Basic Spanish for English Speakers

¡Hola! Greetings & Introductions

Start with the word you will use all day: ¡Hola! (hello / hi) works from morning to night with anyone. Then add the time-of-day greetings: Buenos días (good morning) until about noon, Buenas tardes (good afternoon) through the afternoon, and Buenas noches (good evening / good night) once it gets dark.

To ask how someone is: ¿Cómo estás? (informal) or ¿Cómo está usted? (formal). The classic reply is Estoy bien, gracias — "I'm well, thank you".

Introducing yourself is easy: Me llamo… ("my name is…", literally "I call myself…"). Say where you're from with Soy de… ("I am from…") — Soy de Londres. Nice to meet you is Mucho gusto; and if you want to sound extra polished, Encantado (from a man) / Encantada (from a woman).

Pronunciation for English Speakers

The great gift of Spanish: it is almost perfectly phonetic — you read it the way it sounds. Master these five letters and your accent improves instantly.

LL = the "y" in yes, so llama sounds like "yah-ma" and calle like "ka-yeh". In Argentina and Uruguay it slides toward "sh". Ñ = the "ny" in canyon — mañana ("manyana"), niño ("neen-yo"). J = a strong "h" pushed from the throat — jamón ("ha-mon", ham), and the letter itself is jota. H is always silent: hasta luego starts with the "a" of "ah-sta", no "h". RR = a rolled r that you will find at the start of a word or as a double rr — perro (dog, rolled) vs pero (but, single tap).

Vowels are mercilessly simple: A = "ah" (casa), E = "eh" (mesa), I = "ee" (vino), O = "oh" (poco), U = "oo" (luna). Each vowel has exactly one sound — no surprise — so café is always "ka-fe", never "kaf-ee" or "kayf".

Numbers 0–20 & Prices

The first chunk is pure memorising: cero, uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, seis, siete, ocho, nueve, diez, once, doce, trece, catorce, quince. Then the pattern turns on: 16 is dieciséis (ten-and-six), 17 diecisiete, 18 dieciocho, 19 diecinueve — and 20 is veinte.

For prices you only need two more moves: veintiuno (21) and the big landmark cien (100). The unit of money is el euro. Ask: ¿Cuánto cuesta? ("how much does it cost?") or ¿Cuánto vale? ("what's it worth?"). Answer: Cuesta cinco euros — "it costs five euros".

A tiny shape-shift to notice: uno becomes un before a masculine noun (un café, un billete) but stays una before a feminine one (una mesa, una cerveza).

Days, Months & Time

The days: lunes, martes, miércoles, jueves, viernes, sábado, domingo — all masculine, all lowercase. Ask ¿Qué día es hoy? ("what day is today?"). Note that the Spanish week starts on Monday, and "on Monday" is just el lunes.

The months: enero, febrero, marzo, abril, mayo, junio, julio, agosto, septiembre, octubre, noviembre, diciembre. To say a date: Es el cinco de mayo — "it's the fifth of May".

The time: ¿Qué hora es? ("what time is it?") — answer Es la una (it's one) or Son las tres (it's three). Minutes go with y for "past" (Son las tres y diez = 3:10) and menos for "to" (Son las cuatro menos cuarto = quarter to four).

Key Verbs: ser, estar, ir, tener & querer

Five verbs carry you through any first conversation. First, ser (to be) for permanent things — identity, nationality, profession: yo soy · tú eres · él/ella es · nosotros somos · ustedes son. Soy estudiante (I'm a student), Es médico (he's a doctor).

Second, estar (to be) for temporary states and location: estoy, estás, está, estamos. Estoy bien (I'm fine), Está en el hotel (she's at the hotel). Then ir (to go): voy, vas, va, vamos — Voy al mercado (I'm going to the market), ¡Vamos! (let's go!).

Next, tener (to have): tengo, tienes, tiene, tenemos. This is where English speakers trip up most — in Spanish you don't "be" your age or feelings, you "have" them: Tengo 25 años ("I have 25 years" = I am 25), tengo hambre (I'm hungry), tengo sed (I'm thirsty), tengo frío (I'm cold). Finally querer (to want): quiero — Quiero un café (I want a coffee).

