Spanish
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 30 letters with audio.
Where to start
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.
About the language
| Native name | Español |
| Official in | Spain, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia and 16 more countries |
| Also spoken in | the USA, the Philippines and Equatorial Guinea |
| 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 |
| Writing | 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 Russian speakers 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 rarer its repetitions should be. To hold it for a week, review every day; to hold it for a year, about once a month.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% of the target interval on a horizon of weeks, and 5–10% on a horizon of 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.
- Pay someone to study and they study less, not more. Praise and a clear explanation of their mistakes do the opposite — they help.checked many timesDeci, Koestner & Ryan, 1999, Psychological Bulletin 125(6) · 128 experiments. Material reward: d = −0.40 for taking part, −0.36 for finishing. Praise and feedback: +0.33.
Frequently asked
Where to start learning Spanish?
With the first everyday words and rescue phrases: the script is already familiar to you.
How many people speak it in Spanish?
About 500 million native speakers, over 600 million counting second-language speakers — an estimate from 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 it spoken in Spanish?
An official language in: Spain, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia and 16 more countries. Noticeable communities: the USA, the Philippines and Equatorial Guinea.