Basic Spanish Vocabulary
Learn Spanish quickly and effectively
When you learn a foreign language you want to jump straight in and get going, you want to learn a lot quickly, and you want to feel you are getting somewhere.
So, with that in mind, here are a few common phrases which will enable you to get speaking straight away.
Note: the grammar in this guide is using the impolite only, if you were to go into a bank for example, you would need to use the polite form. As this is slowly dying out of the Spanish language, I haven't included so as not to cause unnecessary confusion.
Pronunciation
Luckily Spanish is a language that is very easy to read and speak – words are pronounced exactly as they're written. If a word contains an accent then the stress is on that syllable, otherwise it's on the penultimate syllable (the second last).
ñ – this is pronounced ny, so for example año is pronounced an-yo
j-, ge- or gi- - this is pronounced like the -ch in Scottish loch, in the throat
rr (or words beginning in R) – this is pronounced with a rolled rrr sound
ll – pronounced like ye- in yellow
Basic sentences
Hello..............................................Hola
......................................................Buenos dias
How are you?.................................¿Qué tal?
.......................................................¿Como estás?
Fine thanks, and you?....................Bien, gracias. ¿Y tu?
What is your name?........................¿Como te llamas?
My name is......................................Me llamo...
How old are you?............................¿Cuantos años tienes? ( años is pronounced an-yos)
I am 30 years old..............................Tengo treinta años
Where are you from?.......................¿De donde eres?
I'm from.............................................Soy de...
England.............................................Inglaterra
The United States..............................los Estados Unidos
France...............................................Francia
What would you like to drink?............¿Qué quieres beber?
What would you like to eat?...............¿Qué quieres comer?
What would you like?.........................¿Qué quieres tomar?
I would like..........................................Quiero...
We would like.....................................Queremos...
Where are the toilets?........................¿Dondé están los aseos?
Do you have...?.................................¿Tienes...?
Some basic vocabulary
beer................una cerveza
wine................un vino
red..................tinto
white...............blanco
rosé.................rosado
water...............una agua
sandwich.........un bocadillo
hamburger........una hamberguesa
to have..............tener
to want.............querer
to be.................ser (permanent characteristics)
........................estar (temporary)
hungry..............hambre
thirsty...............sed
hotel.................el hotel
house...............la casa
Numbers
one...................uno
two..................dos
three.................tres
four..................quatro
five...................cinco
six....................seis
seven................siete
eight.................ocho
nine..................nueve
ten...................diez
Days of the week
Monday.............lunes
Tuesday.............martes
Wednesday.........miércoles
Thursday............jueves
Friday................viernes
Saturday.............sabado
Sunday...............domingo
Please also check out my guides to Spanish grammar and how to improve your basic Spanish.