Cognates — Vocabulary You Already Own

Because Spanish and English share Latin roots, you already know thousands of Spanish words. el hotel (hotel), el restaurante (restaurant), la música (music), el taxi (taxi), la idea (idea), el problema (problem), importante (important), posible (possible), rápido (rapid/fast). Read them aloud and they sound Spanish already.

Learn the patterns and your vocabulary triples on the spot. English -tion → Spanish -ción: information → información, station → estación, nation → nación. English -ty → Spanish -dad: city → ciudad, university → universidad, opportunity → oportunidad. And English -ary → Spanish -ario: dictionary → diccionario.

English-speakers also land on la televisión, el hotel and el cine (cinema) with zero effort — say goodbye to memorising those.

Family & Describing People

The family tree: la familia (family), la madre (mother), el padre (father), los padres (parents), el hermano (brother), la hermana (sister), el hijo (son), la hija (daughter), el abuelo / la abuela (grandfather / grandmother), el tío / la tía (uncle / aunt).

To describe people: alto/alta (tall), bajo/baja (short), joven (young), mayor (older), rubio/rubia (blonde), moreno/morena (brunette / dark-haired), simpático/simpática (nice), amable (kind). Build sentences with tener and ser: Tengo dos hermanos (I have two brothers/siblings), Mi hermana es alta y simpática (my sister is tall and nice).

The golden rule of Spanish adjectives: describe after the noun and match it in gender and number. un chico alto (a tall boy) → una chica alta (a tall girl) → los chicos altos (the tall boys).

Questions & Negation

Asking a yes/no question is almost free: keep the same word order as a statement and raise your voice at the end, just like in English. ¿Hablas español? ("do you speak Spanish?") is literally "speak you Spanish?" with a question tone.

Question words always wear an accent: ¿Qué? (what), ¿Cuándo? (when), ¿Dónde? (where), ¿Quién? (who), ¿Cómo? (how), ¿Por qué? (why), ¿Cuánto? (how much). Put them at the front: ¿Qué hora es? (what time is it?), ¿Cuándo viajas? (when do you travel?), ¿Dónde está el baño? (where is the bathroom?).

Negation is one simple word: no goes directly in front of the verb. Hablo español (I speak Spanish) → No hablo español (I don't speak Spanish). Entiendo → No entiendo (I don't understand). Sé → No sé (I don't know).

Food, Café & Ordering

Meals and market basics: el desayuno (breakfast), el almuerzo (lunch), la cena (dinner). The pantry of survival: el pan (bread), el queso (cheese), la fruta (fruit), el agua (water), el café (coffee), el té (tea), la leche (milk), la cerveza (beer), el vino (wine).

Order with a smile. Walk in and say: Una mesa para dos, por favor ("a table for two, please"). Ask for the menu: El menú, por favor. Then the golden phrase: Quisiera un café ("I'd like a coffee") — or the even simpler Un café, por favor. Want to know what's good? ¿Qué recomienda? ("what do you recommend?").

When you finish: La cuenta, por favor — "the bill, please". Café culture is its own course: un café solo (an espresso), un cortado (espresso with a splash of milk), un café con leche (a latte-style coffee).

Small Talk & Your First Conversation

Everything you have learned fits into one real conversation. Read this dialogue out loud twice — once slowly, once at a natural speed:

Notice how every piece you learned appears here: ¡Hola!, ¿Cómo estás?, gracias, me llamo, ser, ¿De dónde?, vivir (to live), hablar, un poco, estar + aprendiendo, and the farewells. That is a complete first conversation in 9 lines.

For more small talk: ¿Qué tal? (how's it going?), ¿Hablas inglés? (do you speak English?), ¿De dónde eres? (where are you from?), ¿Te gusta…? (do you like…?), El español es bonito (Spanish is beautiful).

Shadowing drill (the habit that builds accent): play this dialogue aloud from memory once a day. Match the melody of the sentences, not just the words. Thirty seconds a day beats one big cram session every week.