DotLingo: Spanish Lesson 00

The Spanish Alphabet

Practice: < Recognition | Recall | None | Shuffle >

Spanish pronunciation varies from country to country. I will try to include both Castillian Spanish pronunciation and Mexican Spanish pronunciation here. As in most languages, some sounds have no equivalent in English, so these are approximations. There are plenty of resourses on the web where you can hear these sounds. Check them out.
a	as the a in father.
b	as the b in boom, but softer.
c before a, o, or u	as the c in coffee.
d	as a soft English d in Mexico. as the English th in Spain.
e	as the e in ten.
f	as the f in frog.
g before a, o or u	as the hard g in gather.
g before e, or i	like an over-emphasized English h.
h	always silent.
i	as the ee in feet.
j	like an over-emphasized English h.
k	as the hard c in carbon.
l	as the l in lucky.
ll	as the y in yes.
m	as the m in man.
n	as the n in north.
ñ	as the ny in canyon.
o at the end of a syllable	as the o in note.
o before a consonant	as the o in not.
p	as in English, but less plosive.
q	as the k in kink.
r	slightly trilled.
rr (or r at the beginning of a word)	strongly trilled.
s	as the s in Spanish.
t	as the t in tiger.
u	as the oo in moon.
v	Exactly the same as the Spanish b.
x	like the English ks sound.
y	as in English, except when alone. Then as ee.
z	pronounced as s in Mexico, and as th in Spain.

Practice: < Recognition | Recall | None | Shuffle >

Hola	Hello
Buenos días.	Good Day, Good morning.
Buenos tardes.	Good afternoon.
Buenos noches.	Good evening, Good night.
Señor	Mr.
Señora	Mrs.
Señorita	Miss
¿Cómo está usted?	How are you? (form.)
¿Cómo estás?	How are you? (fam.)
¿Qué tal?	How's it going? (fam.)
(No) muy bien.	(Not) very well?
¿Qué hay de nuevo?	What's new?
No mucho.	Not much.
Nada.	Nothing.
¿Cómo se llama usted?	What is your name? (form.)
¿Cómo te llamas?	What is your name? (fam.)
Me llamo...	My name is...
Encantado.	Charmed. (Say this if you are a male.)
Encantada.	Charmed. (Say this if you are a female.)
Por favor.	Please.
(Muchas) gracias.	Thank you. (very much)
De nada.	You're welcome.
Con permiso.	Excuse me. (Get out of the way.)
Perdón.	Excuse me. (Can I have your attention.)
Lo siento.	I'm sorry.
¡Anímate!	Cheer up!
Tengo que irme.	I have to go.
Adios.	Goodbye.
Hasta luego.	See you later.
Hasta mañana.	See you tommorrow.
Saludos a...	Say hello to...
sí	yes
no	no

Practice: < Recognition | Recall | None | Shuffle >

The days of the week are not capitalized in Spanish.
lunes	Monday
martes	Tuesday
miercoles	Wednesday
juves	Thursday
viernes	Friday
sabado	Saturday
domingo	Sunday

Practice: < Recognition | Recall | None | Shuffle >

Spanish adjectives often come in different masculine and feminine forms. Often the only difference between the two is that the masculine form ends in -o while the feminine form ends in -a. When this is not the case, both forms will be listed.
rojo (-a)	red
anaranjado (-a)	orange
amarillo (-a)	yellow
verde	green
azul	blue
morado (-a)	purple
negro (-a)	black
blanco (-a)	white
gris	grey
marron	brown
claro (-a)	light
oscuro (-a)	dark

Practice: < Recognition | Recall | None | Shuffle >

Practice: < Recognition | Recall | None | Shuffle >

The subject pronouns in English are I, he, they, you, etc. They indicate the subject of the verb they preceed, for example in the sentance he runs, he is the subject pronoun. Of the Spanish subject pronouns, the second person plural familiar vosotros is only used in Spain. In Latin America Ustedes is used in it's place. Usted is abbreviated as Ud. and Ustedes is abbreviated as Uds.
yo	I
tú	you (singular familiar)
Usted	you (singular formal)
él	he
ella	she, it
nosotros/nosotras	we (masc./fem.)
vosotros/vosotras	you (plural familiar)
Ustedes	you (plural formal)
ellos	they (masc.)
ellos	they (fem.)