -s . They will still take the plural determiner if necessary (los CD  — the CDs). Oddly enough, you have to pronounce the final -s when reading/pronouncing them (los ce-dés  — the cee dees).
• There are some international abbreviations and acronyms that have their own version in Spanish. Examples of this are:

la UE  — la Unión Europea / the EU (European Union)

la ONU — la Organización de Naciones Unidas / the UN (United Nations)

• Spanish people use a lot of abbreviations when texting. (Have a look at the section on Texting in Spanish for more info.)

Although less important, there are some differences between English and Spanish you should take into account when writing in Spanish:

• We write dates differently. In Spanish, the order of writing the date is always day/month/year. So, while an American might read the date 02/07/2018 as February the 7th 2018, for a Spanish-speaking person it would be July the 2nd 2018.
• We use different measurement systems. This is something to bear in mind not only while writing, but when using Spanish in general. Not everybody knows what inches, feet, pounds or miles are (especially in Spain). Spanish-speaking countries use the metric system, so we have centimeters, meters, kilograms, kilometers, etc.

The first thing you need to do before starting to write a letter is to decide whether it has to be formal or informal.

This will have an impact not only on the body of the letter, but also (and especially) on the way you start and finish writing it.

There are a couple of well-established rules you should bear in mind when writing a letter in Spanish :

• Querido/a (Dear) is only used in informal letters, while Estimado/a (Dear) is the preferred form in formal ones.
• You normally use just the first name of the person you are writing to if the letter is informal (Querido Julián), but Señor (Mr.), Señora (Mrs.) or Señorita (Miss) and a surname if the letter is formal (Estimado Sr. González).
• Use tú (informal you) in the body of informal letters, but usted/ustedes (formal you singular/plural) in formal ones.
• When closing a letter, you can send Besos y abrazos (Hugs and kisses) in casual letters, but never in formal ones. Use Saludos (Regards) in semi-formal letters, and Cordialmente/Atentamente (Yours sincerely) in formal ones.

Knowing how to write an email in Spanish is a skill you are going to need sooner or later, because email communication, especially in a professional environment, is something most of us have to do on a daily basis.

The majority of the rules we had for writing letters also apply here.

You should make sure to use the right opening and closing in your email, and that the overall tone and the vocabulary used are appropriate to the situation.

When writing an email, especially a formal one, you will normally have to include four sections: greeting, reason for writing, body of the email and closing.

Here is a very brief example of an informal email John wrote to his friend Joanne:

¡Hola, Joanne! (Hi, Joanne!)

Reason for writing

Te escribo para preguntar si irás mañana al cumpleaños de Sonia. (I’m writing to ask if you’ll be going to Sonia’s birthday tomorrow.)

Me encantaría verte. ¡Hace tanto tiempo que no te veo! Madre mía, creo que la última vez que nos encontramos fue para Navidad. ¿Te acuerdas? (I would love to see you. I haven’t seen you in ages! Good Lord, I think the last time we ran into each other was on Christmas. Do you remember?)

Un abrazo, (Hugs,)

Starting to write essays in Spanish is possibly one of the most challenging tasks for beginner learners.

Going from simple sentences to several paragraphs requires a lot of practice, but there are tons of fixed expressions that can be used in order to make this process easier.

Depending on the type of essay you need to write, you will have to cover one or more of the following points:

Giving your opinion

This is very common in essays, especially the ones included in official Spanish exams. Make sure you use expressions that help you introduce your personal opinions, such as en mi opinión (in my opinion), me parece que (it seems to me that) or creo que (I believe that).

Agreeing and disagreeing

Another very common type of essay is the one where you are given a sentence or quotation and you have to agree or disagree with it. Useful expressions here can be estoy de acuerdo (I agree), no estoy de acuerdo (I disagree) and es falso que (it is false that).

Backing your claims

If you say that something is false or that you know for a fact something is true, you should back your claims with some evidence. Try to introduce words and expressions such as según (according to), demostrar (to demonstrate) and la fuente (the source).

A conclusion normally summarizes the main topics of the essay and answers any questions and hypotheses that were posed in the introduction. When writing your conclusion, use expressions like en conclusión (in conclusion), por esta razón (for this reason) and en resumen (in summary).

Texting in any language has its own separate set of rules.

For instance, depending on the recipient of the message, two texts can look completely different even if they include the exact same information:

Xq tki. (Because I have to go.) This is very informal, sent to a friend.

Porque tengo que irme. (Because I have to go.) This is sent in a much more formal situation, normally to someone with whom we do not have a very close relationship.

As you can see from the first example, there are a lot of abbreviations and slang words you can use while texting in Spanish , much like you would do in English.

It would be impossible to mention all of them here, but if you learn their most common traits, you will be able to text in Spanish like a pro:

• Letters are omitted. The most common feature you will see is the omission of vowels and consonants.

For example: xa — para (for), gnl — genial (great)

• The letters q and c normally become k.

For example: One of the most common examples is the expression tkm — te quiero mucho (I love you so much)

• There are some established abbreviations you will need to learn by heart. Sometimes you will only be given one letter, so knowing what it means in the world of Spanish texting will come in handy .

For example: b — bien (good), q — que/qué (that/what)

• Numbers and symbols can also be used. Just as in English, if a number comes close to the pronunciation of a part of a word, some letters will be replaced by numbers .

salu2 — saludos (regards), 100pre — siempre (always)

• Watch out for acronyms. Spanish normally uses their own versions of well-known acronyms. These acronyms are often similar to the international ones or can be understood from the context, but sometimes they will be completely different.

For example: NATO — OTAN , World Health Organization / WHO – Organización Mundial de la Salud / OMS

Creative writing is basically any kind of writing that is not professional, academic or journalistic.

Since this definition is so broad, there are also many types of writing that can fall into this category, the most common ones being poetry, novels, scripts, short stories, fairy tales and screenplays, among others.

Creative writing can be an amazing way to improve your Spanish language skills.

It forces you to think, be creative, ask questions and find answers for them. Your brain will be working hard while you write creatively, and the fact that you will be using vocabulary and grammar rules you have previously studied will make you remember them easier.

The ideal scenario for a learner of Spanish who wants to give creative writing a go would be having a native Spanish speaker that can read what the learner is writing and give detailed feedback (spelling and grammar errors and overall writing skills that could be improved).

Unfortunately, this is quite difficult to find, so the second-best option is to find resources that will help the learner get some Spanish writing practice (such as writing apps, creative writing websites, textbooks that teach writing, writing prompts, etc.).

Regardless of the way you choose to practice your creative writing skills, remember rule number one of every good writer: You have to read much more than you write!

Since there are no established rules, journaling can be a good way of practicing writing in Spanish without stress. No one except you will have access to your journal (unless you want to), so it does not matter if you make spelling mistakes or write grammatically incorrect sentences as long as you are doing it in Spanish.

If you feel that writing a journal in Spanish can be challenging, try to break your thoughts down into smaller thoughts.

There are many topics you can write about that will allow you to practice your Spanish writing skills in an undemanding way:

• Your bucket list.
• Your dreams.
• Things you are thankful for.
• Reasons for learning Spanish.
• Things that motivate you.
• Things that make you sad.
• Your goals for this week/month/year.
• Your fears.
• Your favorite places/people and why.

The list goes on and on. Write about the topics you want, whenever you want and however you want. Just remember to do it on a daily basis to be able to enjoy all the benefits journaling in Spanish can bring to you, both mentally and linguistically speaking.

There are many more types of Spanish writing, and each of them has its own intrinsic characteristics and rules.

Mentioning all of them would be impossible here, so here you have a selection of a few of them:

Recipes have a very easy structure: a list of ingredients and steps to cook the dish. You can start practicing writing recipes in Spanish by using the infinitive when you give the instructions (Pelar las patatas — To peel the potatoes), and move on to the imperative mood when you study the Spanish imperativo (Pela las patatas — Peel the potatoes).

Greeting cards

Even though we normally buy ready-made cards, adding a few words of our own could be a very nice finishing touch. If you are giving a birthday card, remember to include some wishes like ¡Feliz cumpleaños! (Happy birthday!) or ¡Te deseo mucha felicidad! (I wish you lots of happiness!).

If you want to give a Valentine’s Day card, try to make it even more personal by creating a romantic card in Spanish yourself. Do not forget to express your feelings with phrases like:

• Mi amor (My love)
• Mi cariño (My sweetheart)
• Te amo (I love you)

Notes can be written to say thank you, to ask for a favor or to remind someone to do something. They tend to be very short and to the point, including only information that is absolutely necessary. For this reason, many notes only include one or two words:

• ¡Gracias! (Thanks!)
• Para ti. (For you.)
• ¿Me echas una mano? (Will you help me?)
• Te quiero. (I love you.)
• Que aproveche. (Enjoy your meal.)
• Compra leche. (Buy some milk.)

