#separator:tab #html:false #columns:Front Back hola hello — Works at any time of day and in any register; the h is silent, so it sounds like 'ola'. bienvenido welcome — Agrees with the person welcomed: bienvenida to a woman, bienvenidos to a group. English 'welcome' is invariant. el abecedario the alphabet a, e, i, o, u the five vowels (one clear sound each) — Each vowel is one short, pure sound that never glides; resist the English habit of turning e into 'ey' and o into 'ow'. la ñ — mañana the "ñ" — as in mañana (morning/tomorrow) la rr — perro the rolled "rr" — as in perro (dog) — The trilled rr is a distinct sound from the single-tap r: perro (dog) vs pero (but). English has neither the tap nor the trill. café tiene acento café has an accent (the stressed syllable) — The written accent only marks which syllable is stressed; it does not change the vowel's quality the way English stress can. buenos días / buenas tardes / buenas noches good morning / afternoon / evening — Always plural — never singular 'buen día'. Note días is masculine despite the -a ending, hence buenos not buenas. adiós — chao goodbye — bye (casual, from Kike) — chao is casual 'bye' among friends; adiós is the neutral farewell that also works in formal settings. por favor · gracias · de nada · perdón please · thank you · you're welcome · sorry/excuse me — de nada ('it's nothing') is the fixed reply to gracias; English 'you're welcome' has no literal equivalent here. hasta luego see you later me llamo Teo — ¿y tú? my name is Teo — and you? — me llamo is reflexive ('I call myself'); the me is obligatory — 'llamo Teo' alone is wrong. ¿cómo te llamas? what's your name? — Literally 'how do you call yourself?' — use cómo, not qué; do not render 'what is your name' as ¿qué es tu nombre? ¿quién es? — se llama Kike who's that? — his name is Kike — se llama = 'he/she calls himself/herself' — the same reflexive verb in the third person, not 'él es Kike' for giving a name. yo soy Teo I'm Teo mi número es… cero, uno, dos, tres… my number is… zero, one, two, three… buenos días, me llamo Teo good morning, my name is Teo me llamo Rosa, mucho gusto my name is Rosa, nice to meet you — mucho gusto ('pleased to meet you') is an invariant set phrase — it does not change for men or women. uno, dos, tres… gracias one, two, three… thank you ¿de dónde eres? where are you from? (tú) — eres is the tú form; to a stranger switch to ¿de dónde es usted? dónde carries a written accent in questions. soy de México — soy mexicano I'm from Mexico — I'm Mexican — No article with nationality (not 'soy un mexicano'), lowercase mexicano, and it agrees in gender — a woman says mexicana. ¿de dónde es usted? where are you from? (usted, Sra. Ortega) ella es de Colombia she's from Colombia no soy de aquí I'm not from here — Negation is just no placed before the verb — there is no auxiliary like English 'do not'. ¿qué es esto? what is this? es un libro / es una mesa it's a book / it's a table — The article marks gender — un/el for libro, una/la for mesa; there's no audible rule, so gender is memorized with the noun. el libro es rojo the book is red — Colour comes after the noun (libro rojo, not 'rojo libro') and agrees: la silla roja, las llaves rojas. este lápiz, esta silla this pencil, this chair (pointing) — este/esta agree with the noun's gender; esto (neuter) is only for pointing at an unidentified thing, as in ¿qué es esto? son los libros / son las llaves they're the books / they're the keys mi mamá, mi papá, mi hermano my mum, my dad, my brother ¿quién es? — es mi abuela who is it? — it's my grandma (pointing at a photo) tengo dos hermanos I have two brothers (possession + plural) — hermanos (masculine plural) covers a mixed group of siblings or just brothers; no article after the number. tengo siete años I'm seven years old (age) — Age is 'to have years' — tener, never ser or estar; 'soy siete años' is the classic English-speaker error. en mi casa hay una cocina in my house there is a kitchen ¿tienes hermanos? do you have brothers/siblings? ¿y tu familia? and your family? (possessive tu) — Possessive tu (no accent) = 'your'; don't confuse it with tú (with accent) = 'you'. ¿y tu hermano? ¿cuántos años tiene? and your brother? how old is he? buenos días, ¿cómo está usted? good morning, how are you? (usted) — With usted the verb is third-person (está), even though it means 'you'; the casual equivalent is ¿cómo estás? estoy muy bien, gracias — ¿y