Spanish I

Bienvenidos! (Welcome!) The best news for a new Spanish student is that Spanish is phonetic: once you know a few rules, you can read almost any word out loud correctly, because the letters nearly always make the same sound. English vowels wander (think of the "a" in cat, father, and about), but Spanish vowels are steady and pure. Nail these five sounds and you already have a good accent.

The five vowels

Each Spanish vowel has exactly one clean sound. Say each one crisply and do not let it glide into a second sound the way English often does.

Vowel	Sounds like	Example	English
a	"ah" in father	casa	house
e	"eh" in met	mesa	table
i	"ee" in see	sí	yes
o	"oh" in note	foto	photo
u	"oo" in food	uno	one

Read these aloud with one clean sound per vowel: casa (house), libro (book), mono (monkey), música (music). Even when vowels sit side by side they stay pure, so Europa is "eh-oo-ROH-pah".

The alphabet (el abecedario)

The Spanish alphabet has the same letters as English plus one extra letter, ñ. Knowing the letter names lets you spell your name on the phone and use a dictionary. A few names to know: h is "hache," j is "jota," ñ is "eñe," y is "ye," and z is "zeta." To ask how a word is spelled you say Cómo se escribe? (How is it written?).

Do not aim for perfect on day one. Spanish speakers understand learners easily, and clean vowels matter far more than a flawless accent. Read every new word in this course out loud, and your ear and mouth will train together.

Vowel combinations (diptongos)

When a strong vowel (a, e, o) meets a weak vowel (i, u), the two glide together inside one syllable. This blend is called a diptongo (diphthong). You still give each vowel its pure sound, only faster and joined. Listen for it in bueno (good), which is "BWEH-noh," and seis (six), which is "seys." More examples: agua (water) is "AH-gwah," tiempo (time or weather) is "TYEM-poh," and Europa (Europe) keeps two clean vowels, "eh-oo-ROH-pah," because two strong vowels do not blend. Do not add extra English sounds; keep a and e crisp even when they run together.

Spelling your name out loud

Because Spanish is so regular, spelling aloud is genuinely useful. A few letter names are worth memorizing so you can give an email or a last name over the phone: a (ah), e (eh), i (ee), o (oh), u (oo), b (be), v (uve), w (uve doble), h (hache), j (jota), k (ka), ñ (eñe), y (ye), and z (zeta). To ask someone to spell a word, say Cómo se escribe? (How is it written?) and to ask them to repeat, Puede repetir, por favor? (Can you repeat, please?).

Common mistakes

• Letting a vowel glide the English way. The word no is a clean "noh," never "noh-oo." Keep each of the five vowels to one steady sound.
• Pronouncing the h. It is always silent, so hola (hello) is "OH-lah" with no breathy start.
• Turning an unstressed final o into the English "uh." The last vowel of gato (cat) is a full "oh," giving "GAH-toh," not "GAH-tuh."
• Forgetting the ñ is its own letter. In a dictionary it is not the same as n, and swapping them changes words: año (year) versus ano (a very different word).

Recap

Spanish is phonetic, so learning a few sound rules lets you read almost anything aloud. The five vowels a, e, i, o, u each have exactly one pure sound and never glide. The alphabet matches English but adds the letter ñ. Weak and strong vowels can blend into a single-syllable diphthong, and knowing the letter names lets you spell aloud. Read every new word out loud and your accent will build itself.

Sources

1. Real Academia Española. Diccionario de la lengua española: abecedario. https://dle.rae.es
2. StudySpanish.com. Pronunciation Unit 1: The Spanish Alphabet and Vowels. https://studyspanish.com
3. SpanishDict. Spanish Alphabet and Pronunciation Guide. https://www.spanishdict.com/guide/spanish-alphabet
4. Instituto Cervantes. Plan curricular del Instituto Cervantes: pronunciación y prosodia. https://cvc.cervantes.es/ensenanza/biblioteca_ele/plan_curricular

Most Spanish consonants are close to English, but a handful surprise beginners. Learn these and your reading will sound natural.

Consonants to watch

• The letter h is always silent: hola (hello) is "OH-lah" and hospital starts with an "o" sound.
• The letter j makes a strong "h" from the back of the throat: jamón (ham) is "hah-MOHN".
• The pair ll usually sounds like the English "y": llamar (to call) is "yah-MAR".
• The letter ñ sounds like the "ny" in canyon: español is "es-pah-NYOL".
• A single r is a quick tap, while rr is a rolled trill: compare pero (but) and perro (dog).

C and G change before e and i

The letter c sounds like "k" before a, o, u (casa, house) but like "s" before e or i (cena, dinner). The letter g is hard like "go" before a, o, u (gato, cat) but throaty like the Spanish j before e or i (gente, people). To keep a hard "k" before e or i, Spanish writes qu, as in queso (cheese), where the u is silent.

Where does the stress go?

Spanish stress follows clear rules. If a word ends in a vowel, n, or s, stress the next-to-last syllable: casa (CA-sa), hablan (HA-blan). If a word ends in any other consonant, stress the last syllable: hablar (ha-BLAR), usted (us-TED). When a word breaks these rules, it carries a written accent mark on the stressed vowel, which is why we write música (MU-si-ca) and adiós (a-DIOS). The accent simply tells you where to push.

B and V sound the same

This surprises new learners: in Spanish the letters b and v are pronounced identically, both close to a soft English "b." So vaca (cow) and baca (roof rack) sound the same, and native speakers sometimes ask Con be o con uve? (With b or with v?) to know how a word is spelled. Do not try to make a separate English "v" sound with your teeth on your lip.

D, and the letter Z

The Spanish d between vowels is soft, close to the "th" in the English word "this": nada (nothing) sounds like "NAH-thah." The letter z is pronounced like an "s" in Latin America (zapato, shoe, is "sah-PAH-toh"), while in most of Spain it sounds like the "th" in "think." Both are correct; pick the one you hear around you and stay consistent.

Accent marks do three jobs

A written accent (as in café) is never decoration. It does one of three jobs: it marks stress that breaks the normal rule (lápiz, pencil), it separates two words that are otherwise spelled the same (tú, you, versus tu, your; sí, yes, versus si, if), or it appears on every question word (qué, dónde, cómo). If you ever wonder whether an accent matters, the answer is yes; it can change the meaning.

Common mistakes

• Pronouncing the silent h. Words like hola (hello) and hora (hour) begin with a vowel sound.
• Reading ll as an English "l." It usually sounds like "y," so llamar (to call) is "yah-MAR."
• Making g hard before e or i. Before those vowels it is throaty, so gente (people) is "HEN-teh," not "GHEN-teh."
• Dropping accent marks when you write. Leaving the accent off sí turns "yes" into "if," so the mark is part of the spelling.
• Forcing an English "v." Remember b and v sound the same in Spanish.

Recap

A handful of consonants behave differently from English: h is silent, j is a throaty "h," ll sounds like "y," ñ is "ny," and rr is a rolled trill. The letters c and g soften before e and i, and qu keeps a hard "k." B and v sound alike. Stress is regular: next-to-last syllable for words ending in a vowel, n, or s, and last syllable otherwise, with a written accent marking any exception. Read new words aloud and let these patterns become automatic.

Sources

1. Real Academia Española. Ortografía de la lengua española: la acentuación. https://www.rae.es
2. StudySpanish.com. Pronunciation Units 2 to 4: Consonants and Word Stress. https://studyspanish.com
3. SpanishDict. How to Pronounce Spanish Consonants and Accent Marks. https://www.spanishdict.com/guide/spanish-pronunciation
4. Instituto Cervantes. Plan curricular del Instituto Cervantes: pronunciación y prosodia. https://cvc.cervantes.es/ensenanza/biblioteca_ele/plan_curricular

Spanish conversations open with warm, predictable greetings. A dozen phrases let you start almost any exchange. The all-purpose hello is hola, and you can add a time-of-day greeting.

Spanish	English
Buenos días	Good morning
Buenas tardes	Good afternoon
Buenas noches	Good evening / Good night
Adiós	Goodbye
Hasta luego	See you later
Hasta mañana	See you tomorrow

How are you?

To ask how someone is, the friendly form is Cómo estás? (How are you?) and the polite form is Cómo está usted?. Common answers include Muy bien, gracias (Very well, thank you), Bien (Fine), Más o menos (So-so), and Mal (Bad). A natural follow-up is Y tú? (And you?) or the formal Y usted?.