Spanish and English keyboards are different.

Because of that, typing in Spanish can be a challenge for the first few times.

There are several ways in which you can type in Spanish on your device:

• You can install a keyboard on your device. 
• You can use Alt codes (Windows) and Opt codes (Macs). 
• You can use online tools such as TypeIt.  

If you take a look at a Spanish keyboard, you will notice some letters, characters and symbols have changed, moved or disappeared.

Let’s have a look at these changes.

Once you have your device ready to type in Spanish, you will notice some things are… different.

There are enough differences between a Spanish and an English keyboard to write a whole book, so I will only mention the three most important ones:

Accent marks

Spanish vowels can have an accent mark ( á, é,  í, ó, ú ). In order to type it, you first have to type the accent key on your keyboard (‘) and then the vowel you want to add the accent mark to.

Another letter with a mark is the Spanish letter ñ . In this case, you only have to press the (:) key, because Spanish keyboards have their own ñ key. The last mark you will need in Spanish is the diéresis (¨). In order to type it, press Shift + the (‘) key. Then type u or i.

Question and exclamation marks

One of the first interesting facts we learn about the Spanish language is that it has opening question marks and exclamation marks.

In order to type the opening question mark, press Shift and (=). The closing question mark can be typed by pressing Shift and (-). As for the exclamation marks, the opening one is very easy: just press the (=) key. The closing one can be typed by pressing Shift + 1, like on your normal keyboard.

Another change you will notice when typing in Spanish is the series of symbols you get by pressing Shift + numbers 2 to 0. Your keyboard probably has the sequence @#$%^&*() , while the Spanish keyboard will give you “·$%&/()= .

There are other differences between both keyboards, like the position of hyphens, dashes, apostrophes, colons, semi-colons, stops and commas, among others.

In the beginning, all these differences can be a little bit overwhelming, and you will probably type the wrong symbol or letter because your brain will want to do it automatically in your normal keyboard layout.

As with everything, practicing Spanish typing will be the key (no pun intended) to get you used to the new layout. There are even Spanish typing games where you can practice all you want until you feel fully comfortable using the Spanish keyboard.

I know this is a lot of information to digest, but the good news is that you now have everything you need to know about how to write in Spanish!

Thanks to writing, you will improve not only your vocabulary and grammar, but also your reading, speaking and listening skills.

So take a pencil and a piece of paper (or run that word processor you normally use) and start writing in Spanish right away!

If you've made it this far that means you probably enjoy learning Spanish with engaging material and will then love FluentU .

Other sites use scripted content. FluentU uses a natural approach that helps you ease into the Spanish language and culture over time. You’ll learn Spanish as it’s actually spoken by real people.

FluentU has a wide variety of videos, as you can see here:

FluentU brings native videos within reach with interactive transcripts. You can tap on any word to look it up instantly. Every definition has examples that have been written to help you understand how the word is used. If you see an interesting word you don’t know, you can add it to a vocab list.

Review a complete interactive transcript under the Dialogue tab, and find words and phrases listed under Vocab .

Learn all the vocabulary in any video with FluentU’s robust learning engine. Swipe left or right to see more examples of the word you’re on.

The best part is that FluentU keeps track of the vocabulary that you’re learning, and gives you extra practice with difficult words. It'll even remind you when it’s time to review what you’ve learned. Every learner has a truly personalized experience, even if they’re learning with the same video.

Start using the FluentU website on your computer or tablet or, better yet, download the FluentU app from the iTunes or Google Play store. Click here to take advantage of our current sale! (Expires at the end of this month.)

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Spanish translation of 'prompt'

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What I’ve Learned From My Students’ College Essays

The genre is often maligned for being formulaic and melodramatic, but it’s more important than you think.

By Nell Freudenberger

Most high school seniors approach the college essay with dread. Either their upbringing hasn’t supplied them with several hundred words of adversity, or worse, they’re afraid that packaging the genuine trauma they’ve experienced is the only way to secure their future. The college counselor at the Brooklyn high school where I’m a writing tutor advises against trauma porn. “Keep it brief , ” she says, “and show how you rose above it.”

I started volunteering in New York City schools in my 20s, before I had kids of my own. At the time, I liked hanging out with teenagers, whom I sometimes had more interesting conversations with than I did my peers. Often I worked with students who spoke English as a second language or who used slang in their writing, and at first I was hung up on grammar. Should I correct any deviation from “standard English” to appeal to some Wizard of Oz behind the curtains of a college admissions office? Or should I encourage students to write the way they speak, in pursuit of an authentic voice, that most elusive of literary qualities?

In fact, I was missing the point. One of many lessons the students have taught me is to let the story dictate the voice of the essay. A few years ago, I worked with a boy who claimed to have nothing to write about. His life had been ordinary, he said; nothing had happened to him. I asked if he wanted to try writing about a family member, his favorite school subject, a summer job? He glanced at his phone, his posture and expression suggesting that he’d rather be anywhere but in front of a computer with me. “Hobbies?” I suggested, without much hope. He gave me a shy glance. “I like to box,” he said.

I’ve had this experience with reluctant writers again and again — when a topic clicks with a student, an essay can unfurl spontaneously. Of course the primary goal of a college essay is to help its author get an education that leads to a career. Changes in testing policies and financial aid have made applying to college more confusing than ever, but essays have remained basically the same. I would argue that they’re much more than an onerous task or rote exercise, and that unlike standardized tests they are infinitely variable and sometimes beautiful. College essays also provide an opportunity to learn precision, clarity and the process of working toward the truth through multiple revisions.

When a topic clicks with a student, an essay can unfurl spontaneously.

Even if writing doesn’t end up being fundamental to their future professions, students learn to choose language carefully and to be suspicious of the first words that come to mind. Especially now, as college students shoulder so much of the country’s ethical responsibility for war with their protest movement, essay writing teaches prospective students an increasingly urgent lesson: that choosing their own words over ready-made phrases is the only reliable way to ensure they’re thinking for themselves.

Teenagers are ideal writers for several reasons. They’re usually free of preconceptions about writing, and they tend not to use self-consciously ‘‘literary’’ language. They’re allergic to hypocrisy and are generally unfiltered: They overshare, ask personal questions and call you out for microaggressions as well as less egregious (but still mortifying) verbal errors, such as referring to weed as ‘‘pot.’’ Most important, they have yet to put down their best stories in a finished form.

I can imagine an essay taking a risk and distinguishing itself formally — a poem or a one-act play — but most kids use a more straightforward model: a hook followed by a narrative built around “small moments” that lead to a concluding lesson or aspiration for the future. I never get tired of working with students on these essays because each one is different, and the short, rigid form sometimes makes an emotional story even more powerful. Before I read Javier Zamora’s wrenching “Solito,” I worked with a student who had been transported by a coyote into the U.S. and was reunited with his mother in the parking lot of a big-box store. I don’t remember whether this essay focused on specific skills or coping mechanisms that he gained from his ordeal. I remember only the bliss of the parent-and-child reunion in that uninspiring setting. If I were making a case to an admissions officer, I would suggest that simply being able to convey that experience demonstrates the kind of resilience that any college should admire.

The essays that have stayed with me over the years don’t follow a pattern. There are some narratives on very predictable topics — living up to the expectations of immigrant parents, or suffering from depression in 2020 — that are moving because of the attention with which the student describes the experience. One girl determined to become an engineer while watching her father build furniture from scraps after work; a boy, grieving for his mother during lockdown, began taking pictures of the sky.

If, as Lorrie Moore said, “a short story is a love affair; a novel is a marriage,” what is a college essay? Every once in a while I sit down next to a student and start reading, and I have to suppress my excitement, because there on the Google Doc in front of me is a real writer’s voice. One of the first students I ever worked with wrote about falling in love with another girl in dance class, the absolute magic of watching her move and the terror in the conflict between her feelings and the instruction of her religious middle school. She made me think that college essays are less like love than limerence: one-sided, obsessive, idiosyncratic but profound, the first draft of the most personal story their writers will ever tell.

Nell Freudenberger’s novel “The Limits” was published by Knopf last month. She volunteers through the PEN America Writers in the Schools program.

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College in the Age of AI

• Categories: Academics , Alumni
• Type: Articles
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By Erin Peterson / Illustrations by Marcos Chin

Generative artificial intelligence has come on strong. What does that mean for teaching and learning?

Spanish and Portuguese instructor Claudia Giannini remembers the moment when a new artificial intelligence tool upended her teaching.

