telc B1 Sprachbausteine: How to Solve Part 1 and Part 2

Last updated: August 2026 · 8 min read

Sprachbausteine ("language building blocks") is a subtest unique to telc exams — the Goethe-Zertifikat and ÖSD have no equivalent. In telc Deutsch B1 it has two parts, 20 items (21–40) and 30 points, which is 10% of the 300-point total. It has no time slot of its own: it shares 90 minutes with Leseverstehen.

This is the most "learnable" part of the exam. Your reading and listening scores depend on which text you happen to get; Sprachbausteine draws from a limited, repeating pool of grammar. Point for point, it is where preparation pays off fastest.

Part 1: Grammar – 10 multiple-choice items (21–30)

You get a personal letter or email with 10 gaps and choose a, b or c for each. The instruction reads: "Lesen Sie den Text und schließen Sie die Lücken 21–30. Welche Lösung (a, b oder c) ist jeweils richtig?"

The three options are almost always three forms of the same word or three candidates for the same function. Knowing vocabulary is not enough; you have to work out the grammatical role in the sentence. Looking at what the 10 items in the official telc Deutsch B1 Übungstest 1 actually test gives you the whole topic list:

Source: telc gGmbH, telc Deutsch B1 Übungstest 1, Sprachbausteine Teil 1.

The conclusion is clear: Part 1 is not "all of German grammar". The core that recurs in nearly every version is: case after prepositions, relative pronouns, the Perfekt auxiliary, adjective endings, conjunctions and connecting adverbs, and pronouns. Drilling those covers most of the part.

Part 2: Vocabulary – 10 gaps from a 15-word bank (31–40)

The second part is usually a formal letter (a reply to an advert, a request for information). There are 10 gaps but you are given 15 words, labelled a–o. Each word may be used only once, and five are left over.

The "Lexik" label is slightly misleading: in practice most gaps take function words. The word bank of the official Übungstest 1 shows it well: BESONDERS, DA, DAFÜR, DAMALS, DAMIT, DANKBAR, DESHALB, FÜR, GERNE, KÖNNTEN, MIT, MÜSSTEN, SCHLIESSLICH, WANN, WENN — i.e. subordinating conjunctions (da, damit, wenn), connecting adverbs (deshalb, schließlich), prepositions (für, mit), Konjunktiv II politeness forms (könnten, müssten) and fixed verb collocations.

An order that works:

1. Read the whole text once with the gaps in it. Who is writing to whom, and why? Formal or informal? That immediately promotes Sie forms and polite Konjunktiv II options.
2. Place the certain ones first. If the verb after a gap is pushed to the end, the gap needs a subordinating conjunction (da, damit, wenn). If the gap sits before a noun phrase that needs a preposition, the candidate list halves instantly.
3. Cross off each word you use. Since every word is used at most once, each decision makes the remaining gaps easier.
4. Leave nothing blank at the end. Put in whichever remaining word is grammatically possible; there is no extra penalty for a wrong answer.

Scoring and timing

Parts 1 and 2 are worth 15 points each, 30 points in total — 1.5 points per item. Compared with 2.5–5 points per reading item, Sprachbausteine is the cheapest part of the exam per question.

So the strategy is clear: spend at most 20 of the 90 minutes here. The part is short and mechanical, and burning 35 minutes on it while leaving Leseverstehen Part 3 unfinished is the most expensive mistake available. The flip side: 30 points is 22% of the 135 you need to pass, and with proper preparation almost all of it is winnable.

Conclusion

Sprachbausteine is the narrowest and most predictable part of telc B1. Knowing that the options are forms of the same word, that five words in Part 2 are surplus, and that the register of the text often decides the answer already solves half of it.

For the subtest sharing the same 90 minutes, see our telc B1 Leseverstehen guide; for the exam as a whole, our telc Deutsch B1 guide.