Spanish phrasebook

Spanish is the third most-spoken language in the world. Originating in Spain, and spoken by most residents there, it is also spoken in Mexico and all of Central and South America except Brazil, Guyana and Surinam. Spanish is also spoken in Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, the Dominican Republic and other Caribbean islands.

Spanish is a first language for many people in the United States, especially in California, Texas, South Florida, and the Southwest. A Romance language, Spanish is closely related to particularly Portuguese, to Italian, and to some extent to French. English and Spanish share approximately one third of the same words, although the pronunciation tends to be very different.

Grammar

Spanish nouns have genders. Most words applied to persons have natural gender: masculine like hombre ("male person - man") or feminine, like mujer ("female person - woman"). The gender of some animals, things, and some words applied to persons doesn't follow any rule: they have an arbitrary grammatical gender. Casa (house), rana (frog), and visita (visitor) are of the feminine gender. Árbol (tree), sapo (toad) and genio (genius) are of the masculine gender. Invitado, invitada (guest) and mono, mona (monkey) have natural gender. Fortunately, the gender of a noun is usually (but not always) indicated by the last letter of the word; -o indicates masculine nouns, and -a indicates feminine nouns. Nouns ending with consonants are probably masculine.

The word the changes form depending on gender. It is also made plural when the noun is plural. For example: el perro ("the dog"), la cerveza ("the beer"), los caballos ("the horses"), las casas ("the houses").

Adjectives generally come after the noun they describe. They also have gender and number. Like nouns, -o usually indicates the masculine form of the adjective, and -a indicates the feminine form. Adding an -s at the end of an adjective or noun makes it plural. Adjectives need to match the noun they describe in both gender and number. For example, borracho "drunk", when modifying las mujeres ("the women"), makes las mujeres borrachas.

In this guide, where genders of nouns or adjectives comes up, we use the form "o/a" to differentiate. It should be clear from context when to use the feminine and when to use the masculine form.

Pronunciation Guide

Spanish spelling has the pleasant characteristic of being more or less phonetic. This means that if you know how to pronounce the letters of a word, it's relatively easy to sound out the word itself.

Besides having a very small number of vowel sounds and a high predictablity of exactly what sound is represented by each letter, Spanish has a very clear set of rules about where a stress normally falls, and exceptions are noted with an "acute accent mark" ("´") over the vowel of the stressed syllable. Normally, words that end in a vowel, or in n or s, have the stress on the next-to-last syllable (muchacho = "mu-CHA-cho"); all other words without an explicit accent mark are stressed on the final syllable (hospital = "os-pee-TAL"). There are no secondary stresses within words.

Vowels

a: like 'a' in "father".
e: like 'ay' in "hay".
i: like 'ee' in "see".
o: like 'o' in "rope".
u: like 'oo' in "hoop".
y: like 'ee' in "see".

Consonants

b: like 'b' in "bed": boca
c: follows the same pronunciation pattern as in English. In most cases it is pronounced like 'k' in "kid": calle, doctor. When followed by 'e' or 'i', it is like 's' in "supper" (Latin America) or 'th' in "thin" (Spain): cine.
ch: like 'ch' in "touch": muchacho
d: like 'd' in "dog" at the beginning of a word; like 'th' is "this" between vowels: dedo, pronounced "DAY-thoh"
f: like 'f' in "fine": faro
g: when followed by 'e' or 'i', like a throaty 'h' (general = heh-neh-RAHL), otherwise like 'g' in "go" (gato). In the clusters "gue" and "gui", the 'u' is silent (guitarra), unless it bears a diaeresis, as in "güe" and "güi" (pedigüeño).
gu, gü: like 'Gu' in McGuire or 'w' in "wire" (agua, agüita)
h: silent: hora= OR-ah
j: like 'h' in english: jamón
k: like 'k' in "kid": kilo
l: like 'l' in "love": lápiz
ll: like 'y' in "you" or, occasionally (in some parts of Latin America), like an English "j": lluvia could be both "you-vya" or "jew-via"
m: like 'm' in "mother": mano
n: like 'n' in "nice", and like 'n' in "anchor": noche, ancla
ñ: like 'ny' in "canyon": cañón, piñata
p: like 'p' in "pig": perro
q: like 'q' in "quiche" (always with a silent "u"): queso, pronounced KAY-so.
r, rr: Spanish has two 'r' sounds both of which are different from their counterpart in English. Some effort should be made to approximate them, to help listeners distinguish between perro ("dog") and pero ("but")... or perhaps to understand you at all.
single flap r (ere): Always written "r", this sound is created by putting the tip of the tongue up against where the front of the roof of the mouth meets the upper teeth, very similar to the action English speakers make to pronounce l or d. To an English-speaking ear, it may sound a bit like a combined "d-r".