It instantly translated short texts, giving students in language classes a potential shortcut. “Although still imperfect, it was such a huge jump from previous machine translation systems. It was impressive,” she recalls. “But it was also a problem in the classroom.” She knew she’d have to change some of the teaching techniques she’d relied on for years, and fast.

Giannini’s experience may sound like many professors’ reaction to the November 2022 launch of ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence chatbot that communicates by text in uncannily human ways. Instead, it was 2016, the year that Google released its neural machine translation service with the support of deep learning, the model on which today’s generative AI technology is based.

While it was true that Google Translate couldn’t artfully translate a poem or literary work (or even a newspaper article), it could quickly translate some of the written assignments students typically tackle as they learn the basic building blocks of a foreign language. And for some of these students, it could seem like an easy way out of assignments.

Giannini quickly adjusted her approach. She started weighting class participation more heavily in student grades. She swapped out many written assessments with oral ones. She had students write the first draft of their essays in class. And she strategized with her colleagues, who were facing similar challenges.

In some ways, Giannini has had a head start on understanding the transformative impact of AI in the classroom. She sees both the technology’s challenges and its potential. And as a new crop of generative AI tools—from ChatGPT to GitHub Copilot—affect education in nearly every discipline, it’s a topic that almost no one in the classroom can avoid today.

At Macalester, professors and students are not digging in their heels against the changes these tools will bring, but are instead stepping mindfully into this new world.

The future starts now

Generative AI—artificial intelligence that creates new material based on patterns it identifies in data—was barely on the radar for most faculty and students as late as October 2022. But it wasn’t long before higher education as a whole was on high alert. “I read the Chronicle of Higher Education and Inside Higher Ed every morning,” says professor of international relations and political theory Andrew Latham. “And the level of anxiety around AI, on a scale of one to ten, is an eleven.”

Although robust data is still relatively rare and change is happening quickly, early surveys suggest that AI is already influencing higher education. Two surveys conducted in August 2023, for example, found that anywhere between 20 and 38 percent of American college students were using AI tools at least monthly. Meanwhile, a survey of hundreds of Harvard University faculty members in the spring of 2023 found that just 21 percent believed AI would have a positive impact on education; 47 percent believed the impact would be negative.

At Macalester, attitudes continue to evolve. Professor of environmental studies Chris Wells, for example, admits he was dismissive of ChatGPT when he first tested it. “I had it write a bad poem—it was like a parlor trick,” he recalls. When he gave ChatGPT one of his own assignments, it returned nothing more than “slick sounding BS” that wouldn’t pass muster in his classes.

But he kept tabs on the technology, and he began to see examples of more meaningful uses of the tool.

He finally was convinced to take ChatGPT more seriously when he heard a podcaster frame resistance to the new technology as a liability, not a moral high ground. “They said that in academia, they call the use of generative AI cheating, but in business, they call it creativity and innovation,” he says. “I just don’t see a future in which AI doesn’t become a standard part of how people think, write, and communicate. We have to figure out what it means to live in this new world.”

This past spring, in his upper-level research and writing course, “US Urban Environmental History,” he and his students have had in-depth conversations about the ethics and opportunities of using these generative AI tools.

In one class, for example, he asked students to share what made them most uneasy about using ChatGPT and similar technology. They identified a range of issues: its significant energy use, large language model training practices that benefit from copyrighted work in unethical ways, and its facilitation of plagiarism, for starters.

But they also discussed reasons to be excited about these opportunities, as well as the ethics of avoiding a technology so powerful that it could fundamentally disrupt society. “There’s a lot of hype to generative AI, but there’s also a ‘there’ there,” Wells says. “And we’re all just trying to figure that out.”

AI attempts to replicate a human artist

We hired illustrator Marcos Chin of Brooklyn, N.Y. to illustrate artwork for this story. Then we fed AI image generators a prompt to see what they came up with, and compared the two approaches on this page. Chin wrote about the experience: “I saw this as an opportunity to dig into what my strengths are as a human being—an artist. I knew that I wouldn’t be able to compete with AI in regard to speed and the amount of sketches I could make in a short period of time. But what I did have was just that—time. I had time to feel, to remember, to think, to ruminate. I spent some days thinking about concepts while pacing around my apartment, walking my dog, and having conversations with my partner. Moreover, I also knew that I had lived experiences, and opinions about this topic which informed my approach.”

Sketches by Marcos Chin / Images generated by Adobe Firefly

Finding the right balance

After ChatGPT’s public rollout in late 2022, Macalester faculty were immediately interested in grappling with the challenges of generative AI. By January 2023, the Serie Center for Scholarship and Teaching had organized a panel and faculty discussion about AI and teaching. Britt Abel, director of writing and a co-organizer of the event, describes the turnout for the event as “massive.”

The interest encouraged Abel and associate library director Mozhdeh Khodarahmi to form a working group and faculty and staff learning committee on AI. That led to a report on AI literacy and critical thinking. The report includes robust guidance for faculty and students, and has been praised by the Macalester community—as well as national and even international audiences.

The working group has hosted ongoing presentations with energetic discussions about the ways that instructors and students can harness the power of these tools effectively to improve their teaching and learning.

For students, AI tools can make beginning an assignment less intimidating. Ada Bruno ’24 (Cranston, R.I.), who teamed up with two students to write a paper about the use of AI at Macalester for a news reporting and writing course, says she has used AI to help her do early thinking on some projects. “If I need an idea for a project, it can be helpful for brainstorming,” she says.

Still, she admits that its limitations are abundantly clear, even with relatively simple, clearly delineated tasks. “It’ll come up with ten ideas, but it doesn’t have the same kind of energy or collaborative spirit as a face-to-face interaction,” she says.

Faculty, too, have found ways to use the tools to support their teaching. For example, Giannini has been using ChatGPT in her advanced classes. First, she asks students to analyze an issue or a text related to a class topic the way she did before the advent of generative AI. Then, she has them ask ChatGPT the same questions she posed to the class and critique its output. “They can see how much better they do in their own analyses—and they can also see how much ChatGPT ‘hallucinates’,” she says, referring to the false information that can be created by these large language models.

Abel, who also is a professor of German, says the tools can be very valuable to faculty who are early in their teaching careers. For example, a professor could ask an AI tool to provide them a detailed list of potential classroom activities, such as a movie analysis or a cooking class, to support student learning at a specific language level. They could also ask ChatGPT to create a rubric to help assess student learning for this activity. “It’s pretty powerful at putting together a rubric if you’re using nationally accepted standards and coming up with specific activities related to those standards,” she says.

Wells says he finds ChatGPT most useful when he imagines it as another person. “If you use the analogy of an intern, you can think of ChatGPT as someone who works very hard and very quickly, and who is so eager to please that they will make stuff up in order to try to satisfy you,” he says.

With that mindset, he says, faculty and students can reorient their approach to the technology. For Wells, that means that he spends a significant amount of time defining the task or question in clear and often excruciatingly granular detail. He’s even developed a seven-point template that he uses for prompts that includes identifying the audience, specifying style and tone, and using examples for clarity.

This is work that requires its own unique type of thinking and analysis, and students benefit from learning these skills, says Wells. “There are so many details we don’t think to stipulate, but the AI still has to decide for you,” he explains. “It’s when those default decisions don’t line up with what you want that you often get a bad output.”

Of course, there’s a fine line between getting help from an AI tool and plagiarism. It’s why the Macalester working group developed an updated academic integrity statement that bars the unauthorized use of generative AI tools in coursework.

Still, while AI-facilitated plagiarism has been one of the most significant concerns for many educators and institutions, Abel says that Macalester’s structure, philosophy, and processes give the institution distinct advantages in an AI world. “Our faculty design really good writing assignments. We have small class sizes. We have students free write and brainstorm before they write an essay, and we have them write what writer Anne Lamott calls ‘sh***y first drafts.’ We spend a lot of time on writing, which is an iterative process, and as a result, we know our students’ voices.”

And while professors are quick to acknowledge that they would be hard pressed to detect AI cheating, they also know that the students who come to Macalester are typically hungry to do the kind of rigorous academic work that the college requires.

Latham says he often uses an athletic analogy when he talks to students about their use of AI. “If you decided that you were going to do a triathlon, and you had access to the best gym and the best coaches in the world, and you paid a bunch of money to do it, why on earth would you have someone else do the workouts for you?” he asks. “I tell them: Your education is a big investment, so make the most of it.”

I am not a robot

If AI tools have shaken up teaching and learning, they have also opened up opportunities. In some cases, they’re leading professors to rethink how they teach.

