The topics that come up most in the DELE B1 can be grouped into six themes: your surroundings and everyday life, education and training, work, health, leisure and free time, and technology. If you prepare specific vocabulary for each theme, you'll reach the exam with resources for the writing and speaking tests and for reading and listening. I go through them one by one as an examiner, with key vocabulary for each.

If you prefer to watch it, here's the video (in Spanish):

Why prepare vocabulary by topic

In the DELE, texts and questions don't repeat, but the subject areas do. If you've worked on the vocabulary for each theme, you won't go blank in the speaking test, you'll have precise words for the writing test and you'll understand reading and listening much faster.

1. Your surroundings and everyday life

This comes up a lot: your home, your neighbourhood, your routine, your relationships with family and friends, social events, shopping and dealings in public places.

Key vocabulary: el piso compartido (shared flat), el alquiler (rent), los vecinos (neighbours), la rutina, quedar con amigos (to meet up with friends), una boda (a wedding), ir de compras, las rebajas (the sales), devolver un producto (to return a product), hacer cola (to queue).

2. Education and training

University studies, courses, language learning. You need to be able to talk about what you study now, what you studied in the past and what you'd like to learn in the future.

Key vocabulary: la carrera (degree), el máster, la asignatura (subject), aprobar (to pass), suspender (to fail), matricularse (to enrol), la beca (scholarship), un curso online, la academia de idiomas (language school), repasar (to revise).

3. Work

Your current job and past jobs, responsibilities, working hours, relationships with colleagues, a little economics and also the opposite: unemployment.

Key vocabulary: el puesto de trabajo (position), la entrevista (interview), el contrato, el sueldo (salary), la jornada completa o parcial (full or part time), teletrabajar (to work remotely), los compañeros (colleagues), estar en paro (to be unemployed), el currículum.

4. Health

Everything to do with food, sport and healthy or unhealthy habits.

Key vocabulary: una dieta equilibrada (a balanced diet), hacer ejercicio, el sedentarismo (sedentary lifestyle), el estrés, ir al médico, la cita (appointment), los síntomas, tener fiebre (to have a temperature), llevar una vida sana (to lead a healthy life).

5. Leisure and free time

It's very rare for an exam not to include something from this theme: what you like and don't like doing in your free time, your hobbies, tourism and travel. The environment and trips to the countryside also belong here.

Key vocabulary: las aficiones (hobbies), hacer senderismo (to go hiking), una escapada (a short break), el alojamiento (accommodation), reservar (to book), el turismo rural, el reciclaje (recycling), la contaminación (pollution), cuidar el medio ambiente (to look after the environment).

6. Technology

Using your phone and the internet, social media, a very current topic, and renewable energy too.

Key vocabulary: las redes sociales (social media), descargar una aplicación (to download an app), las compras por internet (online shopping), la privacidad, estar enganchado al móvil (to be hooked on your phone), las energías renovables, ahorrar energía (to save energy).

How to study the vocabulary for each topic

  • Make a card for each theme with words, expressions and a couple of sentences about your own experience.
  • Practise out loud: talk for two minutes about each topic as if you were in the speaking test.
  • Use the past, present and future: what you used to do, what you do now and what you'd like to do. For the future, this helps: the future tense in the DELE B1.
  • Review with memory techniques: 8 tricks to memorise specific vocabulary.

To see how these topics appear in the exam, read what the DELE B1 speaking test is like and the informal letter in the DELE B1.

FAQ about DELE B1 topics

What are the DELE B1 topics?

The most frequent ones fall into six themes: surroundings and everyday life, education and training, work, health, leisure and free time (including travel and the environment) and technology.

Do topics repeat from one exam session to the next?

The subject areas repeat, not the specific texts or questions. That's why it makes sense to prepare vocabulary by theme rather than memorise answers.

Which topic comes up most?

Leisure and free time appears in almost every exam session, in one test or another.

Is this vocabulary useful for the speaking test?

Yes, above all. In the B1 speaking tasks you talk about your own experiences, describe situations and chat with the examiner, and these themes come up constantly.

Summary

  • Six themes: surroundings and everyday life, education, work, health, leisure and technology.
  • Prepare specific vocabulary for each one and practise out loud.
  • Talk about each topic in the past, present and future.

Resources to prepare for the DELE B1

In my online course I go task by task explaining what you need to do in the exam, with my tips as an examiner to get a better score. You can join at any time and access is immediate and for life: online DELE B1 course.

To practise with full exams: A por el DELE B1, 4 exam models with answers.

For free resources and reminders before each exam session, join the newsletter: recursos.aporeldele.com/boletin.

¡A por el DELE! 🇪🇸