Vocabulary
945 words in 28 categories: the core vocabulary for A1, and a start on A2. Grouped by theme rather than alphabetically, because that is how you will need to reach for them. Latin American Spanish first, the Spain word underneath where it differs, and a note where another country says something else. Tap any word to hear it.
People, feelings, the body, clothes and home.
Greetings and courtesy
The words you will use in the first minute of every conversation.
People and family
The nouns that turn a conversation from transactional into personal.
Describing people
What someone looks like, and what they are like. ser for both.
Feelings and states
How you are right now, which is estar, and the feelings Spanish says with tener.
Body and health
Enough to tell a pharmacist or a doctor what is wrong.
Clothes
The words with the most regional variety, so the notes matter here.
Home and furniture
The rooms, the furniture and the things that break when you are renting.
Daily routine
A day from getting up to going to bed, most of it reflexive verbs.
Town, transport, directions, travel, shopping and eating out.
Town and places
The places on a town map, and the ones you will be asked the way to.
Getting around
Buses, trains and planes, and the words on the tickets and the boards.
Directions and position
Asking the way, understanding the answer, and saying where things are.
Travel and the hotel
Booking, arriving, and the words that come with being somewhere new.
Shopping and money
Prices, paying, and the sentences you need at a till or a market stall.
Food
What is on the plate, at the market and in the shopping bag.
Drinks and the café
Ordering a drink, getting what you meant, and paying for it.
At a restaurant
From the table to the bill, with the words for what you cannot eat.
Numbers, the calendar, weather, nature, work, study and free time.
Numbers
A handful of words to memorise. Everything above that is assembly.
Time, days, months and dates
The clock, the calendar, and the words around today.
Weather and seasons
Spanish does weather with hacer: it makes heat, it makes cold.
Colours and shapes
Colours agree with the noun, mostly: una casa roja, un carro rojo.
Nature and animals
Landscape, sky and the animals a beginner meets first.
Work and jobs
What you do, where you do it, and how to ask someone else.
School and study
The classroom words, and the questions every language learner needs.
Free time and sport
Hobbies, sport and going out, which is most of a first conversation.
Technology and the phone
Phones, computers and the internet, where Spain and Latin America split most.
The verbs, adjectives and small words every sentence is built from.