Particular care should be taken when r appears after a consonant, e.g. in the word otro ("other"). tr is a particular sound in English, which will not be recognized in Spanish. One must separate the two sounds out, as in wha(t) (r)ubbish, clicking the r properly.

;rolled r (erre): Written "r" at the beginning of the word, or after "l", "n", or "s" (ropa, enredo); written "rr" between vowels (cerro). It's a multiply vibrating sound. Whereas all English speakers can learn to tap out a single r it seems that many adult non-Spanish speakers simply do not have the ability to vibrate the tongue in the way needed to pronounce rr; in this case, pronouncing it like a Spanish r or fumbling out a d-r might be better understood than pronouncing it like an Enlgish r.

s: like 'ss' in "hiss": sopa
t: like 't' in "top": tapa
v: like 'b' in "bed": vaca, pronounced BAH-kah. To distinguish v from b when spelling, one says "vay chica" or "bay grande" to indicate which; native Spanish speakers my not hear the difference between "vee" and "bee".
w: like 'w' in "weight" in English words, whisky, pronounced "WEESS-kee"). Like 'b' in "bed" in Germanic words.
x: like 'x' in "sex" (sexo). Like 'ss' in "hiss" at beginning of a word (xilófono). Like a throaty 'h' in the words México, mexicano, Oaxaca, and oaxaqueño.
y: like 'y' in "yes": payaso. Like 'y' in "boy": hoy. At the beginning of the word, it will sometimes be pronounced more like an English 'j': yo no se, pronounced "joh noh say".
z: like 's' in "supper" (Latin America), like 'th' in "thin" (Spain): zorro. See c above.

Diphthongs

Most diphthongs can be approximated by blending the first vowel into the second in a single syllable.

ai, ay: like 'eye': baile
au: like 'ow' in "cow": causa

ei, ey: like 'ay' in "say": reina, rey.
eu: like 'oo' in "food" euro = "OO-row"

ia: like 'ya' in "Kenya": piano
ie: like 'ye' in "yes": pie = "PEE-yeh"
io: like 'yo': dio
iu: like 'ew' in "few": ciudad = "see-you-THAHD"

oi, oy: like 'oy' in "boy": soy

ua: like 'wa' in "wallet": cuatro
ue: like 'we' in "well": puedo
ui, uy: like 'wee' in "ween": ruido
ui: like 'ooy': cuido = "coo-wee-dough"
uo: like "wa" in "water": averiguo

Accents and stress

Word stress can affect the meaning of the word and generally follows these rules:

If a word is marked with an accent, then that syllable receives the stress.
* Additionally, if the accent marks a diphthong a syllable break occurs between the two vowels of the diphthong.

If a word is NOT marked with an accent, then

# if the word ends in a consonant other than N or S, the stress occurs on the last syllable. # if the word ends in a vowel, N or S, the stress occurs on the next to last syllable.

Examples: :círculo (SEER-koo-loh) → circle :circulo (seer-KOO-loh) → I circulate :circuló (seer-koo-LOH) → (s)he/it circulated :estás (ehss-TAHSS) → you are :estas (EHSS-tahss) → these :origen (oh-REE-hehn) → origin :orígenes (oh-REE-hehn-ehss) → origins :ciudad (syew-DAHD) → city :ciudades (syew-DAH-dehss) → cities

An accent can also be used to differentiate between words that are pronounced the same but have different meanings:

Phrase list

Note: These examples give Latin American pronunciation, not Spanish.

Basics

Hello (informal).: Hola. (OH-lah). For the formal equivalent of hola see good morning, good afternoon, good evening, below.
How are you? (informal): ¿Cómo estás? (KOH-moh ehss-TAHSS?)
How are you (formal): ¿Cómo está usted? (KOH-mo ehss-TAH oo-stehd?)
Fine, thank you.: Muy bien, gracias. (mooey BYEHN, GRAH-syahss)
What is your name?: ¿Cómo te llamas? (KOH-moh tay YAH-mahss?) (informal); ¿Cómo se llama usted? (KOH-mo say YAH-mah ooss-TAID?) (formal)

; My name is ______________________'') ; One ticket to ________________________________________________________, por favor.''

