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Learning to speak Spanish – Tips & basic phrases

There is nothing more exciting than being able to speak the language in the country that you are living in or visiting, and the amazing feeling that comes with being able to converse with the locals. With over 400 million speakers, Spanish is the fourth most spoken language in the world, it’s an official, national, or widely spoken language in 44 countries.

Spanish is one of the easier languages for a native English speaker to learn as there is lots of common vocabulary (cognates), and a straightforward Spanish pronunciation system (words are pronounced exactly as they are written).

There is absolutely no reason why you can’t learn to speak the lingo.  Motivation, confidence  and consistency are the key requirements to learning this new language, and it is important when learning a language to incorporate it into your leisure time, take the things you would usually do in English and switch them to Spanish:-

• Watch Spanish TV and movies in Spanish or watch with Spanish subtitles
• Listen to Spanish Radio and podcasts
• Switch devices like phones and computers etc into Spanish language mode
• Read children’s books in Spanish
• Label items in your house to learn household vocabulary
• Join a Spanish conversation group – check out facebook for local groups
• Word association (take a word and memorise it by visualising a crazy picture – so to remember the Spanish word for cat, which is GATO, we imagine a cat eating a chocolate GATEAU cake).
• Use Spanish language apps daily (Memrise and Duolingo are both really good apps)

Be bold, risk making mistakes, everyone makes mistakes, mistakes help you to learn.  Too much focus on grammar can cause hesitation, the aim is to be able to communicate in Spanish and be understood, perfection can come later.

PRACTICE & REPETITION – remember to practice, practice, practice, repeat, repeat, repeat

Here are some common basic Spanish words & phrases with pronunciation help to get started:-

1. Hello – Hola (oh  lah)
2. Good morning – Buenos días (bway nos  dee ahs)
3. Good afternoon – Buenas tardes (bway nahs  tar days)
4. Good evening – Buenas noches (bway nahs  noh chayss)
5. Goodbye – Adios
6. Please – Por favor (por  fah vohr)
7. Thank you – Gracias (grah cee ahs)
8. How are you – ¿Cómo estás? (coh moh  es tah)
9. Good, thank you – Bien, gracias (bee ayn, grah cee ahs)
10. Nice to meet you – Mucho gusto (moo choh goos toh)
11. Do you speak English? – ¿Habla inglés? (ahblah  een glays)
12. I want – Yo quiero (yoh  kee ayr oh)
13. I don’t want – yo no quiero (yoh noh  kee ayr oh)
14. I would like – Me gustaría (may goo stah ree ah)
15. Where is – ¿Dónde está? (dohn des tah)
16. How much does it cost – ¿Cuánto cuesta? (cwahn toh cways tah)?
17. What time is it? – ¿Qué hora es? (kay orah ess)?
18. Do you have? – ¿Tiene? (tee ayn ay)?
19. I have, I don’t have – Yo tengo, yo no tengo (yoh  tayn goh,  yoh  noh tayn goh)
20. I understand – Yo entiendo (yoh  ayn tee ayn doh)
21. I don’t understand – yo no entiendo (yoh  noh ayn tee ayn doh)
22. Do you understand? – ¿Entiende? (ayn tee ayn day)?
23. Where is a restaurant – ¿Dónde hay un restaurante? (dohn day eye oon rays tore rahn tay)
24. I’m looking for a hotel – Busco un hotel (yoh kee ayr oh oon  oh tel)
25. I need – Yo necesito (yoh nay say see toh).
26. Money – Dinero (dee nayr oh).
27. Right – A la derecha ( a  lah day ray chah)
28. Left – A la izquierda (ah  lah eez kee ayr dah)
29. Straight ahead – Derecho (Day ray choh)
30. A table for four – Una mesa para cuatro (oona may sah pah rah dohss, trays, kwah troh)
31. A menu – Un menú (oon may noo)
32. An appetizer – Una entrada (oona ayn trah dah)
33. Dessert – Un postre (oon pohs tray)
34. A drink – Una bebida (oona bay bee dah)
35. Water – Agua (ah gwah)
36. Red wine – Vino tinto (vee noh teen toh)
37. White wine – Vino blanco (vee noh teen toh)
38. Beer – Cerveza (sayr vay sah)
39. Coffee – Un café (oon cah fay)
40. The bill – La cuenta (lah cwayn tah)

The information, opinions and views expressed in the above articles are those of the author only and are for guidance purposes only.  The authors disclaim any liability for reliance upon those opinions and information and would encourage readers to rely upon more than one source before making a decision based on any information given.