Greetings, courtesy, numbers 1–20
Almost everything this week is a fixed chunk. Greetings are learned whole, not taken apart.
Greetings and courtesy
Three to five new items a day. Say each one out loud — Spanish rewards that more than almost any language, because the spelling never lies to you.
- [Hola]Hello[¡Hola!]
say: OH-la — the h is completely silent
- [Buenos días]Good morning
Used until about two in the afternoon.
- [Buenas tardes]Good afternoon
From lunch until it gets dark.
- [Buenas noches]Good evening / good night
Both a greeting and a farewell.
- [Adiós]Goodbye
- [Hasta luego]See you later
Far more common than adiós in daily life.
- [Por favor]PleaseUn café, [por favor].A coffee, please.
- [Gracias]Thank you[Muchas gracias.]Thank you very much.
- [De nada]You're welcome
- [Sí]Yes
- [No]No
- [Perdón]Sorry / excuse me
- [Señora]Madam
The safe default for any adult woman.
- [Señor]Sir
- [¿Qué tal?]How are you?— [¿Qué tal?] — [Bien, gracias.]
Casual and universal.
- [Bien, gracias]Fine, thank you
- [¿Y usted?]And you? (formal)
What the colours above mean
4 of 10 colours so farA thing, a person or a place.
An action or a state — what is happening.
Stands in for a noun — I, you, he, it.
Learn it whole. Do not take it apart.
Articles and prepositions arrive in Week 2. Numbers stay plain all week.
Numbers 1–20
Sixteen to nineteen are literally ten-and-six, ten-and-seven — and they are written as one word.
Sentence frames
Blue and green appear for the first time here: me is a pronoun, llamo is a verb.
- 1
[Hola,] me llamo name.
Hello, my name is ___.
Literally I call myself ___.
- 2
Un café, [por favor].
A coffee, please.
- 3
— [¿Qué tal?] — [Bien, gracias. ¿Y usted?]
— How are you? — Fine, thanks. And you?
Daily mini-tasks
Listening this week
Coffee Break Spanish, Episode 1
YouTube or Spotify
The same team as the French series. Play at 0.75× and shadow the speaker.
The gear icon in the player sets the speed — 0.75× is the one to start with. Nothing from YouTube loads until you press play.
What stuck?
Check it before you close the page.
Up to 10 of this week's words and frames. Say each one out loud before you look, and say whether you think you have it. Guessing first and then checking is what makes it stick — reading the answer feels better and does less.