Another round, please.: Otra ronda, por favor.
When is closing time?: ¿Cuándo cierran?

Shopping

Do you have this in my size?: ¿Tiene esto de mi talla?
How much is this?: ¿Cuánto cuesta?
That's too expensive.: Es demasiado caro.
Would you take Visa/American dollars?: ¿Aceptan Visa/dólares?
expensive: caro
cheap: barato
I can't afford it.: Es muy caro para mí.
I don't want it.: No lo quiero.
You're cheating me.: Me está engañando.
I'm not interested.: No me interesa.
OK, I'll take it.: De acuerdo, me lo llevaré.
Can I have a bag?: ¿Tiene una bolsa?
Can you ship it to my country?: ¿Puede enviarlo a mi país?
I need...: Necesito...
...batteries.: ...pilas.
...cold medicine.: ...medicamento para el resfriado.
...condoms.: ...preservativos/condones.
...English-language books.: ...libros en inglés.
...English-language magazines.: ...revistas en inglés.
...an English-language newspaper.: ...un periódico/diario en inglés.
...an English-Spanish dictionary.: ...un diccionario inglés-español.
...pain reliever. (e.g., aspirin or ibuprofen): ...analgésico (Aspirina, Ibuprofeno).
...a pen.: ...un bolígrafo/ boli.
...postage stamps.: ...sellos(Spain)/estampillas(Latin América).
...a postcard.: ...una postal.
...a razor.: ...una hoja de afeitar.
...shampoo.: ...champú.
...stomach medicine.: .... medicamento para el dolor de estómago
...soap.: ...jabón.
...sunblock lotion.: ...crema solar.
...tampons.: ...tampones.
...a toothbrush.: ... un cepillo de dientes.
...toothpaste.: ...pasta de dientes.
...an umbrella.: ...un paraguas.
...writing paper.: ...papel para escribir.

Driving

I want to rent a car.: Quiero alquilar un coche.
Can I get insurance?: ¿Puedo contratar un seguro?
STOP (on a street sign): STOP (Spain), ALTO (México), PARE (Chile, Argentina, Perú)
one way: dirección única
no parking: no aparcar , no estacionar
speed limit: límite de velocidad , velocidad máxima
gas/petrol station: gasolinera , estación de bencina (Chile), estación de servicio (Argentina)
gas/petrol: gasolina , bencina (Chile), nafta (Argentina)
diesel: gasóleo , diesel DEE-sel (Latin America), gasóil/diésel (DYEH-sel) (Spain)

Authority

I haven't done anything wrong.: No he hecho nada malo. (NOH ay AY-choh NAH-dah MAH-loh)
Please, there has been a mistake.: Por favor, hubo un malentendido. (pohr-fah-BOHR oo-boh oon mal-ehn-tehn-DEE-doh)
It was a misunderstanding.: Es un malentendido. (AYSS oon MAHL-ayn-tayn-DEE-doh)
Where are you taking me?: ¿Adónde me lleva? (DOHN-day may YAY-bah?)
Am I under arrest?: ¿Estoy arrestado/a? (ay-STOY AHRR-ay-STAH-doh/dah?)
I am an American/Australian/British/Canadian citizen.: Soy ciudadano estadounidense/australiano/inglés/canadiense.
I want to talk to the American/Australian/British/Canadian embassy/consulate.: Quiero hablar con la embajada/el consulado estadounidense/australiano/inglés/canadiense.
I want to talk to a lawyer.: Quiero hablar con un abogado. (KYAY-roh ah-BLAHR cohn oon AH-boh-GAH-doh)
Can I just pay a fine now?: ¿Puedo pagar la multa ahora? (PWAY-doh pah-GAR lah MOOL-tah ah-OH-rah?)

Learning more

The authors of this document are Anonymous user(s) of Wikitravel, Evan Prodromou, Marilin Gonzalo, Yann Forget and the following WikiTravel users: Chipuni, Chris_j_wood, Cjensen, Guaka, Jmabel, Nickpest, Pablo.cl, PierreAbbat, Pstng, Shaktale, Sjc196, Squeakfox, TVerBeek. The original version of this article can be seen at http://wikitravel.org/en/Spanish_phrasebook.