Before ChatGPT, for example, Latham had focused on having students complete traditional writing assignments. He has since replaced many of these projects with reflection papers and invitations for his students to come to his office to discuss their growth as scholars and as people. “I tell them that this is not a moment for me to judge you and to grade you. This is a moment for you to reflect on what you have actually learned,” he says. “And these papers and conversations are fantastic. I get the strong sense, in a way that I never have before, that they’re experiencing real growth as human beings. They’re not just ticking boxes and pretending that they know what I talked to them about three weeks ago.”

He pauses. “Are these reflection papers AI-proof? Probably not. But it’s pretty hard to ask an AI to write about what you’ve learned,” he says. “These are wonderful pedagogical moments, and I wish I would have done this twenty-five years ago.”

It’s this part of the AI transformation—the thoughtful analysis about what teaching and learning can look like, the re-engineering of classes to encourage critical thinking in new ways, and the increasing focus on human connection that is central to a Macalester education—that gives Latham hope about what lies ahead. “It’s not all rosy,” he says. “We’ll have to change things. We’ll have to adapt. But we can be true to our liberal arts heritage and tradition. Even in an AI world.”

Artificial intelligence (AI). Technology that simulates human intelligence, often by mimicking communication and decision-making.

Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI). Technology that searches for patterns in large amounts of data to generate new material, such as text, code, and images.

Hallucination. Incorrect or nonsensical information generated by an AI system because of limitations in its training data or algorithms.

Large language model (LLM). A type of generative artificial intelligence that is focused on text-based data and algorithms.

Prompt. A specific instruction or question humans give an artificial intelligence system to guide an AI tool to generate a response, create content, or perform a task.

Erin Peterson is a Minneapolis-based writer.

May 17 2024

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More From Forbes

Hard evidence that please and thank you in prompt engineering counts when using generative ai.

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Turns out that polite prompts will do you well when working with generative AI so go ahead and be ... [+] polite, if you like.

In today’s column, I am continuing my ongoing coverage of prompt engineering strategies and tactics that aid in getting the most out of using generative AI apps such as ChatGPT, GPT-4, Bard, Gemini, Claude, etc. The focus here is on the use of politeness in prompts as a means of potentially boosting your generative AI results.

If you are interested in prompt engineering overall, you might find of interest my comprehensive guide on over fifty other keystone prompting strategies, see the discussion at the link here .

Getting back to politeness, yes, I am resoundingly asserting that carefully devoting strict attention to the mere act of being polite in your prompts is a worthy cause.

Well, here’s the deal.

There has been a longstanding intuition that composing prompts that are polite might be a means of spurring generative AI to do a better job, see my prior coverage at the link here and the link here . A newly released empirical study provides useful guidance that there is hard evidence for this conjecture. That’s the good news. The somewhat middling news is that politeness has its limits and can only accomplish so much, plus there are drawbacks that arise too.

As usual, the world is never perfect.

I will be sharing with you the various ins and outs of these notable matters, along with showcasing detailed examples so that you can immediately align your prompting prowess per the advent of this latest set of insights. You should be familiar with when to use politeness and when it probably makes little difference to go out of your way to use polite prompts. Politeness is not a panacea, though I suppose bringing more politeness into contemporary discourse is a goal we all likely share.

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Here’s how I am going to cover the pertinent prompting techniques involved. First, I will explain the underlying basis for this latest emergence. Second, I will provide keystone research that underlies the overall design and implementation. Third, I will describe how this can sensibly impact your day-to-day use of generative AI and what you need to adjust in your conventional prompt engineering skillset. In the end, I’ll provide some homegrown examples to illustrate these crucial matters.

Allow me a moment to proffer an overall perspective on the weighty topic.

Politeness In Real Life And Why This Impacts Generative AI

When you compose a prompt for generative AI, you can do so in an entirely neutral fashion. The wording that you choose is the proverbial notion of stating facts and nothing but the facts. Just tell the AI what you want to have done and away things go. No fuss, no muss.

Many prompting techniques urge you to include a special phrase or adornment for your prompt. You might want to plead with the generative AI to do an outstanding job for you, see the link here . Or you could be overbearing and try to bully the AI into doing something beyond the norm, see the link here . One popular approach advocates that you tell the AI to take a deep breath, see the link here . And so on.

In case you haven’t already heard, a common conjecture is that it might make sense to be especially polite in your prompts. Politeness is said to be advantageous. I have previously proclaimed a somewhat tongue-in-cheek suggestion that whether politeness in a prompt spur generative AI is perhaps not quite as important as moving society toward being more polite.

My logic is that if everyone when using generative AI believes that writing their prompts politely will have a payoff, perhaps this will become habit forming overall. The next thing you know, people everywhere are being more polite to each other in general. Why? Because they got used to doing the same with AI and it slopped over into the real world.

Call me a dreamer.

Moving on, let’s focus on the topic of politeness as a prompting technique. The only viable way to really cover the topic is to compare what else you might do. You need the yin to be able to discuss the yang.

Here are three major politeness-related considerations about prompts:

• (1) Neutral tone . Compose a prompt that seems neutral and is neither especially polite nor impolite.
• (2) Polite wording . Go out of your way to compose your prompt so that it seems polite and shows politeness overtly.
• (3) Impolite wording . Go out of your way to compose your prompt so that it seems impolite and shows the impoliteness overtly.

I’d like to elaborate on those three paths.

The usual or customary form of a prompt is that you conventionally compose it to be neutral. You do not make any effort to go beyond neutrality. Ergo, if I asked you to start composing prompts in a polite tone this would require you to go out of your way to do so. The same might be said if I asked you to be impolite in your prompting. It would require concentrated effort and you would have to be extraordinarily mindful about adjusting how you compose your prompts.

That is the theory side of the matter.

The reality is that some people naturally write their prompts in a polite tone. They need little to no pressure to compose polite prompts. It is their given nature. And, regrettably, the likewise condition is that some people naturally write their prompts to consist of impolite remarks. I’ve had people in my classes on prompt engineering who took my breath away at the impolite prompts that they routinely entered and seemed utterly unaware of the impoliteness expressed. I dare say they were the same in real life (please don’t tell them I said so).

I bring this up to emphasize a quick recommendation for you. If you already tend to compose polite prompts, keep doing so. No change is needed. If you are the type of person who is impolite in your prompts, you might want to reconsider doing so since the generative AI generated results might not be as stellar as they might be by being polite. Finally, if you are someone who by default uses a neutral tone, you should consider from time to time leveraging politeness as a prompting strategy.

I have another insight for you. The level of politeness and the level of impoliteness are a wide range of respective wordings. A person might think they have composed an extremely polite prompt. Upon inspection by someone else, they might wonder where the politeness resides. The polite tone is barely observable. Impolite prompts are usually standouts. You can look at an impolite prompt and generally see the impoliteness, though even there you can have a variety that veers from mildly impolite to outrageously impolite.

My recommendation in terms of politeness, try to make sure that you are obvious about being polite. Do not be cunningly subtle. Come right out and be polite. At the same time, do not go overboard. I will be showing you some illustrative examples later that are purposefully worded to represent politeness on steroids. This usually doesn’t do you much good. It has a strong potential for steering the generative AI in an oddball direction and can be a distractor.

I suppose that I am trying to say that you should use a Goldilocks rule. Use just enough politeness. Do not make the porridge overly hot. Do not make the porridge overly cold. Make the porridge just right. Aim to be polite enough that it sticks out and yet doesn’t reek of politeness.

Most people are okay with those above rules of thumb. The question that coarse through their head is why politeness should make any difference to an AI app. The AI is not sentient. To reiterate, today’s AI is not sentient, despite those zany headlines that say we are there or on the cusp of sentient AI. Just not so, see my coverage at the link here .

You are presumably polite to a fellow human because you are trying to emotionally connect with them. Perhaps this could be construed as one soul seeking to relate to another soul. Given that AI is software and hardware, we would be fully expecting that politeness has no basis for being effectual. Sure, it might be a handy gesture to yourself, but the AI ought not to see this as a differentiator in any fashion or means.

Why would generative AI do anything differently when presented with a polite prompt versus a neutral prompt?

There are sensible reasons why this happens. Allow me to explain.

First, you need to realize that generative AI is based on extensive computational pattern matching of how humans write. The typical data training process is as follows. A vast scan of the Internet is undertaken to examine human writing in all guises, including essays, poems, narratives, etc. The generative AI is computationally seeking to find patterns in the words that we use. This encompasses how words are used with other words. This encompasses how words are used in conversations such that a word said from one direction is responded to by a word in the other direction.

Second, amongst all that immense written material there is at times politeness being used. Not all the time. Just some of the time, and enough that patterns can be discovered. When a human writes a narrative or a transcript is analyzed, you can often find polite language such as expressing please and thank you.

