Learn to read Spanish
A short, active path into reading Spanish: five vowels that never move, nine real words decoded before the alphabet, ser against estar, the verb ending that replaces the pronoun, and two short stories before your first book.
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1 sectionStart here: what this path does
- This path starts from no Spanish and ends with a short story whose pronunciation and English begin hidden.
- You attempt a word before revealing how it is said and what it means.
- Spanish is spelled almost exactly the way it is said, so the sound work is short.
- What stops an English reader is the small words and the missing subject, not the nouns.
- Stop after any checkpoint. The three lookup sections are for looking things up, not memorising.
This is short preparation for reading a book, not a grammar course. It teaches how the letters sound, where the pieces of a sentence sit, and enough recurring words for a first page. Four characters run through it — Mina the mouse, Tobi the rabbit, Tika the yellow bird, Dara the fox — the cast of the fable collection this path hands you at the end.
forest
bosque
BOHS-keh
The large word is the spelling. BOHS-kehBOHS-keh is the pronunciation guide, with the strongest beat in capitals. The English is the meaning. At checkpoints, the last two stay hidden until you choose to reveal them.
How to use a checkpoint
Look at the Spanish first and try to say it. Then reveal.
- bosque
Two beats. The u after the q is not said at all.
Show answer +Hide answer −
bosqueBOHS-keh“forest”. Say “BOHS-keh”.