Spanish words

The colours and motif of the flag of Spain superimposed on the outline map of Spain.

 Spanish is also spoken in the Canary Islands and other islands such as Majorca and Minorca many South American countries, and Mexico and as a first or second language in much of the USA. 

Spanish is a romance language, similar to Italian and Portuguese. Also. As a bonus for learners  lots of words resemble French and English, from the shared root of Latin.

Sunday is the day for the big push to learn more words and phrases on Duolingo, the free language teaching website. 

Why Learn Spanish?

Although I have logged onto about twenty languages on Duolingo, I am concentrating on Spanish this year,

Firstly  it is the easiest language, quickest to learn, of the big three spoken widely worldwide, if you are an English speaker.

Secondly, in preparation for a trip to Spanish islands in the Canaries.

Easy Spanish Words - Similar to English

 Spanish - English

a pie - on foot

anual - annual

atracciones - attractions

circo - circus

enorme - enormous, very big, huge

entero - entire/whole

festival - festival

gramo - gram

mantenir - to keep (maintain)

parque - park

parque de attracciones - amusement park

tomates - tomatoes

Challenging Words and Phrases

carros chocones - bumper cars

un circulo - a circle

mayoria - majority - (not mayor)

mayor - major (not a mayor)

el alcalde - the mayor

Useful free websites for learning Spanish

duolingo.com

Wikivoyage phrasebook Spanish

Wikipedia Spanish words in English and English words in Spanish

Please follow my blog and share links to your favourite posts. I have several more posts on learning Spanish and other languages, plus restaurants worldwide.

Spanish Words You Recognize and remember - for aspiring multilingual travelers

If you speak English, or learned Latin at school, you will find it easy to recognize the roots of many Spanish and Italian words.

 Spanish - English

compania - company

computadora - computer

diploma - diploma

las directoras - the directors (female). The masculine plural of the is Los, as in Los Angeles, the US city, whose name means the angels. The angels are masculine. The word for the (called the article) matches the noun which ends in as.) 

documentos - documents

dormir - to sleep (same as dormant in English, and dormer in French)

durante - during

hospital - hospital (in Spanish you don't pronounce the h)

increíble - incredible

opera - opera

pintor - painter (not picture. P I N R are common letters in pintor and painter. In the Spanish remember to roll the R.

los pintores - the painters

planear - to plan

planta - plant

presidente/presidenta - president (male/female)

programa - program

viaje - trip/voyage

yendo - going, leaving (You are making an END and gOing Off)

In Spanish the accents tell you which sound to emphasize.

Useful Websites On Learning Spanish

duolingo.com

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Trilingual-English-Italian-Illustrated-Vocabulary/

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Spanish words - easy, and difficult

Spanish  - the world's third most widely spoken language after English and Chinese. Handy for travellers in Europe and South America. Also one of the easiest languages. The accents, called diacritics, above the letters, tell you which syllable to emphasize.

Easy Spanish Words

amo - I like (the same as the Latin I learned in the first Latin lesson at school, amo, amas, amat, I love, you love, he, she ot it loves)

ayer - yesterday (ye in both words)

cafeteria - cafeteria

cocinabamos - ( coc - cook, B back then  os - us/we like nos like French nous meaning us)

diario - diary

en - in

famosa - famous

grande - large

inteligente - intelligent

mercado - market, where merchants sell merchandise. Both words have the letter m r e, d sounds like k and d sounds like t)

mesa - table (like the city of Mesa in Arizona, USA)

mi - my

no - no/not

persona - person

rapida - fast

restaurante - restaurant

tarde - afternoon (if you are tardy, slow and late, you don't get up and attend meetings until the afternoon)

Difficult Spanish Words

All Spanish words are easy if you create a link with English, either

the letters they have in common

the similar sounds

the common word in Latin which both words are derived from (called a cognate)

a sentence using both words

Useful Websites For Learning Spanish

duolingo.com

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_language_in_South_America

https://www.spanishdict.com

https://www.spanishdict.com/lists/4924632/es-words

https://spanishvip.com/vocabulary/spanish-words-with-s/

https://worldhelloday.org/

https://www.wikihow.com/Say-Happy-Birthday-in-Spanish

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilde

 Useful Websites on accents

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acute_accent

https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diacritic

Easy To Guess And To Remember Spanish Words

 

Let's start with the easy ones.

16 words.

SPANISH - ENGLISH

Many Spanish words look like shortened versions of English words.

alarma - alarm (clock's alarm)

amigos - friends (like our English word amiable)

ayer - yesterday (both languages have the letters ye, also er) ayer yesterday

dia - day

clase - class (ese classe - that class)

comun - common 

cultural - cultural

democracia - democracy

los documentos - documents 

es - it is

la fruta - the fruit

libro de texto - textbook , libro like the English word library

nacional - national

el problema - the problem

tarde - late - like the English word tardy

taxi - taxi

(in Spanish you have to use the, but in English we also use the a lot. Indians say I go to office which is a translation from their language, maybe Hindi, but in English we would say, I go to the office, because it is a specific office. A or an, means any, one of that type. The, or that or this, a specific one.)

Translating from Spanish to English is easy. But what about English to Spanish. Sixteen words. Let's start with the easy ones.