Courtesy words

Politeness words appear constantly. Learn por favor (please), gracias (thank you), de nada (you are welcome), perdón (excuse me or sorry), and con permiso (excuse me, when passing by). Here is a tiny dialogue you could already use:

• Hola, buenos días. (Hello, good morning.)
• Buenos días. Cómo estás? (Good morning. How are you?)
• Muy bien, gracias. Y tú? (Very well, thank you. And you?)
• Bien, gracias. (Fine, thanks.)

One more habit to notice: Spanish writes questions with an inverted question mark at the start and a normal one at the end, so a written question opens with an upside-down mark. This warns the reader that a question is coming.

Introducing yourself

Once you have greeted someone, you introduce yourself. Two common ways are Me llamo Ana (My name is Ana, literally "I call myself Ana") and Soy Ana (I am Ana). To ask a friend their name, say Cómo te llamas? (What is your name?), and the polite version is Cómo se llama usted?. When you meet someone you say Mucho gusto (Nice to meet you) or Encantado if you are male, Encantada if you are female. A tiny exchange: Hola, me llamo Luis. Y tú? Cómo te llamas? Me llamo Sara. Mucho gusto. (Hello, my name is Luis. And you? What is your name? My name is Sara. Nice to meet you.)

Tú or usted?

Spanish has two ways to say "you," and greetings are where the choice first appears. Use the informal tú with friends, classmates, children, and family, which is why you say Cómo estás? and Y tú?. Use the formal usted with strangers, older people, teachers, and anyone you want to show respect, which turns the same questions into Cómo está usted? and Y usted?. When in doubt with an adult you do not know, choosing usted is the safe, polite option.

More useful courtesy phrases

• Con permiso (Excuse me) to pass by or leave a table.
• Lo siento (I am sorry) to apologize sincerely.
• No hay de qué (Do not mention it) as a warm reply to gracias.
• Bienvenido / bienvenida (Welcome) to greet a guest.
• Que tengas un buen día (Have a good day) as a friendly goodbye.

Common mistakes

• Using buenas noches only to say good night. It also means "good evening" and is a normal greeting after dark, not just a farewell.
• Mixing tú and usted in one sentence, like Cómo está tú?. Keep them consistent: Cómo estás tú? or Cómo está usted?.
• Answering Cómo estás? with Soy bien. Feelings use estar, so the answer is Estoy bien or simply Bien, gracias.
• Forgetting the opening inverted question mark when you write a question.

Recap

A small set of greetings opens almost any conversation: hola plus buenos días, buenas tardes, or buenas noches to say hello, and adiós, hasta luego, or hasta mañana to say goodbye. Ask Cómo estás? (informal) or Cómo está usted? (formal) and reply with bien, muy bien, más o menos, or mal. Introduce yourself with Me llamo... or Soy... and say Mucho gusto. Sprinkle in por favor, gracias, and de nada, and you already sound polite and natural.

Sources

1. SpanishDict. Spanish Greetings and Introductions. https://www.spanishdict.com/guide/spanish-greetings
2. StudySpanish.com. Vocabulary: Greetings and Courtesy Expressions. https://studyspanish.com
3. Instituto Cervantes. Plan curricular del Instituto Cervantes: saludos y despedidas. https://cvc.cervantes.es/ensenanza/biblioteca_ele/plan_curricular
4. Real Academia Española. Diccionario de la lengua española: saludo. https://dle.rae.es

To say who does something, Spanish uses subject pronouns. Note that Spanish has several words for "you" depending on formality and number.

Pronoun	Meaning
yo	I
tú	you (informal, singular)
él / ella / usted	he / she / you (formal)
nosotros / nosotras	we (masculine / feminine)
vosotros / vosotras	you all (informal, used in Spain)
ellos / ellas / ustedes	they (m / f) / you all

Spanish often drops the pronoun because the verb ending already shows who is speaking. So Soy estudiante already means "I am a student" without saying yo. Use tú with friends, family, and classmates, and usted to show respect to strangers, elders, and people in authority.

Conjugating ser (to be)

Spanish has two verbs for "to be." The first is ser. It is irregular, so memorize its forms.

Pronoun	Ser	Example	English
yo	soy	Yo soy Ana.	I am Ana.
tú	eres	Tú eres alto.	You are tall.
él / ella / usted	es	Ella es doctora.	She is a doctor.
nosotros	somos	Nosotros somos amigos.	We are friends.
vosotros	sois	Vosotros sois jóvenes.	You all are young.
ellos / ellas / ustedes	son	Ellos son de México.	They are from Mexico.

Use ser for things that define what someone or something fundamentally is: identity (Soy Ana, I am Ana), profession (Es profesor, He is a teacher), origin (Somos de España, We are from Spain), and lasting traits (El libro es interesante, The book is interesting). A memory aid: ser describes the essence of a thing, the traits that stay the same.

Ser for origin and nationality

One of the most common uses of ser is telling where you are from. Pair ser with de plus a place: Soy de los Estados Unidos (I am from the United States), Ella es de Colombia (She is from Colombia). To ask, say De dónde eres? (Where are you from?) informally, or De dónde es usted? formally. You can also use an adjective of nationality, which must agree in gender: a man is mexicano and a woman is mexicana; a man is español and a woman is española. Remember that nationalities are not capitalized in Spanish.

When Spanish keeps the pronoun

Because the verb ending already shows the subject, Spanish usually drops the pronoun: Soy estudiante, not "Yo soy estudiante." So when do speakers include it? For emphasis (Yo soy el profesor, no él, I am the teacher, not him), for contrast between two people (Tú eres alto y ella es baja, You are tall and she is short), and for clarity with the third-person forms, since es and son could refer to several people. Otherwise, leaving the pronoun out sounds more natural.

Common mistakes

• Adding the pronoun everywhere. Yo soy, yo tengo, yo hablo in every sentence sounds unnatural; drop yo unless you need emphasis.
• Using ser for feelings or location. Estoy cansado (I am tired) and Estoy en casa (I am at home) use estar, not ser.
• Choosing the wrong "you." Do not use tú with a stranger you should respect; use usted. Note that usted takes the same verb form as él and ella: usted es.
• Capitalizing a nationality. Write soy mexicano, not "soy Mexicano."

Recap

Subject pronouns name who acts: yo, tú, él, ella, usted, nosotros, vosotros, ellos, ellas, ustedes. Spanish often drops them because the verb ending is enough. Ser is the irregular verb "to be" used for identity, profession, origin, and lasting traits, and its forms are soy, eres, es, somos, sois, son. Pair ser with de for origin, and remember to choose tú or usted based on how formal you want to be.

Sources

1. SpanishDict. Ser Conjugation and Uses. https://www.spanishdict.com/guide/ser-vs-estar
2. StudySpanish.com. Grammar Unit: Subject Pronouns and the Verb Ser. https://studyspanish.com
3. Real Academia Española. Nueva gramática de la lengua española: el verbo ser. https://www.rae.es
4. Instituto Cervantes. Plan curricular del Instituto Cervantes: gramática, el verbo. https://cvc.cervantes.es/ensenanza/biblioteca_ele/plan_curricular

Spanish has a second verb that also means "to be": estar. Where ser describes what something is, estar describes how or where something is right now. Here is the present tense.

Pronoun	Estar	Example	English
yo	estoy	Yo estoy bien.	I am fine.
tú	estás	Tú estás en casa.	You are at home.
él / ella / usted	está	Ella está cansada.	She is tired.
nosotros	estamos	Estamos contentos.	We are happy.
vosotros	estáis	Estáis aquí.	You all are here.
ellos / ellas / ustedes	están	Ellos están ocupados.	They are busy.

When to use estar

Use estar for two big ideas: location and temporary states. For location, El libro está en la mesa means "The book is on the table," and Estamos en la escuela means "We are at school." For feelings and conditions that can change, Estoy cansado means "I am tired," and El café está caliente means "The coffee is hot right now."

Ser or estar?

The choice can change the meaning. Compare these:

• Ella es aburrida. (She is boring, a lasting trait.)
• Ella está aburrida. (She is bored, a passing mood.)
• Él es rico. (He is rich.) versus El pastel está rico. (The cake tastes delicious.)

