la izquierda
“la izquierda” — left in Spanish. Noun, level A1, topic — asking the way. Not a Latin word but a Basque one — a rarity in Spanish. A left-handed person is zurdo. In a live sentence: “Gire a la izquierda en el semáforo” — Turn left at the traffic light. You can hear how it sounds right here. One of 18 words in the set “asking the way” in the Spanish course.
In short
| Written in Spanish | la izquierda |
| Translation | left |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | A1 |
- la izquierdaleft
Why it looks that way
Not a Latin word but a Basque one — a rarity in Spanish. A left-handed person is zurdo
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.
- Gire a la izquierda en el semáforoTurn left at the traffic light
Nearby words: asking the way
Right, left, straight on, how far. You ask the way rarely — and always at the moment when there is no time to work it out.
- ¿dónde está?where is it?Literally 'where is it located?': dónde is 'where', está is 'it is'. The verb is never dropped the way English drops it
- la derecharightLa derecha is the right-hand side; el derecho is a right, as in law. Only the gender tells them apart
- todo rectostraight aheadOn the street they say todo recto. Keep the todo: as a standalone noun, el recto is the rectum
- cercanearbyCerca de is 'next to something': cerca de casa. Without the de it's just 'close'
- lejosfarAlways carries the final s, even about a single place. Lejos de is far from something
- aquíhereSpanish splits space into three: aquí is right here with me, ahí is there with you, allí is over there in the distance
- allíthereThe far 'there', out of both speakers' reach. The closer 'over by you' is ahí
- cómo se va ahow do you get toLiterally how does one go to: the impersonal se does the job of a generic you. The preposition a is required
- llegar ato get toAlways with a before the place, and with casa no article: llegar a casa. Making it on time is llegar a tiempo
- al otro ladoon the other sideThe merged al (a + el) is obligatory. Of what exactly — that comes with de: al otro lado de la calle
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “asking the way”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “left” in Spanish?
Not a Latin word but a Basque one — a rarity in Spanish. A left-handed person is zurdo
- How do you say “there” in Spanish?
The far 'there', out of both speakers' reach. The closer 'over by you' is ahí
- How do you say “straight ahead” in Spanish?
On the street they say todo recto. Keep the todo: as a standalone noun, el recto is the rectum
- How do you say “on the other side” in Spanish?
The merged al (a + el) is obligatory. Of what exactly — that comes with de: al otro lado de la calle
- How do you say “here” in Spanish?
Spanish splits space into three: aquí is right here with me, ahí is there with you, allí is over there in the distance
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 “left” in Spanish?
«la izquierda». In a live sentence: “Gire a la izquierda en el semáforo” — Turn left at the traffic light. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Noun, level A1, from the set “asking the way”.
Why does this word look the way it does?
Not a Latin word but a Basque one — a rarity in Spanish. A left-handed person is zurdo. 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.