LingoflySpanish
Spanish — Indo-European family, about 500 million native speakers, over 600 million counting second-language speakers (estimate, Instituto Cervantes, annual report). Script: the Latin alphabet with ñ and the digraphs ch, ll. This site has 4061 words and 27 letters with audio.
Try one phrase
Demo language: Spanish
Read the card and choose an answer. No sound or sign-up needed.
no entiendo
I don't understand
Without JavaScript: read the card, choose an answer in your head and open the explanation.
1 / 2 · Choose an answer
no entiendo
- goodbye
- thank you
- please
- I don't understand
Show the answer
no entiendo
I don't understand
2 / 2 · Choose an answer
Perdón, ___
Sorry, I don't understand
- no entiendo
- por
- gracias
- adiós
Show the answer
no entiendo
I don't understand
Two checks complete
no entiendo
I don't understand
This is a choice based on text. Conversation and remembering over time still need practice and checking.
How answers are counted
Answers stay on this page. Statistics include the demo stage, overall result, interface language and saved counter consent choice, without answer text or a profile.
Where to start
- →Spanish alphabetAll letters with sound
- →Spanish wordsBy topic and alphabetically
- →PhrasebookPhrases ready to use
- →GrammarRules without jargon
- →Reading textsShort texts with translation
- →PronunciationWhat you hear and what is hard
- →From scratchWhere to start, and in what order
- →How long to studyAn honest estimate, with caveats
First words
Every conversation starts with them — and so does the first impression: one greeting in the local language and you stop being a stranger within a second.
- holahellothe h is silent: OH-lah
- buenos díasgood morningLiterally 'good days', in the plural: Spanish wishes you all of them at once. Said until midday
- buenas tardesgood afternoonFrom lunchtime until dark
- buenas nochesgood evening (good night)One phrase for arriving late in the evening and for leaving for the night — then it means good night
- adiósgoodbyeFrom 'a Dios' — 'to God': a farewell commending someone to God. For long partings; for 'see you soon' they say hasta luego
- hasta luegosee you laterIn Spain this is the everyday goodbye, said more often than adiós
- graciasthank youLiterally plural — 'graces'. A single gracia means a grace or a joke
- por favorpleaseLiterally 'by favor'. It goes at the end of a request: un café, por favor. The 'you're welcome' in reply is de nada
How it sounds
Five words spoken aloud: click the speaker and pick the translation. The sound works on any phone, and nothing needs to be installed.
- What is this word?
It is hola — hello.
- What is this word?
It is por favor — please.
- What is this word?
It is ¿qué tal? — how's it going?
- What is this word?
It is usted — you (formal).
- What is this word?
It is adiós — goodbye.
Curiosities in Spanish
Spanish is the world's second language by number of native speakers — only Chinese has more. English passes it only by counting everyone who learned it as a second language.
Ethnologue, annual review; Instituto Cervantes, «El español en el mundo»
About the language
| Native name | Español |
| Official in | Spain, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia and 16 more countries |
| Also spoken in | the USA, Andorra and Belize |
| How many speakers | about 500 million native speakers, over 600 million counting second-language speakers (estimate, Instituto Cervantes, annual report) |
| Family | Indo-European family, Romance group |
| Script | the Latin alphabet with ñ and the digraphs ch, ll |
| Writing direction | left to right |
Hard: two verbs “to be”, the subjunctive mood, the speed of native speech.
Easy: spelled the way it sounds, a familiar alphabet, vocabulary you recognize from day one.
What people most often take it up for: travel, series and music, working in international teams.
How lessons work
A lesson is up to half an hour a day, split into three to five short sessions. A word comes back not on the course's schedule but at the moment you are about to forget it: the interval is computed by an algorithm from your own answers.
- The longer you want to keep a word, the longer the gap before reviewing it can be. To hold it for a week, review it after a day or two; to hold it for a year, after about three or four weeks.checked many timesCepeda et al., 2008, Psychological Science 19(11) · Over 1,350 participants, tested after delays of up to a year. The best gap is about 20–40% of the target interval when you need to remember for a week, and 5–10% when for a year.
- Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
- A material reward promised for doing a task lowers the wish to take it up of your own accord once the reward is gone. Praise for what was done, on the contrary, keeps that wish alive.checked many timesDeci, Koestner & Ryan, 1999, Psychological Bulletin 125(6) · 128 experiments. A material reward promised in advance and the time later spent on the task by free choice: d = −0.44 for finishing, −0.40 for taking part, −0.28 for performance; a reward unrelated to the task, −0.14, not significant. Praise: +0.33.
Frequently asked
Where to start learning Spanish?
With the sounds and the first hundred words: you know the script, but it has its own reading rules.
How many people speak Spanish?
About 500 million native speakers, over 600 million counting second-language speakers — an estimate; source: Instituto Cervantes, annual report. Nobody runs an exact census of languages, and sources disagree by noticeable amounts.
Is Spanish hard?
Two verbs “to be”, the subjunctive mood, the speed of native speech. At the same time, spelled the way it sounds, a familiar alphabet, vocabulary you recognize from day one.
Where is Spanish spoken?
An official language in: Spain, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia and 16 more countries. Noticeable communities: the USA, Andorra and Belize.