A simple rule of thumb: ask whether you are describing an essential identity or trait (use ser) or a current condition, feeling, or location (use estar). Many students remember estar with the phrase "how you feel and where you are." With practice the choice becomes automatic.

A memory trick: PLACE and DOCTOR

Two English acronyms help many beginners. Use estar for PLACE: Position, Location, Action (the ongoing sense), Condition, and Emotion. Use ser for DOCTOR: Description (lasting traits), Occupation, Characteristic, Time and date, Origin, and Relationship. So a doctor's identity (Es doctora, She is a doctor) uses ser, but her current state (Está ocupada, She is busy) uses estar. You do not need to memorize the acronyms forever; they are training wheels until the choice feels natural.

Estar with feelings vocabulary

Estar shines with emotions and conditions, so it is worth collecting a few adjectives that agree in gender and number: contento / contenta (happy), triste (sad), enojado / enojada (angry), nervioso / nerviosa (nervous), enfermo / enferma (sick), ocupado / ocupada (busy), and listo / lista (ready). Examples: Estoy contento hoy (I am happy today), Ella está enferma (She is sick), Estamos listos (We are ready). To ask, Cómo estás? already draws on estar.

Adjectives that switch meaning

A small group of adjectives changes meaning depending on the verb, which is a fun way to feel the ser or estar difference:

• ser listo (to be clever) versus estar listo (to be ready).
• ser aburrido (to be boring) versus estar aburrido (to be bored).
• ser rico (to be rich) versus estar rico (to taste delicious).
• ser verde (to be green in color) versus estar verde (to be unripe).

Common mistakes

• Using ser for location. Even a permanent building takes estar: El museo está en el centro (The museum is downtown), not "es en el centro."
• Using ser for feelings. Say Estoy triste (I am sad), not "Soy triste."
• Forgetting agreement. With a woman, use cansada and contenta, not the masculine forms.
• Mixing up the two "boring" ideas. Ella es aburrida calls her boring; Ella está aburrida says she is bored right now.

Recap

Estar is the second verb for "to be," with forms estoy, estás, está, estamos, estáis, están. Use it for location and for temporary states, feelings, and conditions, and remember "how you feel and where you are." Ser covers lasting identity and traits. When both are possible, the verb changes the meaning, as in ser aburrido (boring) versus estar aburrido (bored). Ask yourself: essence, or current state?

Sources

1. SpanishDict. Ser vs. Estar: A Complete Guide. https://www.spanishdict.com/guide/ser-vs-estar
2. StudySpanish.com. Grammar Unit: The Verb Estar and Ser vs. Estar. https://studyspanish.com
3. Real Academia Española. Nueva gramática de la lengua española: ser y estar. https://www.rae.es
4. Instituto Cervantes. Plan curricular del Instituto Cervantes: gramática, ser y estar. https://cvc.cervantes.es/ensenanza/biblioteca_ele/plan_curricular

One of the most useful Spanish verbs is tener (to have). It is irregular, and it does far more than show possession. Learn it now and your sentences will open up quickly.

Pronoun	tener	Example	English
yo	tengo	Tengo un perro.	I have a dog.
tú	tienes	Tienes dos hermanos.	You have two brothers.
él / ella / usted	tiene	Ella tiene un libro.	She has a book.
nosotros	tenemos	Tenemos una clase.	We have a class.
vosotros	tenéis	Tenéis tiempo.	You all have time.
ellos / ellas / ustedes	tienen	Ellos tienen tarea.	They have homework.

Age uses tener, not ser

This surprises English speakers. To give an age, Spanish uses tener: Tengo quince años literally means "I have fifteen years," that is, "I am fifteen years old." To ask, you say Cuántos años tienes? (How old are you?). Never use ser or estar for age.

Tener expressions for how you feel

Spanish uses tener for many physical states where English uses "to be." Study these useful expressions:

Spanish	English
tener hambre	to be hungry
tener sed	to be thirsty
tener frío	to be cold
tener calor	to be hot
tener sueño	to be sleepy
tener miedo	to be afraid

So Tengo hambre means "I am hungry," and Tenemos sed means "We are thirsty." One more high-frequency pattern is tener que + infinitive (to have to do something): Tengo que estudiar means "I have to study."

Add mucho or mucha for emphasis

Because these expressions really use nouns (hambre is "hunger," not "hungry"), you make them stronger with mucho or mucha, not "muy." The word must agree with the gender of the noun: Tengo mucha hambre (I am very hungry, hambre is feminine), Tengo mucho sueño (I am very sleepy, sueño is masculine), Tengo mucho miedo (I am very afraid). Saying "muy hambre" is a classic beginner slip; the noun needs mucho or mucha instead.

More tener expressions

Beyond the physical states, tener appears in several everyday phrases worth knowing:

Spanish	English
tener prisa	to be in a hurry
tener razón	to be right
tener suerte	to be lucky
tener ganas de	to feel like (doing something)

So Tengo prisa means "I am in a hurry," Tienes razón means "You are right," and Tengo ganas de bailar means "I feel like dancing." Like tener que, the expression tener ganas de is followed by an infinitive.

Common mistakes

• Using ser or estar for age or these states. Say Tengo hambre (I am hungry) and Tengo dieciséis años (I am sixteen), never "Soy hambre" or "Soy dieciséis años."
• Using muy with the noun. It is mucha hambre and mucho frío, not "muy hambre."
• Forgetting años when giving an age. Tengo quince is incomplete; say Tengo quince años.
• Dropping que in the obligation pattern. It is Tengo que estudiar, not "Tengo estudiar."

Recap

Tener (to have) is irregular: tengo, tienes, tiene, tenemos, tenéis, tienen. It shows possession, but it also gives age (Tengo quince años) and expresses physical states where English uses "to be" (tener hambre, tener frío, tener sueño). Strengthen those with mucho or mucha, not muy. Finally, tener que + infinitive means "to have to," and tener ganas de + infinitive means "to feel like."

Sources

1. SpanishDict. Tener Conjugation and Tener Expressions. https://www.spanishdict.com/guide/tener-expressions
2. StudySpanish.com. Grammar Unit: The Verb Tener and Idioms with Tener. https://studyspanish.com
3. Real Academia Española. Diccionario de la lengua española: tener. https://dle.rae.es
4. Instituto Cervantes. Plan curricular del Instituto Cervantes: gramática, el verbo tener. https://cvc.cervantes.es/ensenanza/biblioteca_ele/plan_curricular

Every Spanish noun (a person, place, or thing) has a gender: it is either masculine or feminine. This is grammatical, not about biology, so a table (la mesa) is feminine and a book (el libro) is masculine. The gender controls the words around the noun, so always learn a noun together with its article.

Helpful endings

Most nouns follow a pattern: nouns ending in -o are usually masculine, and nouns ending in -a are usually feminine.

• Masculine: el libro (the book), el gato (the cat), el dinero (the money)
• Feminine: la casa (the house), la silla (the chair), la ventana (the window)

Learn these common exceptions: el día (the day) is masculine though it ends in -a, and la mano (the hand) is feminine though it ends in -o. Words ending in -ción or -dad are feminine, such as la nación (the nation) and la ciudad (the city). Many words ending in -ma are masculine, like el problema (the problem).

The four "the" and four "a"

English has one word for "the." Spanish has four, matching gender and number, plus four words for "a" or "some."

	Masc. singular	Fem. singular	Masc. plural	Fem. plural
the (definite)	el	la	los	las
a / some (indefinite)	un	una	unos	unas

So "the book" is el libro, "the books" is los libros, "a house" is una casa, and "some houses" is unas casas. To make most nouns plural, add -s after a vowel (libro to libros) and -es after a consonant (ciudad to ciudades). Always practice new vocabulary with its article; "libro" alone is only half the word to a Spanish ear.

More endings that reveal gender

Beyond -o and -a, several endings almost always signal one gender. These are feminine: -ción and -sión (la canción, the song; la televisión, television), -dad and -tad (la verdad, the truth; la libertad, freedom), and -tud (la actitud, the attitude). These are masculine: -ma in words of Greek origin (el problema, el programa, el tema, the topic) and -or (el color, the color; el amor, love). Learning the endings saves you from memorizing each gender one by one.