usted? I'm very well, thank you — and you? estoy cansado / estoy mal I'm tired / I'm not well — Temporary states use estar, not ser; 'soy cansado' wrongly implies a permanent characteristic. A woman says cansada. ¿su nombre, por favor? your name, please? (usted; su = your, formal) — su is the formal 'your' (with usted); the casual equivalent would be tu nombre. mi nombre es Teo Ruiz — mucho gusto my name is Teo Ruiz — nice to meet you encantado pleased to meet you esta es mi mamá — es de Perú this is my mum — she's from Peru (ser) — ser for identity and origin — who someone is and where they're from. mi mamá está en la cocina my mum is in the kitchen (estar, location) — estar for location — where someone or something physically is; never ser here. el cuaderno es verde the notebook is green — Colour is an inherent trait, so it takes ser: es verde, not está verde. en mi cuarto hay tres libros in my room there are three books ¿dónde está el café? — está en la plaza where is the café? — it's on the plaza — Location always uses estar, not ser; ¿dónde? takes a written accent in a question. quiero un café, por favor I'd like a coffee, please — quiero ('I want') plus por favor is normal and polite in Spanish; don't over-soften it the way English requires. un agua / un jugo, por favor a water / a juice, please — agua is feminine but takes un/el because of its stressed initial a-sound (un agua, el agua); the plural returns to las aguas. esto, por favor this one, please (pointing) ¿algo más? — no, gracias anything else? — no, thank you ¿qué desea, señor? — ¿y tú, Teo, qué quieres? (usted) what would you like, sir? — (tú) and you, Teo, what do you want? (the usted→tú switch) ¿cuánto cuesta? how much is it? — No auxiliary verb — cuesta alone means 'does it cost'; don't try to translate the English 'does'. cuesta veinte pesos it costs twenty pesos quiero un kilo de manzanas I want a kilo of apples — 'of' is de and is obligatory: un kilo de manzanas, medio kilo de tomates. medio kilo, por favor half a kilo, please este, no ese — unos tomates this one, not that one — some tomatoes — este = this (near me), ese = that (near you); unos/unas = 'some', for rough quantities. son cincuenta pesos en total that's fifty pesos in total (price arithmetic) me gusta el café I like coffee — Literally 'coffee pleases me'; the liked thing is the subject, so never 'yo gusto'. Keep the article: el café. me gustan los tacos I like tacos (plural chunk) — A plural liked thing triggers gustan (not gusta) — the verb agrees with what is liked, not with the person. me gusta bailar I like to dance (+ infinitive) — With an activity, use the infinitive and singular gusta: me gusta bailar, not 'me gusta bailando'. no me gusta el lunes I don't like Monday — el lunes = 'Monday/on Monday'; los lunes = 'every Monday'. Days of the week are lowercase in Spanish. ¿te gusta el fútbol? do you like football? ¿qué tal? / ¿qué onda? how's it going? / what's up? — Both are casual 'how's it going?'; ¿qué onda? is regional slang (Mexico) — keep it for friends, not for Sra. Ortega. ¿qué haces? what are you doing? — Simple present already covers English's 'are doing' — ¿qué haces? = 'what are you doing right now?'; no progressive needed. todo bien, ¿y tú? all good, and you? ¡órale! / ¡qué chévere! whoa! / how cool! (interjections) nos vemos — chao see you — bye — chao is an informal 'bye'; the neutral farewell that works everywhere is adiós or hasta luego. ¿cuánto cuesta un kilo? — cuesta treinta pesos how much is a kilo? — thirty pesos (market) quiero un café, por favor — gracias I'd like a coffee, please — thank you (café) ¿y tú, Teo? todo bien and you, Teo? all good (casual, callback to Kike) hola / buenos días / ¿qué tal? / chao hi / good morning / how's it going? / bye (greetings & register) me llamo… / soy… / soy de… / mi nombre es… my name is… / I'm… / I'm from… / my name is (formal) — Register split, not different meanings: me llamo/soy are everyday, mi nombre es is the formal (usted) version. cero–cien; ¿cuánto cuesta? / son… pesos zero–hundred; how much is it? / that's… pesos tengo… años I'm … years old — Age stays with tener ('to have years'), never ser — a chunk worth over-learning before it opens into the full verb in L1. ¿qué es esto? es un/una… what is this? it's a… rojo/azul… red/blue… (colours) mi mamá, mi hermano my mum, my brother hay… there is / there are… me gusta… I like… ¿dónde está…? está en… where is…? it's in/on…