Learn Spanish Lesson 1

Source: youtube

Common Spanish Phrases

Spanish, just like English is a language where a finite list of common phrases can come in handy. Sometimes you don't need to learn lots and become fluent in a language, you just need some basics. So, that's wht we're going to address here with some basic Spanish phrases and their English equivalents.

Also, as we see in English some sayings are common in different areas. Words and sayings that may be common in England, may sound out of place or not be understood in the United States (and that may depend on the region of the US.) So, keep in mind that you may find regional variations on some of these.

For each of them I will give the english equivalent first.

Yes
Si

No
No

(Those first two were easy weren't they?)

How are you?
Como esta Usted? (this is the formal way of asking...)
Como estas? (less formal - use with peers/those younger than you/friends/etc.)

Fine, thank you
Bien, gracias

So, So
asi asi

What time is it?
Que hora es?

My name is...
me llamo ....
(mi nombre es...)

and you?
y usted? (formal)
y tu? (less formal)

please
por favor

thanks/thank you
gracias

may I?
puedo?

you're welcome
de nada

Hello
Hola

Good Day
Buenos Dias
(sometimes just Buenos in casual conversation)

Good evening
Buenos tardes

Good night
Buenos noches

move it/come on
andale

where is....?
Donde esta....?

How much is....?
Cuanto cuesta...?

welcome
bienvenidos

I don't believe it.
No lo creo.

It can't be.
No puede ser.

Look!
Mira!

Goodbye....
adios/

see you later
hasta luego

until we meet again
hasta la vista

I don't understand (I don't understand it)
no comprendo (no lo comprendo)/ no entiendo

I'm sorry
Lo siento/ perdon

slowly please
mas despacio por favor

I may follow this up with a bit more in the future. Of course, these are very basic and those in the Unite States may already know many of these. But it can be useful to try to ad a few more phrases into your repertoire if there are some in the list that you haven't seen before. When I do add more I'll try to get into a bit more advanced listing of phrases.

This has given me the thought that maybe I shoul try to give some basics of Spanish for the self taught. Of course, with a couple of languages I have started out knowing just a few phrases and then studied just a bit more and dug a bit deeper. At that point the phrases start to make a bit more sense. The bottom line though is it helps immensely to have a good idea of the basics before you plunge in and start studying phrases and memorizing vocabulary words.

What basics? It's really more than just a few common phrases, and really probably is best put as a little dose of grammar. For instance, what do the verbs look like, how do you say I, you, he, she, it, us, they, etc..... and how do you work with verbs at list in the present tense. Are there other basic, easy rules that can spice up your understanding of the language?

This has given me some good food for thought and perhaps an upcoming series of posts. Other work is (and always seems to stay) busy these days. So, I may not be able to dig into that series quickly, but I will get there.