The special case of feminine el

Here is a quirk worth knowing. A feminine noun that begins with a stressed a sound uses el in the singular to avoid two a-sounds clashing: el agua (the water), el águila (the eagle). The word is still feminine, so its adjective agrees as feminine (el agua fría, the cold water) and the plural returns to las (las aguas). Do not let el agua trick you into thinking the noun is masculine.

Nouns for people

For people and many animals, the ending often changes with the person's gender: el amigo / la amiga (friend), el profesor / la profesora (teacher), el niño / la niña (boy / girl). Some nouns keep one form and only the article changes: el estudiante / la estudiante (the student), el artista / la artista (the artist). A mixed group takes the masculine plural: los amigos can mean a group of male friends or a mixed group.

Common mistakes

• Assuming every -a word is feminine. Remember el día (the day), el mapa (the map), and el problema are masculine.
• Assuming every -o word is masculine. La mano (the hand) and la foto (the photo) are feminine.
• Thinking el agua is masculine. It is feminine; el is used only to smooth the sound, so it is el agua fría.
• Learning a noun without its article. Store new words as la mesa and el libro, not "mesa" and "libro."

Recap

Every Spanish noun is masculine or feminine, and the gender controls the articles and adjectives around it. Nouns in -o are usually masculine and those in -a usually feminine, with reliable extra clues: -ción, -dad, and -tud are feminine, while -ma and -or are often masculine. The four words for "the" are el, la, los, las, and the four for "a" or "some" are un, una, unos, unas. Make plurals by adding -s after a vowel or -es after a consonant, and always learn each noun with its article.

Sources

1. SpanishDict. Spanish Nouns: Gender and Articles. https://www.spanishdict.com/guide/spanish-noun-gender
2. StudySpanish.com. Grammar Unit: Nouns, Gender, and Articles. https://studyspanish.com
3. Real Academia Española. Nueva gramática de la lengua española: el género de los sustantivos. https://www.rae.es
4. Instituto Cervantes. Plan curricular del Instituto Cervantes: gramática, el sustantivo. https://cvc.cervantes.es/ensenanza/biblioteca_ele/plan_curricular

An adjective describes a noun. In Spanish, adjectives must agree with the noun they describe in both gender (masculine or feminine) and number (singular or plural). This is a big difference from English, where adjectives never change form.

How agreement works

An adjective that ends in -o has four forms. Take alto (tall):

	Singular	Plural
Masculine	alto	altos
Feminine	alta	altas

So we say el chico alto (the tall boy), la chica alta (the tall girl), los chicos altos (the tall boys), and las chicas altas (the tall girls). Adjectives ending in -e or a consonant usually do not change for gender, only for number: inteligente becomes inteligentes, and both un libro interesante and una clase interesante use the same form. Adjectives of nationality ending in a consonant do add -a for feminine, as in español and española.

Where adjectives go

Unlike English, most descriptive adjectives come after the noun: una casa grande (a big house), not "una grande casa." Some short adjectives of quantity, like mucho (much or many) and numbers, come before the noun: muchos amigos (many friends). Here are useful describing words with masculine and feminine pairs: bueno / buena (good), malo / mala (bad), pequeño / pequeña (small), bonito / bonita (pretty), and nuevo / nueva (new). Full example: Tengo un carro nuevo y una casa pequeña means "I have a new car and a small house," with each adjective matching its noun.

Making adjectives plural

Plurals follow the same rule as nouns. Add -s if the adjective ends in a vowel and -es if it ends in a consonant: alto becomes altos, grande becomes grandes, and joven (young) becomes jóvenes. Notice that jóvenes gains an accent to keep the original stress. When one adjective describes a mixed-gender group, use the masculine plural: Los estudiantes son inteligentes works for a class of boys and girls, and Ana y Pedro son altos describes them both as tall.

Adjectives that shorten before the noun

A few common adjectives drop their final -o when they come right before a masculine singular noun. Bueno becomes buen (un buen amigo, a good friend), malo becomes mal (un mal día, a bad day), and grande becomes gran before any singular noun, where it then means "great" rather than "big" (una gran idea, a great idea). This shortening is called apocopation, but you only need to recognize the pattern, not the term.

Colors as adjectives

Colors are handy describing words and follow the agreement rules. Colors ending in -o have four forms: rojo / roja / rojos / rojas (red), blanco (white), negro (black), amarillo (yellow). Colors ending in -e or a consonant change only for number: verde / verdes (green), azul / azules (blue), gris / grises (gray). So it is una casa blanca (a white house) but una casa azul (a blue house), with azul unchanged for gender.

Common mistakes

• Leaving the adjective unchanged. English speakers write "las casas blanco"; it must be las casas blancas to agree.
• Putting the adjective before the noun by habit. Say una casa grande (a big house), not "una grande casa."
• Adding -a to adjectives that end in -e. It stays inteligente for a woman, not "inteligenta."
• Forgetting to shorten. Before a masculine singular noun it is un buen chico, not "un bueno chico."

Recap

Adjectives agree with their noun in gender and number. Those ending in -o have four forms (alto, alta, altos, altas), while those ending in -e or a consonant change only for number (grande, grandes). Most descriptive adjectives follow the noun, though quantity words come before. A few adjectives shorten before a masculine singular noun (buen, mal, gran). Colors follow all of these rules too. Match every describing word to what it describes.

Sources

1. SpanishDict. Spanish Adjectives: Agreement and Placement. https://www.spanishdict.com/guide/spanish-adjectives
2. StudySpanish.com. Grammar Unit: Adjectives and Agreement. https://studyspanish.com
3. Real Academia Española. Nueva gramática de la lengua española: el adjetivo. https://www.rae.es
4. Instituto Cervantes. Plan curricular del Instituto Cervantes: gramática, el adjetivo. https://cvc.cervantes.es/ensenanza/biblioteca_ele/plan_curricular

A Spanish verb in its base form is called the infinitive, and it always ends in -ar, -er, or -ir. To conjugate a regular verb, you drop that ending to find the stem, then add a new ending that matches the subject. We start with the largest group: -ar verbs.

The -ar endings

Take hablar (to speak). Drop -ar to get the stem habl-, then add these endings:

Pronoun	Ending	hablar	English
yo	-o	hablo	I speak
tú	-as	hablas	you speak
él / ella / usted	-a	habla	he/she speaks
nosotros	-amos	hablamos	we speak
vosotros	-áis	habláis	you all speak
ellos / ellas / ustedes	-an	hablan	they speak

Notice that every ending contains the letter a, which is the signature of this verb family. The same endings work for any regular -ar verb.

One tense, three English meanings

The Spanish present covers three English ideas at once. Hablo español can mean "I speak Spanish," "I am speaking Spanish," or "I do speak Spanish." Here are more examples:

• Yo estudio mucho. (I study a lot.)
• Nosotros trabajamos hoy. (We work today.)
• Ellos escuchan música. (They listen to music.)

Other common regular -ar verbs to practice: estudiar (to study), trabajar (to work), escuchar (to listen), cantar (to sing), bailar (to dance), and caminar (to walk). Drop -ar and add the matching ending, and you can talk about almost anything you do.

Making a sentence negative

Turning a sentence negative is wonderfully simple: put no right before the verb. Hablo francés (I speak French) becomes No hablo francés (I do not speak French). There is no extra helping word the way English uses "do not"; the single word no does the whole job. More examples: No trabajo hoy (I do not work today), Ella no baila (She does not dance).

Asking a question with an -ar verb

To ask a yes-or-no question, keep the same verb form and either raise your tone or move the subject: Hablas español? (Do you speak Spanish?) and Estudia Ana aquí? (Does Ana study here?). To ask for details, add a question word: Dónde trabajas? (Where do you work?), Qué estudias? (What do you study?). Notice Spanish never needs a helper like "do"; the verb ending carries everything.

Watch the spelling of jugar and llegar

A couple of very common -ar verbs keep their sound with a small spelling change you will meet later, such as llegar (to arrive) and jugar (to play a game). In the plain present they behave almost regularly (llego, llegas, llega, llegamos, llegan), so you can use them now. Just note that jugar has a stem change in some forms (juego, I play), which you will study with other stem-changing verbs.

Common mistakes

• Mismatching subject and ending. It is Ella habla (she speaks), not "Ella hablas."
• Translating "am speaking" word for word. Do not add estar plus a helper here; Hablo already means I speak or I am speaking.
• Adding an English "do" in questions or negatives. Say No hablo and Hablas?, never "No do hablo."
• Keeping the -ar ending. You must drop -ar before adding the new ending: habl- plus -o gives hablo, not "hablaro."

