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.
Word lookup: numbers, colours, people, animals, greetings
- Open this when a book hands you a word from one of these families; the two stories at the end need none of it.
- Ten numbers, and uno is the only one that changes shape.
- Eight colours; only the ones ending in -o have a separate feminine form, and all eight still take -s in the plural.
- Twelve animals, chosen because the books after this path are full of them.
One to ten
| Number | Spanish | Number | Spanish |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | unoOO-noh | 6 | seissayss |
| 2 | dosdohs | 7 | sieteSYEH-teh |
| 3 | trestrehs | 8 | ochoOH-choh |
| 4 | cuatroKWAH-troh | 9 | nueveNWEH-beh |
| 5 | cincoSEEN-koh | 10 | diezdyehs |
Say them once with the sound rules: cincoSEEN-koh has a soft c then a hard one, nueveNWEH-beh has v as b, diezdyehs has z as s, and seissayss is one beat.
uno in front of a noun
Eight colours
| English | Spanish | Separate feminine form? |
|---|---|---|
| red | rojoRROH-hoh | yes: roja |
| yellow | amarilloah-mah-REE-yoh | yes |
| black | negroNEH-groh | yes |
| white | blancoBLAHN-koh | yes |
| green | verdeBEHR-deh | no — ends in -e |
| blue | azulah-SOOL | no — ends in a consonant |
| grey | grisgrees | no |
| brown | marrónmah-RROHN | no |
Only the colours ending in -o have a separate feminine form, which is four fewer things to think about. All eight still go plural with their noun: dos pájaros verdesdohs PAH-hah-rohs BEHR-dehs — two green birds. A colour is what a thing is, so it takes esehs.
People
| English | Spanish | English | Spanish |
|---|---|---|---|
| brother | el hermanoehl ehr-MAH-noh | sister | la hermanalah ehr-MAH-nah |
| boy | el niñoehl NEE-nyoh | girl | la niñalah NEE-nyah |
| friend, male | el amigoehl ah-MEE-goh | friend, female | la amigalah ah-MEE-gah |
| father | el padreehl PAH-dreh | mother | la madrelah MAH-dreh |
| man | el hombreehl OHM-breh | woman | la mujerlah moo-HEHR |
Three of these are -o and -a pairs, so ten words cost you seven. madre and padre both end in -e, so the ending is no help there: the ending is a good guess, never a law. And a mixed group takes the male form — los niñoslohs NEE-nyohs is boys, and also children of both kinds.
Twelve animals
| English | Spanish | English | Spanish |
|---|---|---|---|
| dog | el perroehl PEH-rroh | mouse | el ratónehl rrah-TOHN |
| cat | el gatoehl GAH-toh | fox | el zorroehl SOH-rroh |
| bird | el pájaroehl PAH-hah-roh | bear | el osoehl OH-soh |
| fish | el pezehl pehs | rabbit | el conejoehl koh-NEH-hoh |
| horse | el caballoehl kah-BAH-yoh | pig | el cerdoehl SEHR-doh |
| owl | el búhoehl BOO-oh | wolf | el loboehl LOH-boh |
A fox and a wolf and a mouse for the Green Hill fables, a bear and a rabbit and an owl and a pig for Winnie-the-Pooh, a dog and a pig for Doctor Dolittle. All twelve take el; for a female animal the -o words switch to -a — la gatalah GAH-tah — but a story uses the el form unless it has a reason not to.
Two tricky plurals
Greeting by the clock
| When | Spanish | Literally |
|---|---|---|
| Morning, until lunch | Buenos días.BWEH-nohs DEE-ahs | good days |
| After lunch, until dark | Buenas tardes.BWEH-nahs TAHR-dehs | good afternoons |
| After dark, and on leaving | Buenas noches.BWEH-nahs NOH-chehs | good nights |
Greetings are plural in Spanish, and Buenas nochesBWEH-nahs NOH-chehs is both good evening and good night. De nadadeh NAH-dah — “of nothing” — answers thank you. Perdónpehr-DOHN“sorry” covers everything from bumping into somebody to interrupting them; lo sientoloh SYEHN-toh — “I feel it” — is the heavier apology.