Spanish articles
Clear explanations of grammar, words and common mistakes. With examples and a mini-practice after each article.
Colors in Spanish: names, agreement and word order
The core colors are rojo (red), azul (blue), verde (green), amarillo (yellow), negro (black) and blanco (white). The key thing to know is that a color in Spanish is an adjective: it normally comes ...
Spanish body parts: la cabeza, las manos and me duele
The first body words to learn are la cabeza (head), el brazo (arm), la mano (hand) and el pie (foot). With these you can already point, describe yourself, and say what hurts at the doctor. Two things ...
Spanish -mente adverbs: turning adjectives into adverbs
To make an adverb of manner in Spanish, take the feminine singular form of an adjective and add -mente: rápido → rápida → rápidamente. It is the exact equivalent of English “-ly”, turning a describing ...
Buenos días, buenas tardes, buenas noches in Spanish: which to use
Pick the greeting by the time of day. Say buenos días in the morning, from the moment you wake up until about midday. Switch to buenas tardes after lunch and keep using it until it gets dark. Once it ...
Spanish object pronoun placement: where the pronoun goes
The position of a Spanish object or reflexive pronoun ( me, te, lo, la, le, nos, os, los, las, se ) follows one simple rule. With a single conjugated verb the pronoun sits immediately before it: Lo ...
Spanish negation: no, nunca, nada and double negatives
To make a Spanish sentence negative, put no directly in front of the verb: No hablo francés (I don’t speak French). There is no helper like English “do/does” — just no + verb. When you add a negative ...
LL and y pronunciation in Spanish: yeísmo explained
In almost all of the Spanish-speaking world today, the letters ll and the consonant y are pronounced the same — roughly like the English y in yes (a palatal sound written /ʝ/). That is why llamar and ...
How to pronounce the Spanish j (and g before e/i)
The Spanish j is not the English “j” in jam. It is a raspy, throaty sound written /x/ — the same noise as the ch in Scottish loch or German Bach, or a very harsh English h. You make it at the back of ...
Spanish food vocabulary: meals, drinks and basic foods
The general word for food is la comida, and a small set of everyday nouns covers most of what you eat and drink: el pan (bread), la fruta (fruit), la carne (meat), el agua (water) and el café ...
Spanish emotions vocabulary: how to say how you feel
To say how you feel right now, Spanish uses estar plus a feeling adjective: Estoy feliz (I’m happy), Estoy cansado (I’m tired). A mood is a temporary state, so it takes estar, not ser. To ask someone ...
Spanish clothing vocabulary: clothes, sizes and materials
The word for clothing is la ropa, and unlike English “clothes” it is normally singular: you say la ropa, not las ropas. Add the everyday pieces — la camisa (shirt), los pantalones (trousers) and los ...
B vs v pronunciation in Spanish: they sound the same
In Spanish, the letters b and v are pronounced exactly the same. There is no difference at all between them in sound: tubo (tube) and tuvo (he had) are perfect homophones, even though one is written ...
Acabar de in Spanish: how to say you just did something
To say you just did something in Spanish, use acabar de + infinitive. It literally means “to have just (done something)”, and the second verb always stays in the infinitive: Acabo de comer = “I just ...
Pero vs sino in Spanish: two ways to say but
Both pero and sino translate as “but”, but they do different jobs. Use pero to add a contrast, where both halves of the sentence are true: Es caro, pero me gusta. Use sino to correct a negative ...
Tú vs usted commands in Spanish: which one to use
Use a tú command with anyone you address informally — friends, family, children, and peers your own age. Use an usted command when you want to be respectful or formal: with strangers, elders ...
Spanish weather words: how to talk about el tiempo
Spanish usually describes the weather with the verb hacer: hace sol (it is sunny), hace calor (it is hot), hace frío (it is cold) and hace viento (it is windy). For the sky it switches to estar — está ...
Spanish shopping phrases: asking prices, sizes and paying
Most shopping in Spanish runs on two questions. For the price of one thing you ask ¿Cuánto cuesta? (How much is it?), and for everything together at the till you ask ¿Cuánto es? (How much is it ...
The personal a in Spanish: when a person is the object
When the direct object of a verb is a specific person — or a pet you care about — Spanish puts a little a in front of it. This is the “personal a”, and it has no equivalent in English: Veo a María is ...
Hace que in Spanish: how long and how long ago
The structure hace + time + que does two different jobs, and the verb tense tells you which one. With the present, it measures how long something HAS BEEN going on and is still true now: Hace dos años ...
Spanish family vocabulary: members, plurals and possessives
In Spanish, the family is la familia. The first people you learn to name are la madre (mother) and el padre (father), then el hermano (brother) and la hermana (sister), and los abuelos (the ...
Preterite vs imperfect in Spanish: which past tense
Spanish has two everyday past tenses, and they describe the same moment in different ways. The preterite views an action as completed: a finished event with a clear start or end. The imperfect views ...
Porque, por qué, porqué, por que in Spanish: which is which
Spanish has four spellings that sound almost the same, and they trip up native writers too. Por qué (two words, accent) means “why” and lives in questions, including indirect ones. Porque (one word ...
Muy vs mucho in Spanish: very or a lot
Muy means “very” and goes right before an adjective or adverb. It never changes form: muy bueno, muy rápido, muy bien. Mucho means “a lot”, “much”, or “many”. Before a noun it agrees with that noun in ...
Este, ese, aquel: Spanish demonstratives by distance
Where English has just “this” and “that”, Spanish has three demonstratives, and you pick one by distance. Este means this — the thing near the speaker. Ese means that — the thing near the listener ...