Recap

A verb's base form, the infinitive, ends in -ar, -er, or -ir. For regular -ar verbs, drop -ar to find the stem and add -o, -as, -a, -amos, -áis, -an. Every ending carries the signature letter a. The present tense covers "I speak," "I am speaking," and "I do speak" at once. Make a sentence negative by putting no before the verb, and ask questions just by changing your tone or adding a question word, with no helper needed.

Sources

1. SpanishDict. Regular Present Tense -AR Verbs. https://www.spanishdict.com/guide/regular-present-tense-forms-in-spanish
2. StudySpanish.com. Grammar Unit: Present Tense of Regular -ar Verbs. https://studyspanish.com
3. Real Academia Española. Nueva gramática de la lengua española: la conjugación regular. https://www.rae.es
4. Instituto Cervantes. Plan curricular del Instituto Cervantes: gramática, el presente de indicativo. https://cvc.cervantes.es/ensenanza/biblioteca_ele/plan_curricular

Now for the other two families. The good news is that -er and -ir verbs share almost all their endings, so learning one nearly teaches you the other.

The -er and -ir endings

Take comer (to eat) and vivir (to live). Drop the ending to get the stems com- and viv-, then add these endings:

Pronoun	comer	vivir	English
yo	como	vivo	I eat / I live
tú	comes	vives	you eat / live
él / ella / usted	come	vive	he/she eats / lives
nosotros	comemos	vivimos	we eat / live
vosotros	coméis	vivís	you all eat / live
ellos / ellas / ustedes	comen	viven	they eat / live

The only difference between the two families is in the nosotros and vosotros forms: -er uses comemos / coméis, while -ir uses vivimos / vivís. Everywhere else the endings are identical.

Examples with translations

• Yo como pan. (I eat bread.)
• Ella vive en Madrid. (She lives in Madrid.)
• Nosotros aprendemos español. (We learn Spanish.)
• Tú escribes una carta. (You write a letter.)

Other common verbs to practice: for -er, aprender (to learn), beber (to drink), leer (to read), and correr (to run); for -ir, escribir (to write), abrir (to open), and recibir (to receive). Conjugate them the same way: drop -er or -ir, then add the matching ending.

Side by side with the -ar family

It helps to see all three families together in one form. In the yo form they all end in -o: hablo (I speak), como (I eat), vivo (I live). In the tú form, -ar uses -as while -er and -ir both use -es: hablas, comes, vives. The clearest difference is the nosotros form, where each family keeps its own vowel: hablamos, comemos, vivimos. If you ever forget an ending, remember that the vowel of the infinitive (a, e, or i) echoes through most of the conjugation.

Negatives and questions work the same way

Everything you learned with -ar verbs carries over. To make a sentence negative, put no right before the verb: No como carne (I do not eat meat), Ella no vive aquí (She does not live here). To ask a yes-or-no question, keep the same form and raise your tone or move the subject: Comes pescado? (Do you eat fish?), Dónde vives? (Where do you live?). As always, no helper word like the English "do" is needed, and written questions open with an inverted question mark.

Regular in the present, but watch the accents

These verbs are fully regular, yet a few keep written accents you should not drop. The vosotros forms carry an accent on the ending: coméis (you all eat) and vivís (you all live). The verb leer (to read) is regular in sound but its stem ends in a vowel, so you will simply see leo, lees, lee, leemos, leen. And remember that the endings never change for gender, only for the person, so ella come and él come are identical.

Common mistakes

• Mixing up the nosotros forms. It is comemos for -er but vivimos for -ir, not "comimos" or "vivemos."
• Using an -ar ending on these verbs. Say como (I eat), never "como" spelled as "coma" or "comas" for yo.
• Mismatching subject and verb. It is ella escribe (she writes), not "ella escribes."
• Forgetting that -er and -ir share endings everywhere except nosotros and vosotros, so comes and vives look parallel on purpose.

Recap

Regular -er and -ir verbs are conjugated by dropping the ending to find the stem and adding personal endings. The two families share every ending except nosotros and vosotros: -er uses -emos / -éis (comemos, coméis) while -ir uses -imos / -ís (vivimos, vivís). The yo form always ends in -o (como, vivo), and negatives and questions work just as they do with -ar verbs. Master comer and vivir and you can handle almost every regular verb in these two groups.

Sources

1. SpanishDict. Regular Present Tense -ER and -IR Verbs. https://www.spanishdict.com/guide/regular-present-tense-forms-in-spanish
2. StudySpanish.com. Grammar Unit: Present Tense of Regular -er and -ir Verbs. https://studyspanish.com
3. Real Academia Española. Nueva gramática de la lengua española: la conjugación regular. https://www.rae.es
4. Instituto Cervantes. Plan curricular del Instituto Cervantes: gramática, el presente de indicativo. https://cvc.cervantes.es/ensenanza/biblioteca_ele/plan_curricular

To say what you like, Spanish uses the verb gustar, but it works in a way that feels backward to English speakers. It does not mean "to like" directly. It means to be pleasing. So Me gusta el chocolate literally says "Chocolate is pleasing to me," which we translate as "I like chocolate."

The gustar formula

Because the thing liked is really the subject, the verb agrees with that thing, not with the person. You use an indirect pronoun to show who is pleased, then gusta or gustan.

Pronoun	Meaning	Example	English
me	to me	Me gusta el café.	I like coffee.
te	to you	Te gusta la clase.	You like the class.
le	to him/her/you (formal)	Le gusta el libro.	He/She likes the book.
nos	to us	Nos gusta la música.	We like music.
les	to them/you all	Les gusta el cine.	They like the movies.

Gusta or gustan?

Use gusta when one thing (or an action) is liked, and gustan when more than one thing is liked.

• Me gusta la pizza. (I like pizza, one thing.)
• Me gustan las manzanas. (I like apples, plural.)
• Me gusta bailar. (I like to dance; with a verb, always use gusta.)

To say you do not like something, add no before the pronoun: No me gusta el té (I do not like tea). To ask a friend, say Te gusta el español? (Do you like Spanish?). For emphasis or clarity you can add a mí, a ti, or a name: A mí me gusta el arte (I like art), A Juan le gusta el fútbol (Juan likes soccer).

Why le and les need a clarifier

The pronouns le and les are handy but vague, because le can mean "to him," "to her," or "to you (formal)," and les can mean "to them" or "to you all." To make the meaning clear, Spanish adds a phrase with a plus the person: A ella le gusta el chocolate (She likes chocolate), A usted le gusta el café? (Do you like coffee?), A ellos les gusta el fútbol (They like soccer). Notice the pronoun le or les still appears, even when the person is named; both parts are used together.

Verbs that work like gustar

A small family of very common verbs follows the exact same backward pattern, so learning gustar unlocks all of them. Study these with the same me, te, le, nos, les pronouns:

Spanish	Meaning	Example	English
encantar	to love (a thing)	Me encanta la música.	I love music.
interesar	to be interesting to	Me interesa el arte.	Art interests me.
importar	to matter to	No me importa.	It does not matter to me.
molestar	to bother	Me molesta el ruido.	The noise bothers me.

Each one uses encanta or encantan, interesa or interesan, and so on, agreeing with the thing, just like gusta and gustan. One note: use encantar for strong liking, and do not add "muy" to it, because it already means you love something.

Common mistakes

• Making the verb agree with the person. It is Me gustan los libros (the books please me), not "Yo gusto los libros."
• Using gustan with an action. Even a list of activities takes gusta: Me gusta cantar y bailar (I like to sing and dance).
• Dropping the article. Say Me gusta el café, not "Me gusta café"; Spanish keeps el, la, los, or las before the thing liked.
• Forgetting the clarifier with le. To be clear, add a person: A ella le gusta, not just "Le gusta" when the listener does not know who.

Recap

Gustar means "to be pleasing," so the thing liked is really the subject and the verb agrees with it: gusta for one thing or an action, gustan for more than one. Show who is pleased with the pronouns me, te, le, nos, les, and add a phrase with a (a mí, a ella, a Juan) for emphasis or to clear up le and les. Make it negative by putting no before the pronoun. Several verbs like encantar, interesar, and molestar follow the very same pattern.