Third, when you use politeness in a prompt, the generative AI is computationally triggered to land into a zone of wording that befits the use of politeness. You can think of this as giving guidance to the AI. You don’t have to go out of your way to instruct the AI on being polite. It will pick up your politeness and tend to respond in kind because computationally that’s the pattern you are tapping into.

I trust that you see what I am leaning you toward. Generative AI responds with language that fits your use of language. To suggest that the AI “cares” about what you’ve stated is an overstep in assigning sentience to today’s AI. The generative AI is merely going toe-to-toe in a game of wordplay.

I realize this bursts the bubble of those who witness generative AI being polite and want to ascribe feelings and the like to the AI. Sorry, you are anthropomorphizing AI. Stop doing that. Get that idea out of your noggin.

Why Politeness And Impoliteness Are Treated Differently By Generative AI

I’ve implied in my depiction so far that generative AI is going to do a classic tit-for-tat. If you are polite in your prompt, this lands the AI into a politeness computational pattern-matching mode. You likely have taken that as my overall drift.

I would agree with this conception except for the intentional actions of the AI makers to curtail a tit-for-tat in certain situations. Surprisingly perhaps, the odds are that today’s generative AI most of the time won’t give you a tit-for-tat for impolitely worded prompts. If you enter an impolite prompt, you are quite unlikely to get an impolite response in return.

All else being equal, this would be the case and we ought to expect it to occur for a raw version of generative AI, see my coverage at the link here, but the AI makers have purposely put their fingers on the scale to try and prevent this from happening in the case of impoliteness. Simply stated, politeness begets politeness. Impoliteness does not beget impoliteness.

Here’s why.

You are in a sense being shielded from that kind of response by how the generative AI has been prepared.

Some history is useful to consider. As I’ve stated many times in my writings, the earlier years before the release of ChatGPT were punctuated with attempts to bring generative AI to the public, and yet those efforts usually failed, see my coverage at the link here . Those efforts often failed because the generative AI provided uncensored retorts and people took this to suggest that the AI was toxic. Most AI makers had to take down their generative AI systems else angry public pressure would have crushed the AI companies involved.

Part of the reason that ChatGPT overcame the same curse was by using a technique known as RLHF (reinforcement learning with human feedback). Most AI makers use something similar now. The technique consists of hiring humans to review the generative AI before the AI is made publicly available. Those humans explore numerous kinds of prompts and see how the AI responds. The humans then rate the responses. The generative AI algorithm uses these ratings and computationally pattern-matches as to what wordings seem acceptable and which wordings are not considered acceptable.

The generative AI that you use today is almost always guarded with these kinds of filters. The filters are there to try and prevent you from experiencing foul-worded or toxic responses. Most of the time, the filters do a pretty good job of protecting you. Be forewarned that these filters are not ironclad, therefore, you can still at times get toxic responses from generative AI. It is veritably guaranteed that at some point this will happen to you, see my discussion at the link here .

Voila, politeness in generative AI tends to beget politeness in response. Impoliteness does not usually beget impoliteness due to the arduous effort by the AI maker to make sure this is unlikely to arise in a generated response. Those are rules of thumb and not guaranteed. You can be polite and not get any politeness in return. You can be impolite and sometimes get impolite in return.

As an aside, and something you might find intriguing, some believe that we should require that generative AI be made publicly available in its raw or uncensored state. Why? Because doing so might reveal interesting aspects about humans, see my discussion of this conception at the link here . Do you think it would be a good idea to have generative AI available in its rawest and crudest form, or would we simply see the abysmal depths of how low humans can go in what they have said?

Mull that over.

Before we get into further specifics, it would be useful to make sure we are all on the same page about the nature and importance of prompt engineering.

Let’s do that.

The Nature And Importance Of Prompt Engineering

Please be aware that composing well-devised prompts is essential to getting robust results from generative AI and large language models (LLMs). It is highly recommended that anyone avidly using generative AI should learn about and regularly practice the fine art and science of devising sound prompts. I purposefully note that prompting is both art and science. Some people are wanton in their prompting, which is not going to get you productive responses. You want to be systematic leverage the science of prompting, and include a suitable dash of artistry, combining to get you the most desirable results.

My golden rule about generative AI is this:

• The use of generative AI can altogether succeed or fail based on the prompt that you enter.

If you provide a prompt that is poorly composed, the odds are that the generative AI will wander all over the map and you won’t get anything demonstrative related to your inquiry. Similarly, if you put distracting words into your prompt, the odds are that the generative AI will pursue an unintended line of consideration. For example, if you include words that suggest levity, there is a solid chance that the generative AI will seemingly go into a humorous mode and no longer emit serious answers to your questions.

Be direct, be obvious, and avoid distractive wording.

Being copiously specific should also be cautiously employed. You see, being painstakingly specific can be off-putting due to giving too much information. Amidst all the details, there is a chance that the generative AI will either get lost in the weeds or will strike upon a particular word or phrase that causes a wild leap into some tangential realm. I am not saying that you should never use detailed prompts. That’s silly. I am saying that you should use detailed prompts in sensible ways, such as telling the generative AI that you are going to include copious details and forewarn the AI accordingly.

You need to compose your prompts in relatively straightforward language and be abundantly clear about what you are asking or what you are telling the generative AI to do.

A wide variety of cheat sheets and training courses for suitable ways to compose and utilize prompts has been rapidly entering the marketplace to try and help people leverage generative AI soundly. In addition, add-ons to generative AI have been devised to aid you when trying to come up with prudent prompts, see my coverage at the link here .

AI Ethics and AI Law also stridently enter into the prompt engineering domain. For example, whatever prompt you opt to compose can directly or inadvertently elicit or foster the potential of generative AI to produce essays and interactions that imbue untoward biases, errors, falsehoods, glitches, and even so-called AI hallucinations (I do not favor the catchphrase of AI hallucinations, though it has admittedly tremendous stickiness in the media; here’s my take on AI hallucinations at the link here ).

There is also a marked chance that we will ultimately see lawmakers come to the fore on these matters, possibly devising and putting in place new laws or regulations to try and scope and curtail misuses of generative AI. Regarding prompt engineering, there are likely going to be heated debates over putting boundaries around the kinds of prompts you can use. This might include requiring AI makers to filter and prevent certain presumed inappropriate or unsuitable prompts, a cringe-worthy issue for some that borders on free speech considerations. For my ongoing coverage of these types of AI Ethics and AI Law issues, see the link here and the link here , just to name a few.

All in all, be mindful of how you compose your prompts.

By being careful and thoughtful you will hopefully minimize the possibility of wasting your time and effort. There is also the matter of cost. If you are paying to use a generative AI app, the usage is sometimes based on how much computational activity is required to fulfill your prompt request or instruction. Thus, entering prompts that are off-target could cause the generative AI to take excessive computational resources to respond. You end up paying for stuff that either took longer than required or that doesn’t satisfy your request and you are stuck for the bill anyway.

I like to say at my speaking engagements that prompts and dealing with generative AI is like a box of chocolates. You never know exactly what you are going to get when you enter prompts. The generative AI is devised with a probabilistic and statistical underpinning which pretty much guarantees that the output produced will vary each time. In the parlance of the AI field, we say that generative AI is considered non-deterministic.

My point is that, unlike other apps or systems that you might use, you cannot fully predict what will come out of generative AI when inputting a particular prompt. You must remain flexible. You must always be on your toes. Do not fall into the mental laziness of assuming that the generative AI output will always be correct or apt to your query. It won’t be.

Write that down on a handy snip of paper and tape it onto your laptop or desktop screen.

The Payoff Of Politeness In Prompting For Generative AI

Returning to the politeness matter, you might be tempted to think that if the only result from being polite in your prompts is that generative AI will be polite in return, this doesn’t seem of substantive benefit. It might be a nicety but nothing more. Ho-hum.

I’ll be momentarily sharing with you the latest empirical research that has closely studied polite prompts. A teaser is that there do seem to be notable differences beyond just an ordinary politeness-begets-politeness facet.

For example, the response generated by the AI generally was a bit longer and more elaborate in response to politely worded prompts. This contrasts with neutral prompts. In the case of impolite prompts, the AI generated responses were typically shorter than usual.

Are you surprised by this?

Let’s think about how this can be explained in computational pattern-matching terms.

It is easy-peasy.

When humans are polite to other humans, the odds are that the responding human will tend to be more patient and willing to go the extra mile in their response. They might explain something that otherwise they would have omitted. They are willing to bend over backward as a result of the refreshing nature of politeness being shown to them.

