Spanish Vocabulary
Themed word lists with translation and transcription. Pick a topic below and start practicing.
Spanish numbers 100 to 1000: hundreds made simple
To form Spanish numbers from 100 to 1000, learn the hundreds and then add the smaller number directly: doscientos treinta (230), cuatrocientos ocho (408), novecientos noventa y nueve (999). Use cien ...
Spanish time expressions: hoy, ayer, mañana and beyond
The essential Spanish time expressions are hoy (today), ayer (yesterday), mañana (tomorrow), anoche (last night), ahora (now) and más tarde (later). They usually work without a preposition: Trabajo ...
Nationalities in Spanish: how to say where you are from
To say where someone is from in Spanish you use a nationality word like español (Spanish), francés (French), inglés (English), alemán (German) or mexicano (Mexican). These are adjectives, so they ...
Spanish ordinal numbers: primero to décimo and how to use them
Spanish ordinal numbers tell you the position of something in a sequence — first, second, third — and the everyday set runs from primero (1st) to décimo (10th). Unlike English ordinals, which never ...
Jobs and professions in Spanish: common job words with gender
The Spanish word for a job is el trabajo, and to talk about what someone does you name their profession: profesor (teacher), médico (doctor), enfermero (nurse), camarero (waiter), policía (police ...
Animals in Spanish: common animal names with articles
The Spanish word for animal is el animal, and the most useful everyday animals are el perro (dog), el gato (cat), el pájaro (bird), el caballo (horse) and la vaca (cow). Each animal name comes with a ...
Months of the year in Spanish: enero to diciembre
The twelve months in Spanish are enero, febrero, marzo, abril, mayo, junio, julio, agosto, septiembre, octubre, noviembre and diciembre. Most are close cousins of their English names, so they are ...
Adiós vs hasta luego in Spanish: how to say goodbye
Both adiós and hasta luego mean “goodbye”, and both are correct in almost any situation. The difference is tone. Adiós is the neutral, all-purpose goodbye. Hasta luego is more casual and, in Spain ...
Spanish travel phrases: the essentials for your trip
You do not need much Spanish to travel well — you need a small set of phrases you can say without thinking. The five that carry most of a trip are por favor (please), gracias (thank you), ¿Dónde ...
Hola vs buenos días: which Spanish greeting to use
Use hola for a general “hello” at any time of day. Use buenos días for “good morning,” especially when you want to sound a little more polite, complete, or time-specific. In the morning you can also ...
De nada vs no hay de qué in Spanish: how to say you're welcome
Use de nada as the standard, all-purpose answer to gracias. It means “you’re welcome” and works in almost every everyday situation. Use no hay de qué when you want to sound warmer or more reassuring ...
Telling time in Spanish: how to ask and say the hour
To ask the time, say ¿Qué hora es? (“What time is it?”). The answer almost always starts with the verb ser. Use Es la una for one o’clock only, and Son las + the hour for every other time: Son las ...
Spanish numbers 1 to 100: count with confidence
The first twenty numbers — uno, dos, tres all the way to veinte — are single words you simply learn one by one. They are the building blocks: once you know them, almost everything up to a hundred ...
Days of the week in Spanish: lunes to domingo
The seven days of the week in Spanish are lunes, martes, miércoles, jueves, viernes, sábado and domingo. They are all masculine ( el lunes, el sábado ) and, unlike in English, they are written in ...
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 ...
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 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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
Spanish restaurant phrases: how to order and pay
Eating out in Spanish needs only a handful of phrases. The key words are pedir (to order), la carta or el menú (the menu), and la cuenta (the bill). The single most useful opener is ¿Me trae la carta ...