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.
The verb does everything: who, not, and asking
- In a plain statement the order is English order: doer, verb, then the thing it happens to.
- The doer usually vanishes: -o on the verb is I, -s is you, no ending is he or she.
- No helper word for do: nonoh in front of the verb denies, the two question marks ask, and no… nada is the ordinary “nothing”.
- Every question word carries a written accent.
- A small aah appears in front of a person on the receiving end of a verb.
I see the forest.
Veo el bosque.
BEH-oh ehl BOHS-keh
One word does two jobs. vebeh is the seeing; ooh is the I. English needs two words for what Spanish stitches into one.
The same verb, three doers
| Spanish | Who is doing it | English |
|---|---|---|
| vebehooh | the ending -o means I | I see |
| vebehss | the ending -s means you | you see |
| vebeh | no ending means he or she | he sees, she sees |
Not a table to memorise — a habit: when a sentence seems to have no subject, look at the end of the verb. The verb lookup has the full ending tables when you want them.
Do you see the sun? — I see nothing.
¿Ves el sol? — No veo nada.
behs ehl sohl — noh BEH-oh NAH-dah
No helper do anywhere. You ask with the verb itself, and nonoh directly in front of it denies — nothing else moves. nadaNAH-dah“nothing” keeps the no in front: the two negatives do not cancel.
The little words for me, you, it, us, them
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| memeh, teteh | me, you |
| loloh, lalah | him or it, her or it |
| nosnohs, loslohs, laslahs | us, them |
One placement rule. In front of the verb that carries the person: Lo veo.loh BEH-oh“I see it.” Glued onto the end of a plain -r form or an order: Quiero verlo.KYEH-roh BEHR-loh“I want to see it.” — Dame el agua.DAH-meh ehl AH-gwah“Give me the water.”
The question words
| English | Spanish | English | Spanish |
|---|---|---|---|
| what | quékeh | when | cuándoKWAHN-doh |
| who | quiénKYEHN | why | por quépohr KEH |
| where | dóndeDOHN-deh | how | cómoKOH-moh |
Each carries a written accent. por qué in two words is why; porquePOHR-keh in one word is because. In a question the doer follows the verb: ¿Dónde está mi casa?DOHN-deh ehs-TAH mee KAH-sah“Where is my house?” — where something is, asked with está, the is of place.
Find the doer, deny it, ask about it
- No veo nada.
Two negative words, and they do not cancel.
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No veo nada.noh BEH-oh NAH-dah“I see nothing” - Ella ve a Mina.
One of those words is invisible in English.
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Ella ve a Mina.EH-yah beh ah MEE-nah“She sees Mina”. The a is there because Mina is a person — do not translate it, and do not be surprised by it. - Why is there no word for “I” in Veo el sol?
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The -o has already said it. Adding yoyoh would be emphasis.