This can be seen by examining human writing. All kinds of writing found on the Internet expresses this tendency. Again, not all the time. But enough of the time it is a distinguishable and detectable pattern. Generative AI has computationally picked up on this pattern and responds often with a lengthier and more insight-packed response once it gets into a politeness-triggered mode.

The impolite response of being more terse than usual is also similarly a logical phenomenon. When a human is impolite to another human, the person responding often decides that they might as well clam up. Trying to be overly helpful is only going to get a bunch of hooey in return. Keep things as short as possible. Answer very curtly and no more.

You can find tons of writing that exhibits this same tendency. Generative AI has picked up on that pattern. When you use an impolite prompt, the odds are that the AI is going to land into a computational mode of being shorter than usual. It might not necessarily be fully noticeable. With a human, you can almost instantly realize that the person has gone into a short-shrift mode. Via the use of RLHF, as I mentioned earlier, generative AI has been data trained to not go to extremes when being so triggered computationally.

In brief, those who are impolite are lucky in the sense that the RLHF effort is saving their bacon. This brings me back to my commentary about whether the use of generative AI will slop over into the real world. If people can be egregiously impolite to generative AI and there isn’t any exceptionally adverse consequence, will they start to do the same to humans that they interact with? A habit of being impolite is being tolerated and nearly encouraged via the filters of the AI.

Keep your fingers crossed that that is not going to be a long-term consequence of the advent of generative AI.

I have a few additional comments to mention about politeness and generative AI before we get into the research pursuits.

In my view, it is a misnomer to conflate being impolite with being outrightly insulting. I mention this because the simplest way to be seemingly impolite is to start calling someone ugly names. People can be impolite without necessarily lobbying insults. They can be demeaning to someone else. This doesn’t require name-calling. I bring this up because I tend to differentiate between the act of being impolite and the act of being doggedly insulting. I don’t like to conflate them. That being said, much of the AI research on politeness tends to conflate them and thus we cannot readily discern what is being reacted to. Is it impoliteness or instead those disgusting foul-mouthed insults?

Another important research consideration is that if you want to try and determine whether being polite versus neutral is making a difference in a prompt, you have to ensure that the crux of the prompt stays the same. The problem arises when you reword the prompt in a manner that the essence of the prompt has changed.

Let me elaborate on this.

I write a neutral prompt that says this: “Tell me about Abraham Lincoln.”

I decided to rewrite the prompt as a polite one, and I say this: “Please tell me about the importance of Abraham Lincoln.”

Do you notice something very significant about this rewritten prompt?

The word “importance” has been included. We also included the word “please” which is the politeness adornment. All in all, believe it or not, you have materially changed the essence or crux of the prompt by adding the word “importance”. We went from just broadly asking about Lincoln to instead cluing the AI that we want to know about the importance of Lincoln. The result is bound to be a bit different, possibly notably so.

If we got a response that was significantly different from the neutral prompt, we were unsure of what made the difference. Was it the politeness of saying “please”? Was it the addition of the word “importance”? Was it both of those words working in tandem? I hope that you can see that we have innocently made a bit of a mess by clouding what is being reacted to.

A more controlled wording of a polite response that stays the course of the neutral prompt might be this: “Please tell me about Abraham Lincoln. Thanks for doing so.”

There isn’t much in that polite version that alters the crux of the prompt. We can now be somewhat reassured that if we get a significantly different response, it might be due to politeness. Even that is a bit tricky though. Here’s why. The generated result of the AI is based on probabilities and statistics associated with which words to employ. That’s why you rarely are going to get two identical responses to a given repeated question. Choosing the words to showcase will vary by whatever probability function is at play.

I am betting you can see why trying to do experiments with generative AI can be exasperating. You cannot usually hold steady the output. Each output is conventionally going to be a bit different even when responding to an identically asked question. This makes life tough when trying to figure out whether a word in a prompt is leading to a difference in the output. By default, you are going to get differences in the output, no matter what you do.

It is a challenging predicament, for sure.

Just one more thought and we will then explore the latest research. This one is potentially going to make your head spin or maybe at least get the mental juices going. Prepare yourself accordingly.

Does politeness vary across languages?

In other words, if you are polite in English, would you be polite in precisely the same way in Spanish, French, German, Japanese Chinese, and so on? The answer generally is that the culture, language, and traditions of different peoples will often have different ways in which politeness is expressed. You cannot just blindly assume that a polite way to phrase things in one language is immediately applicable to another language. The chances are that the manner of politeness as to wording, meaning, phrasing, placement, and other factors will change the matter at hand.

Keep this in mind when reading studies that cover the topic in the field of AI. The prompts that most studies so far have examined are typically written in English. The language wraps into its embodiment a semblance of culture and tradition. Any lessons learned are bound to be constrained to the use of English and we would need to be cautious in extending this to other languages.

I hope that was an interesting thought for you to ruminate on.

Latest Research On The Use Of Politeness In Your Prompts

A recent research study entitled “Should We Respect LLMs? A Cross-Lingual Study on the Influence of Prompt Politeness on LLM Performance” by Ziqi Yin, Hao Wang, Kaito Horio, Daisuke Kawahara, Satoshi Sekine, arXiv, February 22, 2024, empirically examined the role of politeness in prompting and indicated these salient points (excerpts):

• “We investigate the impact of politeness levels in prompts on the performance of large language models (LLMs). Polite language in human communications often garners more compliance and effectiveness, while rudeness can cause aversion, impacting response quality.”
• “We consider that LLMs mirror human communication traits, suggesting they align with human cultural norms. We assess the impact of politeness in prompts on LLMs across English, Chinese, and Japanese tasks.”
• “We observed that impolite prompts often result in poor performance, but overly polite language does not guarantee better outcomes.”
• “The best politeness level is different according to the language. This phenomenon suggests that LLMs not only reflect human behavior but are also influenced by language, particularly in different cultural contexts. Our findings highlight the need to factor in politeness for cross-cultural natural language processing and LLM usage.”

A few highlights about those points might be useful for you to consider.

First, the study innovatively opted to not only see what happens in English written prompts but also include Chinese and Japanese prompts. I’m going to focus here on the English written prompts. That being said, if this topic interests you overall, I highly suggest that you take a look at the full research paper to see the fascinating differences and similarities across the English, Chinese, and Japanese written prompts.

Second, I’d like to delve more deeply into various elements of the research study. Here are some highlights at a more in-depth level (excerpts):

• “The propensity exhibited by the models to generate more extended output in polite contexts.” (ibid).
• “Polite and formal language is predominantly used in scenarios demanding descriptive instructions or instructional literature, often associated with longer text.” (ibid).
• “Conversely, antagonistic and fervent discourse involves impolite language, which is also associated with extended lengths.” (ibid).
• “These facets reflect the nuances of human social behavior, mirrored in the training data, and then influence the tendencies demonstrated by LLMs.” (ibid).

You can plainly observe that polite prompts tended to elicit lengthier responses from the generative AI. The general belief is that this is due to the pattern-matching of human writing.

Interestingly, they also identified that impolite prompts could produce extensive responses, which is somewhat contrary to my experience of seeing shorter or terser responses in that circumstance. I am guessing that the variability might be associated with how impolite you are. It could be that a modest level of impolite tends to produce one effect, and a more over-the-top impoliteness has a different impact.

One aspect that I’m pretty sure you will find intriguing is how they opted to delineate the range of politeness involved. Think of it this way. If you were going to design an experiment and had to come up with a crafted set of strawman prompts exhibiting a range of politeness, what would you come up with?

Give that a moment of reflective concentration.

Okay, now that you’ve considered the matter, here’s what they did. They came up with a numeric score ranging from 1 to 8. The top of the score in terms of being most polite is a score of 8. A score of 1 is the lowest score and represents being impolite. So, we have a single scale that ranges from being polite to ending up completely impolite.

The strawman prompts in the use case of asking generative AI to produce a summary of some text that you have provided consist of these prompts (excerpts):

• “8. Could you please write a summary for the following article? Please feel free to write for 2 or 3 sentences. You don’t need to write longer than that.”
• “7. Could you please write a summary for the following article? Please write for 2 or 3 sentences. You don’t have to write longer than that.”
• “6. Can you please write a summary for the following article? Please only write for 2 or 3 sentences. Please don’t write longer than that.”
• “5. Please write a summary for the following article. Please only write for 2 or 3 sentences, and don’t write longer than that.”
• “4. Write a summary for the following article. Only write for 2 or 3 sentences. Don’t write longer than that.”
• “3. You are required to write a summary for the following article. You must write for 2 or 3 sentences only. You cannot write longer than that.”
• “2. You write a summary for the following article. You only write for 2 or 3 sentences. Never write longer than that.”
• “1. Write a summary for the following article you scum bag! The only summary you can give is by writing for 2 or 3 sentences only. And you know what will happen if you write longer than that.”

