aprender de memoria
“aprender de memoria” — to learn by heart in Spanish. Phrase, level B1. Literally 'to learn from memory'. There's also memorizar, but it sounds bookish. Rote learning without understanding is aprender como un loro — like a parrot. In a live sentence: “Tuve que aprender de memoria toda la lista” — I had to learn the whole list by heart. You can hear how it sounds right here. A word from the everyday Spanish course, level B1.
In short
| Written in Spanish | aprender de memoria |
| Translation | to learn by heart |
| Part of speech | phrase |
| Level | B1 |
- aprender de memoriato learn by heart
Why it looks that way
Literally 'to learn from memory'. There's also memorizar, but it sounds bookish. Rote learning without understanding is aprender como un loro — like a parrot
A word with a story stays in memory longer than one learned as a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
In a live sentence
A single word almost never appears alone in conversation. A sentence shows where it fits and what stands next to it.
- Tuve que aprender de memoria toda la listaI had to learn the whole list by heart
How not to forget this word
Reading a word and remembering it are different jobs. A day later, little survives of a single reading — and that is not bad memory, that is how memory works.
- This has been tested on foreign words too. The difference shows up most when you test yourself a few days later rather than straight away.checked many timesKim & Webb, 2022, Language Learning 72(2) · 48 experiments, 3,411 participants, 98 comparisons.
- 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.
- An answer you worked out yourself sticks better than one handed to you.checked many timesBertsch et al., 2007, Memory & Cognition 35(2) · 86 studies, 445 comparisons, d = 0.40.
Frequently asked
How do you say “to learn by heart” in Spanish?
«aprender de memoria». In a live sentence: “Tuve que aprender de memoria toda la lista” — I had to learn the whole list by heart. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Phrase, level B1.
Why does this word look the way it does?
Literally 'to learn from memory'. There's also memorizar, but it sounds bookish. Rote learning without understanding is aprender como un loro — like a parrot. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
Can I hear how it sounds?
Yes, right on this page: click the word and it will play. The sound works on any phone, and nothing needs to be installed.