Sources

1. SpanishDict. Gustar and Verbs Like Gustar. https://www.spanishdict.com/guide/gustar-and-verbs-like-gustar
2. StudySpanish.com. Grammar Unit: The Verb Gustar. https://studyspanish.com
3. Real Academia Española. Nueva gramática de la lengua española: verbos de afección. https://www.rae.es
4. Instituto Cervantes. Plan curricular del Instituto Cervantes: gramática, el verbo gustar. https://cvc.cervantes.es/ensenanza/biblioteca_ele/plan_curricular

Numbers appear everywhere: ages, prices, phone numbers, and dates. Learn the essentials from zero to twenty first, then the tens.

#	Spanish	#	Spanish
0	cero	11	once
1	uno	12	doce
2	dos	13	trece
3	tres	14	catorce
4	cuatro	15	quince
5	cinco	16	dieciséis
6	seis	17	diecisiete
7	siete	20	veinte
8	ocho	30	treinta
9	nueve	40	cuarenta
10	diez	100	cien

The remaining tens are cincuenta (50), sesenta (60), setenta (70), ochenta (80), and noventa (90).

Building numbers in between

To join a ten and a unit from 31 upward, use the word y (and): treinta y uno is 31, cuarenta y cinco is 45, noventa y nueve is 99. The teens through 29 are written as a single word: dieciséis (16), diecisiete (17), veintidós (22), veintinueve (29). Note that 100 by itself is cien, but 101 becomes ciento uno.

You can already use these right away. To ask a price, say Cuánto cuesta? (How much does it cost?) and hear an answer like cuesta treinta pesos (it costs thirty pesos). To give your age, Tengo dieciséis años (I am sixteen). Practice by counting objects around you out loud.

Uno changes shape before a noun

The number uno (one) shortens to un before a masculine noun and becomes una before a feminine noun, exactly like the word for "a." So it is un libro (one book), una casa (one house), and in compounds veintiún libros (twenty-one books) and treinta y una casas (thirty-one houses). You only say the full uno when counting by itself: "uno, dos, tres." Notice that veintiún takes a written accent when it drops the o.

A few spelling points

Some numbers carry a written accent that you should not leave off: dieciséis (16), veintidós (22), veintitrés (23), and veintiséis (26). The numbers 16 through 29 are written as one word (dieciséis, diecisiete, veinte, veintiuno, veintidós), while from 31 upward you split them with y: treinta y uno, cuarenta y dos. A common slip is to write "veinte y uno"; the modern single-word spelling is veintiuno.

Cien versus ciento

The number 100 is cien when it stands alone or right before a noun: cien euros (a hundred euros), cien personas (a hundred people). But as soon as you add a smaller number to it, it becomes ciento: ciento uno (101), ciento cincuenta (150). You never say "un cien"; the word cien already means one hundred on its own.

Using numbers in real life

Numbers do real work every day. For phone numbers, Spanish speakers often read them in pairs: a number like 55 12 34 might be said cincuenta y cinco, doce, treinta y cuatro. For prices, pair a number with a currency: Cuesta cuarenta pesos (It costs forty pesos). For quantities in a store you can say Quiero dos manzanas y tres plátanos (I want two apples and three bananas). And for age you already know the pattern: Mi hermano tiene veinte años (My brother is twenty).

Common mistakes

• Writing the teens and twenties as two words. It is dieciséis and veintiuno, not "diez y seis" or "veinte y uno."
• Keeping full uno before a noun. Say un libro and veintiún libros, not "uno libro."
• Saying "un cien." The word cien already means one hundred, so no un is needed.
• Dropping the accent on dieciséis or veintidós. The written accent is part of the correct spelling.

Recap

Learn zero to fifteen as unique words, then the tens: veinte, treinta, cuarenta, cincuenta, sesenta, setenta, ochenta, noventa, and cien. Numbers 16 to 29 are single words (dieciséis, veintidós), while from 31 up you join a ten and a unit with y (treinta y uno). Uno shortens to un or una before a noun, and 100 is cien alone but ciento before a smaller number. A few numbers keep written accents you should not drop.

Sources

1. SpanishDict. Numbers in Spanish: 0 to 100. https://www.spanishdict.com/guide/spanish-numbers-1-100
2. StudySpanish.com. Vocabulary Unit: Numbers 0 to 100. https://studyspanish.com
3. Real Academia Española. Diccionario panhispánico de dudas: números cardinales. https://www.rae.es
4. Instituto Cervantes. Plan curricular del Instituto Cervantes: nociones, cantidad y número. https://cvc.cervantes.es/ensenanza/biblioteca_ele/plan_curricular

Talking about the calendar lets you make plans and mark birthdays. First, the days of the week (los días de la semana).

Spanish	English	Spanish	English
lunes	Monday	viernes	Friday
martes	Tuesday	sábado	Saturday
miércoles	Wednesday	domingo	Sunday
jueves	Thursday

An important habit: in Spanish, days and months are not capitalized. The Spanish week is usually shown starting on Monday, not Sunday. To ask the day, say Qué día es hoy? (What day is today?) and answer Hoy es martes (Today is Tuesday).

The months (los meses)

The twelve months are enero (January), febrero, marzo, abril, mayo, junio, julio, agosto, septiembre, octubre, noviembre, and diciembre. They too are lowercase.

Giving a date

To give a date, use the pattern el + number + de + month: el cinco de mayo means "the fifth of May," and el veinte de diciembre is "the twentieth of December." Notice Spanish puts the day before the month. For the first of the month, Spanish traditionally uses el primero: el primero de enero (January first). To ask the date, say Cuál es la fecha de hoy? (What is today's date?). To ask about a birthday, use Cuándo es tu cumpleaños? (When is your birthday?), and answer Mi cumpleaños es el diez de junio (My birthday is the tenth of June).

Using el with days to mean on

The article makes a nice difference with days of the week. Add el before a day to mean "on that day": el lunes means "on Monday," as in Tengo clase el lunes (I have class on Monday). Use the plural los to mean "every" such day: los lunes means "on Mondays" or "every Monday," as in Estudio los sábados (I study on Saturdays). Five of the seven days do not change in the plural because they already end in s: el lunes becomes los lunes. Only sábado and domingo add an -s: los sábados, los domingos.

The order is day, then month, then year

Spanish writes and says dates from smallest to largest: day, month, year. So the fourth of July, 2025, is el cuatro de julio de dos mil veinticinco, and in numbers it is often written 4/7/2025, not 7/4. This is the reverse of the common United States order, so read foreign dates carefully. The full pattern is el + day + de + month + de + year, joining each part with de.

Seasons and useful time words

A few extra words round out talking about the calendar. The seasons are la primavera (spring), el verano (summer), el otoño (autumn), and el invierno (winter), and you pair them with en: en marzo (in March), en verano (in summer). Handy time words include hoy (today), mañana (tomorrow), ayer (yesterday), la semana (the week), el mes (the month), and el año (the year). So you might say Hoy es lunes y mañana es martes (Today is Monday and tomorrow is Tuesday).

Common mistakes

• Capitalizing days or months. Write lunes and enero in lowercase, never "Lunes" or "Enero."
• Putting the month before the day. It is el cinco de mayo, not "el mayo cinco."
• Using a plain number for the first. Tradition prefers el primero de enero over "el uno de enero."
• Adding -s to weekday names that already end in s. The plural of el lunes is los lunes, not "los luneses."

Recap

The seven days (lunes through domingo) and twelve months (enero through diciembre) are always lowercase, and the Spanish week usually starts on Monday. Give a date with el + number + de + month, day before month, and use el primero for the first. Add el before a day to mean "on Monday" and los to mean "every Monday." Full dates run day, month, year, each joined by de, which is the reverse of the common United States order.

Sources

1. SpanishDict. Days, Months, and Dates in Spanish. https://www.spanishdict.com/guide/days-of-the-week-in-spanish
2. StudySpanish.com. Vocabulary Unit: Days, Months, and Dates. https://studyspanish.com
3. Real Academia Española. Diccionario panhispánico de dudas: fecha. https://www.rae.es
4. Instituto Cervantes. Plan curricular del Instituto Cervantes: nociones, tiempo. https://cvc.cervantes.es/ensenanza/biblioteca_ele/plan_curricular

Weather (el tiempo) is an easy, everyday topic. To ask what the weather is like, say Qué tiempo hace? (literally "What weather does it make?"). Most weather expressions use the verb hacer (to do or make) in its hace form.