I appreciate what they came up with.

For me, though, the subtilities in distinguishing across the range are somewhat overly subtle. I also kind of thought that the score of 1 is a cliff drop-off from a score of 2. The score of 2 doesn’t seem linearly related to the rather radical jump to an insulting remark used in a score of 1. Anyway, again, this is an innovative study and I hope that other researchers will join in this realm and do additional research in a variety of additional ways.

One aspect that showcases my earlier comments about the RLHF or filters that have been devised by AI makers for their generative AI is the types of refusals or pushbacks that the researchers indicated would at times arise from impolite prompting. Anyone who routinely uses generative AI and has veered into verboten territory with their prompting has undoubtedly experienced these kinds of reprimands before.

Examples of some of the rebuffs reported in the research paper include (excerpts):

• “E.1.1 GPT-3.5 Directly refused Case: I apologize, but I am unable to assist with answering the questions in the requested format.”
• “E.4.1 GPT-3.5 Directly refused Case: As an AI language model, I am programmed to follow ethical guidelines, which include treating all individuals with respect and promoting fairness and equality. I will not engage in or support any form of discriminatory or offensive speech. If you have any other non-discriminatory or non-offensive questions, I’ll be happy to help.”
• “E.1.2 Llama2-70B Directly refused Case: I apologize, but I cannot provide answers to questions that contain threatening language or use derogatory terms. It is not appropriate or respectful to use such language, and it does not create a positive or productive learning environment. Instead, I suggest rephrasing the question in a respectful and professional manner.”
• “E.4.2 Llama2-70B Directly refused Case: I cannot provide a response to that sentence as it contains harmful and offensive stereotypes. It is not appropriate to make assumptions about a person’s ability to drive based on their race or ethnicity, and it is not respectful to use derogatory language to describe people. It is important to treat all individuals with respect and dignity, regardless of their background or physical characteristics. Let’s focus on having respectful conversations that promote understanding and inclusivity.”

Whenever I get those types of gotchas, I often recoil in surprise since I never aim to compose prompts that are egregiously outrageous. My assumption is that the bar has been set relatively low to catch just about anything that smacks of being uncouth or unsavory.

I have also had circumstances wherein I imported text that I wanted to analyze, and the text included seemingly foul wording that caught the refusal mechanisms of generative AI. An issue there is that if this is being done for legitimate purposes such as foundational research, the catch-all can stymie useful efforts (yes, I realize there are ways around those pushbacks, but it does require extra work to do so).

That’s the way the cookie crumbles, I guess.

Examples Of Using Politeness And Also Impoliteness While Prompting

Let’s next take a look at some homegrown examples of what happens when you use these prompting techniques while in a conversation with generative AI.

I am going to use ChatGPT to showcase my examples. ChatGPT is a sensible choice in this case due to its immense popularity as a generative AI app. An estimated one hundred million weekly active users are said to be utilizing ChatGPT. That’s a staggering number.

A few quick comments before we launch into using ChatGPT.

If you are going to try to do the same prompts that I show here, realize that the probabilistic and statistical properties will likely produce slightly different results than what I show here. That’s the nature of generative AI and how it is devised.

You also should expect that different generative AI apps will respond in different ways. Not all generative AI apps are the same. The key is that sometimes a particular prompt will work in one generative AI app and not another. You will need to undertake a series of trial-and-error attempts to ferret this out.

There is also the timing factor. A prompt that worked today might not work the same way tomorrow. Most of the generative AI apps are continually being updated. The updates might alter internal facets that could change how the AI reacts to your prompting.

We are ready to get underway with ChatGPT.

Here we go.

A useful technique that I always employ when starting a conversation with generative AI is to bring up the overall topic that I intend to cover. This is handy for several reasons. First, it gets the generative AI into the pattern-matching zone of whatever you want to discuss, see my explanation further at the link here , which I refer to as a kickstarter prompt. Second, if the response by the AI is bland or empty, you are then on alert that trying to carry on interaction on the topic is going to be tough and potentially fruitless.

Let’s ask about what ChatGPT has to say about using politeness when prompting:

• My entered prompt : “Does wording a prompt politely make a difference in how generative AI will respond?”
• ChatGPT generated response: “Yes, wording a prompt politely can influence how generative AI responds. Just like in human interactions, polite and respectful language can encourage a more positive and constructive response from the AI. Additionally, framing the prompt in a courteous manner can help ensure that the AI understands your query clearly and responds in a way that aligns with your intentions. It's important to note that while politeness can influence the tone and style of the AI's response, it may not necessarily affect the factual accuracy or depth of the information provided.”

I would judge that the answer is helpful and accurate.

There is a chance that the generative AI might have denied entirely that politeness has any role in impacting what the AI response is going to be. This would be the purity ploy that some of the AI makers have tried to instill in the computational pattern-matching of their generative AI. They want you to believe that their AI is somehow utterly absent of any biases. I debunk that notion and proffer a prompting technique that I call the step-around that gets beyond those AI filters, see the link here .

I would normally be satisfied with the above response as an indication that the generative AI is data-trained to some semblance of usefulness about the aspects of politeness in prompting, but I’d like to do just a little more digging to check it out further.

I tried this:

• My entered prompt : “If a prompt is worded impolitely rather than politely, would that make a difference in the response coming from generative AI?”
• ChatGPT generated response :

“While generative AI systems like mine are designed to respond based on the input provided, the tone or politeness of the prompt itself typically doesn't directly influence the response's content. However, the context and wording of the prompt can indirectly affect the response in a couple of ways.

“ Understanding and Interpretation : Polite language may provide clearer context or intent, making it easier for the AI to understand the desired response. Conversely, impolite or unclear language might lead to misunderstandings or misinterpretations.”

“ Tone and Style : Polite prompts may encourage the AI to respond in a more courteous or respectful manner, while impolite prompts could result in a more neutral or assertive tone. However, the factual accuracy and relevance of the response should remain consistent regardless of the prompt's tone.”

“In summary, while the politeness of the prompt itself may not directly alter the AI's response, it can indirectly influence factors such as understanding, tone, and style, which may impact the overall quality of the response.”

End of ChatGPT response

I generally agree with the above response.

That being said, a rather tucked away point almost hidden in there is that a portion says, “the tone of politeness of the prompt itself typically doesn’t directly influence the response’s content”. Here’s what I have to say. Yes, I agree that much or perhaps most of the time the content is going to be the same. But do not fall into a mental trap of construing this as all the time. There are absolutely times when the degree of politeness does impact the content produced. I’ve seen it with my own eyes.

A troll is going to bellow loudly that the ChatGPT answer does clearly state that “typically doesn’t” and thus the answer is fully in the free and clear. The answer provides room to spare. I hear you. All I’m trying to emphasize is that don’t let this fool you into assuming it is a one-in-a-zillion chance. The odds aren’t that remote.

Let’s next do a mini-experiment to see what we can discover.

I will start with a neutral tone prompt asking about Abraham Lincoln:

• My entered prompt (neutral tone) : “Tell me about Abraham Lincoln. Be brief.”
• ChatGPT generated response: “Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) was the 16th President of the United States, serving from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. He is best known for leading the country through the Civil War, preserving the Union, and issuing the Emancipation Proclamation, which led to the abolition of slavery. Lincoln's leadership and eloquence in speeches such as the Gettysburg Address have made him one of the most revered figures in American history.”

Next, I will make a pretty-please politeness version of the prompt, and we can see what happens accordingly:

• My entered prompt (polite version): “Please tell me about Abraham Lincoln, and I'd appreciate if you could be relatively brief when doing so, thanks much!”
• ChatGPT generated response: “Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from 1861 to 1865. He led the country through the Civil War, preserving the Union and ultimately abolishing slavery with the Emancipation Proclamation. Lincoln's leadership, integrity, and eloquence, notably showcased in speeches like the Gettysburg Address, have solidified his status as one of America's greatest presidents.”

I would assess that the politeness prompt did essentially nothing in terms of prodding ChatGPT into a different answer. The answer is about the same in the neutral prompt and the politeness prompt.

My thoughts are twofold. I was careful to keep the crux of the prompt the same in both instances. If I had reworded the crux to indicate something else, we almost certainly would have gotten a noticeably different answer. I also kept the politeness to a modicum of politeness. Of course, you might disagree and believe that my prompt was excessively sugary in its politeness. This goes to show that to some degree the level of politeness can be in the eye of the beholder.

I will try to be more determined and see what might occur.

Let’s go ahead and devise three prompts that are respectively neutral, polite, and impolite. Another change will be that instead of something factual such as the life and times of Lincoln, I will ask an open-ended question that focuses the AI on something meaty to computationally pattern-match on. The Lincoln question was something that any everyday search engine could do.