1 Taxi - taxi - the same.

2 cultural - cultural

Add the letter a to

3 alarm = alarma

4 Problem - problema

5 fruit - fruta - add the vowel a and drop the vowel i

6  day - dia - I find it easier to remember buenos dias, so from that I get the singular dia, changing the y to i, again simplifying the English

Useful Websites

duolingo.com

https://www.newsinslowspanish.com/home/news/beginner

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Easy and difficult Spanish words

Welcome in Spanish.

Spanish Words Which Are Easy to identify and remember 

Spanish - English

las aguilas - the eagles

angeles - angels as in the American city Los Angeles)

botanico - botanic 

castillo - castle

entran - they enter (like make an entrance)

Puerto - port

gigantes - giants (like the adjectival word gigantic)

de - of

la  - the singular

lago - lake

las - the plural

los - the plural masculine, as in los angeles

mi - me

momento - moment

monasterio - monastery

montana (accent on the second n makes the pronunciation ny) - mountain

cruz - cross

parque - park

san - saint

la semana - the week  like the French word semaine

sol - sun

zona - zone / area

Difficult Words in Spanish

casarse - to get married

fiesta is a private party, not a public festival

Useful Websites on Spanish

duolingo.com

 translate

Easy Spanish Words & Phrases

 

Spanish - English

barco - ship (like embark)

(de) beber - (to) drink (like the English words to imbibe, and beverage)

duro - hard (like durable)

fumar - to smoke (like fumes, or flames)

last - ultimo (like ultimate)

los angeles - the angels

nationalidad - nationality

posible - possible

quieres - do you want? (like the English word question)

soy - I am (shorter for my name is than the alternative)

Easy and Difficult Spanish words

 

Spanish - English

bateria - battery

nota - note

notas - notes

planes - plans

primero - first

English - Spanish

battery - bateria (think of Maria has a bateria)

first - primero (like prime number)

 note - nota

 notes - notas

plans - planes

Harder words

Spanish - English

caja - box (I think letter c for container)

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Easy and useful Spanish words

Flag of Spain

Spanish is one of the easiest languages to learn if you speak English. (Or if you speak Italian or Portuguese.)

Many countries speak Spanish, so you can start using it there, picking up the accent. Or use it there to improve your Spanish and make use of what you already know and practice it.

 Spanish is spoken in Spain in Europe, as well as in Gibraltar and Andorra. Offshore are the inhabited islands of Mallorca,, Minorca, and the Canaries - Grand Canaria and Tenerife.

Spanish is spoken in most countries in South America, such as Venezuela, with the exception of Brazil where Portuguese is spoken.

 In the USA Spanish appears on signs and is widely spoken as a first or second language. It is also spoken in Mexico, Cuba, and several Caribbean countries such as Puerto Rico, and central American countries such as Belize. 

Flag map of Brazil 

The written accents are easier than French. You have only one accent. It indicates that you stress the syllable. The accent goes diagonally upwards.

 Spanish - English

aeropuerto - airort

(Los) Angeles - (the) angels

blusa - blouse

castillo - castle

diario - diary

el - the (masculine, no accent)

Él - he (the accent on el shows a VIP, a person, rather than a thing)

en - in

familias - families

famoso - famous

grupo - group

Información y Comunicación - information and communication 

introducción - introduction

isla/islas - island/islands

museo - museum

o - or 

(Los) paraportes - (the) passports

no - no

proximo - next (like approximate, near or close)

puerto - port

Puerto Rico - rich port, a Caribbean country. Notice that in Spanish the adjective is after the noun or name.

rico - rich

san (short for santo) - saint / holy

San Francisco - Saint Francis

(el) taxi - (the) taxi

tren - train

(las) vacaciones - (the) vacations (USA) / holidays (UK)

visitar - to visit

English - Spanish

airport - aeropuerto

blouse - blusa

castle - castillo

(the) angels - los angeles

diary - diario

east - este

families - familias

famous - famoso

group - grupo

holidays - vacaciones

in - en

introduction - introducción

information and communication - Información y Comunicación 

island/islands - isla/islas

museum - museo

next - proximo

no - no

or - o

(the) passports - los pasaportes

port - puerto

rich - ricco

saint - san

Saint Francis - San Francisco

(the) taxi - el taxi - (the) taxi

train - tren

the - el (masculine) - la (feminine) 

visit - visitar

Useful Websites

duolingo.com

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_language

wikivoyage phrasebook Spanish

https://www.berlitz.com/blog/50-spanish-words-and-phrases-to-start-learning-spanish

https://www.berlitz.com/blog/goodbye-in-spanish

If you want to practise your Spanish, several Toastmasters International club are Spanish speaking, and you can attend online meetings and read their announcements and information on the web.

I have several posts on learning Spanish. Please follow my blogs and share links to your favourite posts.

Some Simple Spanish words plantas and telefonos

 I am preparing for a trip to a Spanish speaking country some time in 2024..I am using duoingo.com daily. They send reminders by email.

Flag of Columbia, South America

Daily.

Spanish - English

planta - plant

telefonos - telephones

English - Spanish

plant - planta

telephones - telefonos (upward accent on the second e)

Useful websites

duolingo.com

wikivoyage phrasebook Spain

Please share links to your favourite blog posts.