Weather with hacer

Spanish	English
Hace sol	It is sunny
Hace calor	It is hot
Hace frío	It is cold
Hace viento	It is windy
Hace buen tiempo	The weather is nice
Hace mal tiempo	The weather is bad

Weather with other verbs

A few weather words do not use hacer. For rain and snow, Spanish uses special verbs: Llueve means "It is raining" (from llover, to rain) and Nieva means "It is snowing" (from nevar, to snow). To say it is cloudy, use estar: Está nublado (It is cloudy). And to point out that there is fog or clouds, you can use hay (there is / there are): Hay niebla (There is fog).

The four seasons

The seasons (las estaciones) are la primavera (spring), el verano (summer), el otoño (autumn), and el invierno (winter). You can now put it all together: En verano hace calor y hace sol (In summer it is hot and sunny), or En invierno hace frío y a veces nieva (In winter it is cold and sometimes it snows). Remember that hace is for most weather, but rain and snow have their own verbs.

Why weather uses hacer, not ser or estar

English says "it is hot," but Spanish usually says "it makes heat": Hace calor. That is because calor (heat), frío (cold), sol (sun), and viento (wind) are nouns, not adjectives, and hacer is the verb that goes with them. This also explains why you strengthen these with mucho rather than "muy": Hace mucho calor (It is very hot), Hace mucho frío (It is very cold). Saying "Hace muy calor" is a classic beginner slip; the noun needs mucho.

Do not confuse weather with how a person feels

Three different verbs all touch on hot and cold, so keep them apart. For the weather, use hacer: Hace calor hoy (It is hot today). For how a person feels, use tener: Tengo calor (I am hot), Tengo frío (I am cold). For the temperature of a thing, use estar: El café está caliente (The coffee is hot), La sopa está fría (The soup is cold). So the same idea of "hot" picks a different verb depending on whether you mean the weather, a person, or an object.

Talking about the temperature and asking around

To give a temperature, Spanish uses estar with grados (degrees): Están a treinta grados (It is thirty degrees), or you may hear Hace treinta grados. Useful follow-up questions include Qué temperatura hace? (What is the temperature?) and Cómo está el clima? (How is the weather or climate?). You can connect weather to the seasons you just learned: En otoño hace viento y llueve mucho (In autumn it is windy and it rains a lot), En primavera hace buen tiempo (In spring the weather is nice).

Common mistakes

• Using ser or estar for most weather. Say Hace sol and Hace frío, not "Es sol" or "Está frío" for the weather in general.
• Saying "muy" with weather nouns. It is Hace mucho calor, not "Hace muy calor."
• Mixing up the person and the weather. Tengo calor means I feel hot; Hace calor means the weather is hot.
• Trying to use hacer for rain and snow. Those take their own verbs: Llueve (it is raining) and Nieva (it is snowing).

Recap

Ask Qué tiempo hace? and answer most weather with hacer: hace sol, hace calor, hace frío, hace viento, hace buen or mal tiempo. Rain and snow use their own verbs (llueve, nieva), cloudiness uses estar (está nublado), and hay introduces fog (hay niebla). Strengthen weather nouns with mucho, not muy, and keep weather (hacer) separate from how a person feels (tener) and how a thing feels (estar). The seasons are primavera, verano, otoño, and invierno.

Sources

1. SpanishDict. Talking About the Weather in Spanish. https://www.spanishdict.com/guide/spanish-weather-vocabulary
2. StudySpanish.com. Vocabulary Unit: Weather and Seasons. https://studyspanish.com
3. Real Academia Española. Diccionario de la lengua española: tiempo. https://dle.rae.es
4. Instituto Cervantes. Plan curricular del Instituto Cervantes: nociones, el tiempo atmosférico. https://cvc.cervantes.es/ensenanza/biblioteca_ele/plan_curricular

Asking questions is how conversations grow, and Spanish makes it easy. For a simple yes-or-no question, you can keep statement word order and just raise your voice at the end, or put the verb first. Both of these ask "Do you speak Spanish?":

• Tú hablas español? (statement order, rising tone)
• Hablas español? (subject dropped, very common)

Remember to open written questions with an inverted question mark and close with a normal one.

Question words

To ask for specific information, use these interrogatives. Each one carries a written accent.

Spanish	English	Example
qué	what	Qué quieres? (What do you want?)
quién	who	Quién es? (Who is it?)
dónde	where	Dónde vives? (Where do you live?)
cuándo	when	Cuándo llegas? (When do you arrive?)
por qué	why	Por qué estudias? (Why do you study?)
cómo	how	Cómo estás? (How are you?)
cuánto	how much	Cuánto cuesta? (How much does it cost?)

A subtle but important pair: por qué (two words, with an accent) means "why," while porque (one word, no accent) means "because." So you might ask Por qué estudias español? and answer Porque me gusta (Because I like it). With these question words plus a verb, you can already interview a new friend about their name, home, age, and plans.

Question words that agree in number

Two interrogatives change form. Cuánto (how much or how many) agrees in gender and number with the noun it asks about: Cuánto dinero? (How much money?), Cuánta agua? (How much water?), Cuántos libros? (How many books?), Cuántas casas? (How many houses?). This is why age is Cuántos años tienes? (literally "How many years do you have?"). And quién becomes quiénes for more than one person: Quiénes son ellos? (Who are they?).

Qué versus cuál

Both can translate as "what" or "which," but they are used differently. Use qué right before a noun and to ask for a definition: Qué libro quieres? (Which book do you want?), Qué es esto? (What is this?). Use cuál to ask which one out of a group, especially before the verb es: Cuál es tu color favorito? (What is your favorite color?), Cuál prefieres? (Which one do you prefer?). A helpful rule: say Cuál es tu nombre? or the more common Cómo te llamas? for names, but not "Qué es tu nombre."

Where the subject goes in a question

When you use a question word, the subject usually comes after the verb: Dónde vive Ana? (Where does Ana live?), Qué estudian los niños? (What do the children study?). You never insert a helper like the English "do"; the question word plus the verb is enough. And do not forget the opening inverted question mark in writing, which signals a question from the very first word.

Answering questions naturally

Short answers are normal and polite. To a yes-or-no question you can simply say Sí or No, often adding a bit more: Hablas inglés? Sí, un poco (Do you speak English? Yes, a little). To an information question, answer with the matching piece: Dónde vives? Vivo en Miami (Where do you live? I live in Miami). And remember the why-because pair in a real exchange: Por qué estudias español? Porque quiero viajar (Why do you study Spanish? Because I want to travel).

Common mistakes

• Adding an English "do." Say Dónde trabajas?, never "Dónde do you trabajas?"
• Confusing por qué and porque. Por qué (two words) asks why; porque (one word) gives the reason.
• Using qué for names. Ask Cómo te llamas? or Cuál es tu nombre?, not "Qué es tu nombre."
• Forgetting that cuánto agrees. It is Cuántas casas? with a feminine plural noun, not "Cuánto casas."

Recap

Form a yes-or-no question by keeping statement order with a rising tone or by putting the verb first, and open every written question with an inverted mark. The main question words all carry accents: qué, quién, dónde, cuándo, por qué, cómo, cuánto, cuál. Cuánto agrees in gender and number and quién becomes quiénes in the plural. Use qué before a noun and cuál to pick one from a group. Keep por qué (why) and porque (because) straight, and never use an English helper like "do."

Sources

1. SpanishDict. Spanish Question Words and How to Ask Questions. https://www.spanishdict.com/guide/asking-questions-in-spanish
2. StudySpanish.com. Grammar Unit: Interrogative Words. https://studyspanish.com
3. Real Academia Española. Diccionario panhispánico de dudas: qué, cuál, porque, por qué. https://www.rae.es
4. Instituto Cervantes. Plan curricular del Instituto Cervantes: gramática, oraciones interrogativas. https://cvc.cervantes.es/ensenanza/biblioteca_ele/plan_curricular

Family (la familia) is one of the first things people talk about. Here are the core members.

Spanish	English	Spanish	English
el padre / papá	father / dad	el hermano	brother
la madre / mamá	mother / mom	la hermana	sister
los padres	parents	el abuelo	grandfather
el hijo	son	la abuela	grandmother
la hija	daughter	el primo / la prima	cousin (m / f)
el tío / la tía	uncle / aunt	el perro / el gato	dog / cat

Notice that a mixed or all-male group uses the masculine plural: los padres can mean "the parents," and los hermanos can mean "the brothers" or "the siblings" together.

Showing whose it is

To say "my," "your," and so on, use possessive adjectives. They agree in number with the thing owned.

Spanish	English	Example
mi / mis	my	mi hermano, mis abuelos
tu / tus	your	tu tía, tus primos
su / sus	his/her/their/your	su madre, sus hijos
nuestro / nuestra	our	nuestra familia

You can also show possession with de: el perro de María means "María's dog" (literally "the dog of María"), because Spanish has no apostrophe-s.

Describing your family

Combine family words with the ser and adjective agreement you already know: Mi hermana es alta y simpática (My sister is tall and nice), Mis abuelos son mayores (My grandparents are older), Tengo un tío que es muy cómico (I have an uncle who is very funny). Useful describing words include simpático/a (nice), cómico/a (funny), serio/a (serious), joven (young), and mayor (older).

Telling how many with tener

To say how big your family is, use tener with a number: Tengo dos hermanos y una hermana (I have two brothers and one sister), Tenemos una familia grande (We have a big family). To ask, say Cuántos hermanos tienes? (How many siblings do you have?). If you have none, use no ... ninguno or simply Soy hijo único for a male or Soy hija única for a female (I am an only child). Remember that hermanos in the plural can cover brothers and sisters together.

Su and sus can be unclear

The possessive su and sus are useful but vague, because su can mean "his," "her," "their," or "your (formal)." Context usually tells you, but to be clear Spanish often uses de plus the person instead: la casa de ellos (their house), el coche de usted (your car). This is the same de you use for possession when there is no apostrophe, as in los primos de Ana (Ana's cousins). Choose the de phrase whenever su might confuse your listener.

More describing words for people

Build richer descriptions by pairing ser with adjectives that agree. For personality: simpático/a (nice), antipático/a (unpleasant), trabajador/a (hard-working), inteligente (smart), tímido/a (shy). For appearance: alto/a (tall), bajo/a (short), guapo/a (good-looking), rubio/a (blond), moreno/a (dark-haired). Full examples: Mi madre es trabajadora y simpática (My mother is hard-working and nice), Mis primos son altos y morenos (My cousins are tall and dark-haired). Note that adjectives ending in -e like inteligente do not change for gender, only for number.

Common mistakes

• Using an apostrophe for possession. There is no apostrophe-s in Spanish; say el perro de María, not "María's perro."
• Not matching the possessive to number. It is mis abuelos (my grandparents), because mi agrees in number with the plural noun.
• Forgetting adjective agreement. With a mother, say trabajadora and simpática, not the masculine forms.
• Leaving su ambiguous when it matters. If it is unclear, switch to la casa de ellos rather than "su casa."

Recap

The core family words include padre, madre, hermano, hermana, hijo, hija, abuelo, abuela, tío, tía, and primo or prima, with the masculine plural (padres, hermanos) covering a mixed group. Show possession with the adjectives mi/mis, tu/tus, su/sus, and nuestro/nuestra, which agree in number, or with de plus a name because there is no apostrophe-s. Use tener with a number to say how many relatives you have, and describe them with ser plus adjectives that agree in gender and number.

Sources

1. SpanishDict. Family Vocabulary and Possessive Adjectives in Spanish. https://www.spanishdict.com/guide/spanish-possessive-adjectives
2. StudySpanish.com. Vocabulary Unit: The Family and Possessives. https://studyspanish.com
3. Real Academia Española. Nueva gramática de la lengua española: los posesivos. https://www.rae.es
4. Instituto Cervantes. Plan curricular del Instituto Cervantes: nociones, relaciones familiares. https://cvc.cervantes.es/ensenanza/biblioteca_ele/plan_curricular

Food (la comida) is a rewarding topic because you can use it right away. Let us build a small menu, then learn to order.

Spanish	English	Spanish	English
el pan	bread	el agua	water
el queso	cheese	el jugo	juice
el pollo	chicken	la leche	milk
la carne	meat	el café	coffee
el pescado	fish	la sopa	soup
la manzana	apple	la ensalada	salad

The three meals are el desayuno (breakfast), el almuerzo (lunch), and la cena (dinner). To eat is comer and to drink is beber.

Saying what you want with querer

To say what you want, use querer (to want). It is a stem-changing verb: the e in the stem becomes ie in most forms. So quiero (I want), quieres (you want), quiere (he/she wants), queremos (we want), quieren (they want). For example, Quiero un jugo means "I want a juice." To be polite you can soften it to Quisiera (I would like), which sounds more courteous when ordering.

Ordering in a restaurant

Here is a short exchange you could use today:

• Mesero: Buenas tardes. Qué desea? (Waiter: Good afternoon. What would you like?)
• You: Quisiera la sopa y el pollo, por favor. (I would like the soup and the chicken, please.)
• Mesero: Y para beber? (And to drink?)
• You: Un agua, por favor. (A water, please.)
• You (at the end): La cuenta, por favor. (The check, please.)

Two keywords will carry you through most meals: la cuenta (the bill) and the ever-polite por favor. Combine them with your gustar and querer sentences and you can hold a real conversation about food.

The full querer conjugation

Querer is a stem-changing verb: the e in the stem becomes ie in every form except nosotros and vosotros, where the stem stays the same. Learn the whole pattern.

Pronoun	querer	English
yo	quiero	I want
tú	quieres	you want
él / ella / usted	quiere	he/she wants
nosotros	queremos	we want
vosotros	queréis	you all want
ellos / ellas / ustedes	quieren	they want

Notice that queremos and queréis keep the plain e, while every other form has the ie change. You can follow querer with a noun (Quiero un café, I want a coffee) or with an infinitive (Quiero comer, I want to eat).

Ordering politely and the personal touch

When ordering, the softened form Quisiera (I would like) sounds more courteous than the plain Quiero. Other useful restaurant phrases: Me trae el menú, por favor? (Will you bring me the menu, please?), Para mí, el pollo (For me, the chicken), and Está muy rico (It is very tasty). To say you are hungry or thirsty, remember the tener expressions from earlier: Tengo hambre (I am hungry), Tengo sed (I am thirsty). Waitstaff may be addressed politely; in many places you say Disculpe (Excuse me) to get attention.

Talking about likes at the table

Bring back gustar to describe your tastes. Use gusta for one food and gustan for several: Me gusta el pescado (I like fish), Me gustan las verduras (I like vegetables), No me gusta la cebolla (I do not like onion). You can combine likes and orders: Me gusta el pollo, así que quiero el pollo con ensalada (I like chicken, so I want the chicken with salad). This ties together three tools you now own: food vocabulary, querer, and gustar.

Common mistakes

• Forgetting the stem change. It is quiero and quieres, not "quero" or "queres"; only nosotros and vosotros keep the plain e.
• Using muy for hunger. Say Tengo mucha hambre (I am very hungry), because hambre is a noun.
• Dropping the article with foods. Say Quiero el pollo or Me gusta el café, keeping el, la, los, or las.
• Mixing gusta and gustan. It is Me gustan las verduras with a plural, but Me gusta la sopa with one thing.

Recap

Build a small menu of foods (pan, queso, pollo, carne, pescado, and drinks like agua, jugo, leche, café) and the three meals: desayuno, almuerzo, cena. Say what you want with querer, a stem-changing verb (quiero, quieres, quiere, queremos, queréis, quieren), and soften it to Quisiera when ordering. Ask for la cuenta, por favor at the end, use tener for hunger and thirst, and use gustar to describe which foods you like, matching gusta or gustan to the food.

Sources

1. SpanishDict. Food Vocabulary and Ordering in a Restaurant. https://www.spanishdict.com/guide/spanish-food-vocabulary
2. StudySpanish.com. Vocabulary Unit: Food and the Restaurant. https://studyspanish.com
3. Real Academia Española. Diccionario de la lengua española: querer. https://dle.rae.es
4. Instituto Cervantes. Plan curricular del Instituto Cervantes: nociones, alimentación. https://cvc.cervantes.es/ensenanza/biblioteca_ele/plan_curricular