Spanish is a language that has existed for over one thousand years and is presently spoken by over five hundred million people around the world. Spanish is one of the many Romance languages, meaning that it has roots in the Roman language—Latin. For example, the Spanish word for water is “agua,” whereas the Latin word is “aqua.” That is but one of literally thousands of examples.

Moving on from that brief history lesson, let’s look a bit more at Spanish as a modern language. Spanish is the third most widely spoken language on earth today, next to English and Chinese. Various dialects of Spanish exist throughout the world, mostly in Spain and South America. Twenty-one countries have Spanish is the official or primary language—Spain, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Nicaragua, Cuba, Panama, Costa Rica, Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, El Salvador, Argentina, Ecuador, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, Guatemala, Honduras, Chile, and Equatorial Guinea. Spanish is also widely used in other countries, such as the United States, where it is the fastest-growing language. In the multi-lingual world of the twenty-first century, basic knowledge of other languages is crucial to intercultural communication. Spanish is an excellent language to start with. In many ways, it is similar to English. I myself have actually developed a better grasp of English since learning the Spanish language. For Americans, Spanish is a language that will prove to be useful immediately. With the influx of tourists and immigrants from Spanish-speaking countries, Spanish is becoming more handy every day.

This book will lay out the fundamental aspects of the Spanish language, specifically, conversational Spanish. This is not a boring grammar manual or scholarly textbook. Rather, it is a fun, easy-to-read book that will introduce you to the most important parts of Spanish. The book is divided up into eight chapters. Each chapter will introduce a new aspect of the language. Chapter one is a simple introduction to the basics of the Spanish alphabet, numbers, and pronunciation. Chapter two is all about greetings. Chapter three and four cover nouns and verbs respectively. Chapter five will tackle adjectives and adverbs while chapter six will go over prepositions. In chapter seven, you will review everything that you’ve learned. The eighth and final chapter contains useful vocabulary terms. ｡Vámanos!

1. Chapter 1: Introduction to Spanish

｡Empezemos! Let’s begin! Spanish uses the Roman alphabet—a, b, d, ,d, etc. However, the pronunciations are different than English, and there are a few extra letters. The Spanish alphabet with the letters’ respective names follow:

• a (ah),

• b (beh),

• c (seh),

• ch (cheh)

• d (deh),

• e (eh),

• f (efeh),

• g (geh),

• h (hache),

• i (ih),

• j (jota),

• k (ka),

• l (ele),

• ll (ehyeh),

• m (emeh),

• n (eneh),

• (oh),

• p (peh),

• q (cu),

• r (ereh),

• s (eseh),

• t (teh),

• u (oo),

• v (beh),

• w (doble ve),

• x (equis),

• y (i griega),

• z (zeta)

There are several notes to be made about the Spanish alphabet. The letter “c” often uses a consonant sound—a hard “k” sound (“coche,” for instance). However, in the word “fifty,” “cincuenta,” the first “c” has a strong “s” sound. In practicing the correct pronunciations of various vocabulary terms, you will see pronunciation patterns emerge. In Spanish, the letter “h” is silent. “J” takes over the “h” sound. In Central and South American Spanish, “z” takes English’s “s” sound. In Peninsular Spanish, the dialect of Spain, “z” sounds like “th.”

Unlike English, every word in Spanish is pronounced how it is spelled. For example, the Spanish word for “education” is “educación.” The Spanish pronunciation is based exactly on how each letter sounds—“eh-doo-kah-see-OHN,” while the word in English is pronounced “eh-joo-kay-shun.” Big difference! (Note that “-ción” is pronounced “see-OHN.” Wherever the accent falls, that syllable will be accented.) The double “ll” represents English’s “y” sound. “I” and “y” in Spanish often take the sound of a long “e”—“ee.”

Again, learning and practicing the correct pronunciations is the best way to master the Spanish alphabet. Informal tutoring from a native speaker is also an option, as is a good Spanish pronunciation guide.

Now that you have been introduced to the Spanish alphabet and basic pronunciations, it’s time to look at Spanish numbers. We’ll review the numbers 0-100. Next to each number is its Spanish spelling.

0 cero
1 uno
2 dos
3 tres
4 cuatro
5 cinco
6 seis
7 siete
8 ocho
9 nueve

10 diez
11 once
12 doce
13 trece
14 catorce
15 quince
16 dieciséis
17 diecisiete
18 dieciocho
19 diecinueve

20 veinte
21 veintiuno
22 veintidós
23 veintitrés
24 veinticuatro
25 veinticinco
26 veintiséis
27 veintisiete
28 veintiocho
29 veintinueve

30 treinta
31 treinta y uno
32 treinta y dos
33 treinta y tres
34 treinta y cuatro
35 treinta y cinco
36 treinta y seis
37 treinta y siete
38 treinta y ocho
39 treinta y nueve

The rest of the numeral sets (40-90) follow the same –y uno, -y dos, -y tres, etc. pattern.

40 cuarenta
50 cincuenta
60 sesenta
70 setenta
80 ochenta
90 noventa
100 cien

2. Chapter 2: Greetings

｡Hola! That is perhaps one of the best-known greetings around the world. Hello—in Spanish. However, a simple “hola” is certainly not the only greeting one can give in the Spanish language. There are a whole host of other pleasantries available to use. “ｿQué tal?” is the Spaniard’s way of saying, “What’s up?” or “How’s it going?” “Qué hay de nueva?” means “What’s new?” In Spanish, there are several ways to ask someone, “How are you?” Which of them you use will be based on the audience in question: