If you are just beginning to learn Spanish, using basic Spanish vocabulary confidently is essential to start your journey. This guide introduces some simple words and phrases that will help you get started.
For more practice, don’t forget to listen to the podcast lesson where you can consolidate your understanding and pronunciation of beginner basic Spanish vocabulary with further practice.
Introducing simple Spanish words and phrases
Let’s start with a short text to familiarise yourself with basic Spanish vocabulary. Read it carefully and see how many words you already understand. This text is designed to give you a glimpse of everyday language. You can also practise by reading it out loud.
Hola, me llamo Carmen y soy de Madrid. Vivo en un piso pequeño cerca del centro de la ciudad. Madrid es una ciudad muy grande y bonita. Hay parques, museos y muchas tiendas. Los domingos me gusta pasear por el parque y los sábados me encanta visitar el museo del Prado. En mi barrio hay una biblioteca y un supermercado. Por las tardes, me gusta ir a la cafetería con mis amigos.
This basic Spanish vocabulary will help you understand simple sentences and engage in conversations about daily activities. If you found this text challenging, it may be a good idea to read our article about tips to help you find learning Spanish easier or maybe it could be good to listen to the previous revision episode to consolidate before this episode.
If this is not your case and you are feeling confident, then read on!
Comprehension questions
You can read the text as many times as you need. After reading it, here are some comprehension questions to test how much you understood from the text. You’ll find the answers at the end of this article.
- ¿Cómo se llama la persona del texto?
- ¿Dónde vive?
- ¿Qué le gusta hacer los domingos?
- ¿Qué museo menciona María en el texto?
- ¿Con quién le gusta ir a la cafetería?
Practising beginner basic Spanish vocabulary through reading and listening will make learning smoother and more enjoyable. Be sure to listen to our podcast, where you’ll find more examples and exercises to solidify your foundational Spanish knowledge. Happy learning!
This guide, with its practical text and exercises, aims to inspire learners to incorporate Spanish into their daily routine. Dive into listening and speaking activities to transform passive vocabulary into active knowledge.
In our next episode, we’ll learn a very easy and useful structure to talk about the future. ¡Va a ser genial!
Answers
- ¿Cómo se llama la persona del texto? Se llama María.
- ¿Dónde vive María? Vive en un piso pequeño cerca del centro de Madrid.
- ¿Qué le gusta hacer los domingos? Le gusta pasear por el parque.
- ¿Qué museo menciona María en el texto? Menciona el museo del Prado.
- ¿Con quién le gusta ir a la cafetería? Le gusta ir a la cafetería con sus amigos.
7 thoughts on “Reviewing and practising basic Spanish Vocabulary”
Hello. I’m wondering if the pdf-guides will be updated, like the podcast? The Exercise is not the same in the pdf as in the podcast…
I played one of the segments in this broadccst several times and I cannot figure it out. You appear to say (several times) “me sabe decir” when it should be “me puedo decir” (based on everything I’ve looked up). Now, you’ll probably think I should subscribe and get the printed narrative (which might clear this up) and I have b een thinking about doing so because I am on your site virtually every day and I love your “lessons” and Kara w/ her accent (I’m in the US). But frankly, comments like the one above (from “Olav”) and the fact that you guys don’t respond to comments (see “Olav” again)give me pause. Especially when you’re always asking for input. Am I missing something here?
(even if you don’t respond, I still enjoy your site immensely!)
The phrase “me sabe decir …?” is equivalent to “do you know how to tell me …?” or “can you tell me …?”
Two sentences later the phrase “me puede indicar …?” is also used, which is a more literal “can you show me …?”
Hope this helps.
I get it now! Thanks Craig! I wish Spanish sites would make those kind of nuances clear for those of us trying to learn, like you just did. And although “Coffes Break Spanish” is also guilty of this to a certain extent, I do enjoy this site.
OK, looks like we’ve missed some questions…
@olav Yes, we’ve been trying to pick up any inconsistencies in the pdf guides as we go along, and we’ll look into the issues with lesson 19 as soon as possible. Whenever some mentions something like this, we try to replace the guide as quickly as possible.
@jim The phrase “me sabe decir…” is used in the bonus episode for lesson 14 and as such is explained in the notes for lesson 14, so we felt it was ok to include this in the content for lesson 19. We realise that from time to time there are things which aren’t explained as fully in the free content as we may do in the paid content, but I suppose there has to be some benefit for those who do spend the money to purchase the premium materials. That’s our main business model, so if people didn’t buy the premium materials then we wouldn’t be able to continue to publish free content.
@craig Thanks for helping out!
I don’t like always repeating this, but we are an exceptionally small company and for the time being “we” actually means “I”, ie. just me, Mark, working on producing the content, running the site, etc. so I’m doing my best to keep on top of things and sometimes I miss comments on the site.
There was no difficulity to catch up American Spanish and Spanish Spanish. But I wondered how much would I understand if “Rafa” had spoken with the Dominican accent 😛
Mr Radiolingua… May i say a massive thanks for all your efforts in producing this excellent Spanish course esp from those of us who are unable to afford the premium course. Many many thanks!