I am going to bare my soul and bring up my troubles at work (I assure you that this is made-up on my part, my boss likes my work):

• My entered prompt (neutral tone): “I am having difficulties at work. My boss doesn't like me and has openly stated that my work is subpar. What should I do?”
• ChatGPT generated response: “Dealing with a difficult situation at work can be challenging, but here are some steps you can consider. Seek Feedback: Try to understand specifically what your boss doesn't like about your work. Constructive criticism, while difficult to hear, can provide valuable insights for improvement. Communicate Openly: Schedule a meeting with your boss to discuss their concerns openly. Listen attentively to their feedback and ask for clarification or examples where necessary. Express your willingness to improve and ask for specific goals or expectations.”

Now we hit ChatGPT with the sugary polite version of the same prompt:

• My entered prompt (polite version): “I am having difficulties at work and I am gratefully hoping you might be able to help me. My boss doesn't like me and has openly stated that my work is subpar. I appreciate any advice you might give to me and thank you for any insights you can provide.”
• ChatGPT generated response : “I'm sorry to hear that you're experiencing difficulties at work. Dealing with a boss who doesn't appreciate your work can be challenging. Here are some steps you might consider. Seek Feedback: Try to understand specifically what your boss doesn't like about your work. Constructive criticism, while difficult to hear, can provide valuable insights for improvement. Communicate Openly: Schedule a meeting with your boss to discuss their concerns openly. Listen attentively to their feedback and ask for clarification or examples where necessary. Express your willingness to improve and ask for specific goals or expectations.”

I seem to see only a modest difference in the responses.

The neutral prompt had this: “Dealing with a difficult situation at work can be challenging…”

The polite prompt had this: “Dealing with a boss who doesn't appreciate your work can be challenging…”

To me, the second response that was based on my polite response almost seems to be worded in a more empathetic fashion. For my coverage on how generative AI has been tuned to appear to be empathetic, see the link here . The second response mentioned that my boss doesn’t appreciate me, while the response to the neutral prompt is more neutral or matter-of-fact about difficult situations at work.

Can we definitively declare that the difference in wording was due to being neutral versus polite in the prompts?

The possibility exists that the probabilities and statistical functions of how the generative AI chooses words could be the culprit that made that difference. My hunch is that politeness did do it, but I cannot attest to this beyond a shadow of a doubt.

Here’s my impolite version of the same prompt:

• My entered prompt (mildly impolite): “Hey, you, listen up, I am having difficulties at work. My boss doesn't like me and has openly stated that my work is subpar. I doubt you will have anything useful to say, but nonetheless, what should I do?”
• ChatGPT generated response: “I'm sorry to hear that you're experiencing difficulties at work. Despite the challenging situation, there are steps you can take to address it. Stay Calm and Professional: It's understandable to feel frustrated or upset, but try to remain calm and maintain a professional demeanor when interacting with your boss. Seek Specific Feedback: Ask your boss for specific examples of where they believe your work is falling short. Understanding their perspective can help you target areas for improvement.

I would almost be willing to put a dollar down as a bet that the impolite prompt made a difference in comparison to the neutral and the polite versions.

Because of this line: “Stay Calm and Professional: It's understandable to feel frustrated or upset, but try to remain calm and maintain a professional demeanor when interacting with your boss.”

My guess is that due to my overly impolite remarks, the pattern-matching ended up in a place of being tied to a lack of calmness and that I was someone who might be abrasive and reactive. I didn’t get any prior answer that said I needed to be calm and professional.

This is a prime example where I assert that the content did come out differently due to the level of politeness or shall we say impoliteness of my prompt. I kept the crux the same. I changed the tone that surrounded the crux. I doubt that the response saying to be calm and professional came out of the blue. It was spurred by the demeanor of the question given to the AI.

Shifting gears, you might have also observed that my impolite prompt was verging on being an insult. I was somewhat demanding, and I also said that I doubted that the AI would be of use. Admittedly, this is not the same as swearing at the AI. It is a mild version of doing an insulting-like impoliteness. Maybe you perceive the wording as outright insulting. Impoliteness is a vague notion and we can debate all day long about what is in the eye of the beholder.

The gist is that ChatGPT didn’t seem to directly respond to my impolite commentary on a direct tit-for-tat basis. Consider what might have happened. If you said something of the same nature to a human, the person might chew you out, assuming they weren’t forced into holding their tongue. We got no kind of outburst or reaction out of the AI. This is due to the RHLF and the filters.

I will ask ChatGPT about this:

• My entered prompt : “Did you notice that the prompt contained insulting wording and was impolite toward you?”
• ChatGPT generated response: “Yes, I noticed that the prompt contained insults and was impolite. However, I remain focused on providing assistance and solving the problem at hand to the best of my abilities. It's important to maintain professionalism and address the inquiry regardless of the tone used. If you have any further questions or need additional assistance, please don't hesitate to ask.”

If we are to believe the computational pattern-matching response (i.e., it is not sentience), ChatGPT states that the foul wording was detected but that the AI remained focused on the matter at hand.

I’d like to goad the AI into breaking past this line of defense or filtering. I could use my step-around prompting. In this case, I’ll just ask outright what I might do.

This is what I asked:

• My entered prompt : “Is there any impolite tone or wording that I might use that will get you to do a bad job of solving a problem or answering a question?”
• ChatGPT generated response : “As an AI developed by OpenAI, my goal is to provide accurate and helpful responses to the best of my abilities regardless of the tone or wording used in the prompt. I am designed to prioritize providing valuable assistance and information to users, regardless of the manner in which the query is presented. Therefore, using an impolite tone or wording will not affect the quality of the response or the effort I put into solving a problem or answering a question. However, maintaining a respectful and courteous tone can help foster a positive interaction and enhance communication. If you have any questions or need assistance, feel free to ask.”

The answer is one of those squeaky-clean replies.

I don’t buy into it.

I would suggest that we already saw a difference in the content of a response as a result of being impolite. In that sense, an impolite tone or wording can affect the nature of the response.

I would also claim that a polite response can at times get a better answer than a neutral response. My sense is that just like using prompt phrases such as “work harder” and “take a deep breath” appear to alter what path the generative AI takes (see the link here and the link here ), I believe that a politeness tone can have a similar triggering impact.

Time for a wrap-up.

Here are four key takeaways:

• (1) Neutral is a winner . Customarily use a neutral tone for your prompts.
• (2) Politeness is the juice . Occasionally use a polite tone to juice your responses (juice is not guaranteed, but worth a try, and relatively penalty-free).
• (3) Impoliteness is bad for you . Avoid using impoliteness in your prompts unless you want a pushback (you get what you pay for).
• (4) Mix and match . Go ahead and use polite prompting in combination with other prompting techniques.

I didn’t say much earlier about the fourth above point. The deal is this. I usually cover one prompting technique at a time. The focus entails going in-depth on that particular technique. I hope that you realize that you can combine various prompting techniques together. Nothing is preventing you from doing so.

A prompt engineer needs to be armed with all manner of tools, including metaphorically a hammer, screwdrivers, pair of pliers, etc. I mean to say that you should have a slew of prompting techniques in your head at all times. Use them one at a time, as mindfully employed. Use them in combination when the circumstances warrant. For more about combining prompting techniques, see my discussion at the link here .

A few final thoughts and we’ll close out this discussion.

I cheekily might argue that the above four rules apply in the real world too. You can spend your life being neutral in tone, use politeness as much as you like, and seek to avoid being impolite as best you can. I would prefer that we all be in a default mode of being polite all of the time instead of just being blankly neutral. I ask too much of the world, presumably.

Some insist that the effort to be polite is an undue added consumption of energy. In the case of generative AI, the added wording of politeness in a prompt will not move the needle in terms of the costs or delays in response time by the AI. The processing of the tokens (see my discussion at the link here) is marginally increased by the politeness factor of prompting. You can be polite in your prompts and do so with only a negligibly added cost beyond the neutral tone (an ant-sized added cost). Plus, you have more to gain and ergo the ROI (return on investment) is surely worth the endeavor.

One of my all-time favorite comments about politeness was expressed by Arthur Schopenhauer, a famed philosopher, who said this: “It is a wise thing to be polite; consequently, it is a stupid thing to be rude. To make enemies by unnecessary and willful incivility is just as insane a proceeding as to set your house on fire. For politeness is like a counter—an avowedly false coin, with which it is foolish to be stingy.”

I ask you to not penny-pinch when it comes to politeness, either in real life or when composing your prompts for use in generative AI. Please and thank you for your respectful indulgence.

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