Spanish numbers

Numbers 0-10

0- Cero

1- Uno

2- Dos

3- Tres

4- Cuatro

5- Cinco

6- Seis 

7- Siete

8 -- Ocho

9 -- Nueve

10 -- Diez

Get a Voki now!

Numbers 11 -- 20

11- Once

12 -Doce

13- Trece

14 -- Catorce

15 -- Quince

16 -- Dieciseis

17- Diecisiete

18- Dieciocho

19- Diecinueve

20 -- Veinte

Numbers 21-29

Remember that 20 is veinte (Be very careful with the spelling of this word!  Many English people tend to get the vowels “ei” in the wrong order).

To do the next numbers we are going to replace the last letter of veinte “e” with an “i” and then add the other part of the figure.  For example,

21 -- Veintiuno

22- Veintidós

23- Veintitrés

24- Veinticuatro

25- Veinticinco

26- Veintiséis

27- Veintisiete

28- Veintiocho

29- Veintinueve

Numbers up to 100

30- Treinta

31- Treinta y uno

32 -- Treinta y dos

33- Treinta y tres … (and so on)

40- Cuarenta

41- Cuarenta y uno

42 -- Cuarenta y dos …

50- Cincuenta

51- Cincuenta y uno…

60- Sesenta

61- Sesenta y uno…

70 -- Setenta

71- Setenta y uno…

80- Ochenta

81 -- Ochenta y uno…

90 -- Noventa

91- Noventa y uno…

100- Cien

There is a Spanish popular song that can be very useful to practice the numbers.  It might be a bit hard for beginners, but it is fun and it is worth having a go at it.  Watch it and see how much you understand

Guide to get Spanish pronunciation right!

Spanish pronunciation

Spanish pronunciation is really easy. When people start learning the language, they might have a few difficulties or be a bit apprehensive at the beginning but… it is a very transparent language and learning how to pronounce Spanish words should not take you long.
With a few exceptions, each letter of the alphabet is always pronounced in the same way, no matter what other letters come next to it or in what part of the word that letter is situated.
So, let’s have a look at all the letters of the alphabet.

A

“A” is pronounced very similarly to the “a” in English words such as “dad” or “father”
You will find this sound in Spanish words such as:
Padre – Father
Papá -- Dad
Mamá – Mum

B
“B” is pronounced like the English “b” in words such as “big” or “bottle”.
You will find this sound in words such as:
Botella – Bottle
Bar – Bar
If the letter “b” is between two vowels, its sound will be slightly softer, but… only advanced students need to worry about this for the time being ?

C
Letter “c” is a bit different to the others as its sound depends on what letter comes after it.
If “C” is followed by “A”, “O” or “U” then it sounds like the English “k” in words such as key.
For example:
Cama – Bed
Comida – Food
Cuna -- Cot

If “C” is followed by “E” or “I” then it sounds similar to the English “th” in words such as thin or theatre.
Cena – Dinner
Ciruela – Plum
However, be aware that in some countries of Central and South America and also in some Spanish regions, if “C” is followed by ”E” or “I” it will be pronounced like an “s”
Umm… did we say Spanish pronunciation is easy???
Yes, it is. Let’s move on and you will see how other letters are easier ?

D
“D” is pronounced similar to the “D” in words like “diet”
For example,
Dieta – Diet
Dolar – Dollar
If the letter “D” is between vowels its sound will be a bit softer.

E
The vowel “e” is pronounced like the “e” in the English word “elephant.”
Elefante = Elephant
Enero = January

F

Spanish “F” is pronounced the same way than the English “F” in words such as foam.
For example:
Feo = Ugly
Foto = Photo

G
“G” is another special letter.
If “G” is followed by “A”, “O” or “U” it is pronounced like the English “G” in words such as “gate” or “gun”
For example.
Gato = Cat
Goma = Rubber
Guante = Glove
However, if “G” is followed by “E” or “I” then it is pronounced similarly to the “ch” in the Scottish “loch”. It is a similar sound to the initial sound of words such as hot, but “raspier”
Examples of words with this sound are:
Gente = People
Gitano = Gipsy
There are another couple of things that you need to know about this peculiar letter, but I do not want to confuse you too much yet. Maybe I will have to write a whole lens dedicated to this letter one day ?

H
Soooo easy! “H” is never pronounced at all, so just imagine that “h” is not even there.
Hola = Hello

I
Spanish vowel “I” sounds like the English “EE” in words such as “see”
Words with this sound include:
Iglesia = Church
Igual = Same

J
“J” is pronounced like “CH” in Scots ‘loch’, a harsh h sound. Some words with “J” are:
Jamón = Ham
Jirafa = Giraffe

L, M and N

No difficulties at all to pronounce these letters as it is just like the English “L” (in words such as “let”, “lake”, etc), “M” (mum, mother, etc) and “N” (nan, none, etc)
Lago = Lake
Lechuga = Lettuce
Mamá = Mum
Mother = Mother
Nada = Nothing
Nata = Cream

O
Similar sound to “aw” in English in words such as “saw”, “law”, etc
Oso = Bear
Otro = Another

P
Do you know how to pronounce words such as “pan” and “pot” in English? Then, you know how to pronounce words such as “papa” (=dad) and “pan” (=bread) in Spanish. No difference!

QU

The combination “QU” is pronounced like the English “K” in words such as “key” or “kilo”
Queso = Cheese
Quemar = To burn

R
The simple “R” that you can find in the middle of some words is pronounced slightly rolled.
For example:
Pero = But
However, if “R” is situated at the beginning of a word or if you find the combination “RR” then you need to roll your tongue more, like the Scottish “R”
For example:
Perro = Dog
Rojo = Red

S
Pronounced like in English words such as “seed” or “sun”
Semilla = Seed
Sol = Sun

T
Again, just like the English “T” in words like “ton”
Tonelada = Ton
Tomate = Tomato
Easy, is not it??

U
Generally pronounced like the English “oo” in words such as “boots”
Uno = One
Unico = Unique

V
Do you remember what we said about the pronunciation of the letter “B”. Well, “V” has exactly the same sound as “B”.
Vino = Wine
Volver = To come back

Z

The Spanish “Z” sounds like the English “TH” in words such as “thin”
Zorro = Fox
Zapato = Shoe

And that was the whole alphabet!!! Now all you have to do is keep on practising and having fun learning and speaking Spanish.

Let’s talk about food – in Spanish!

Today I would like to introduce some basic vocabulary of food in Spanish.
I will also teach you how to say what food you like and what food you do not like in Spanish.
I hope you will enjoy this lens

Desayuno = Breakfast

To say what you have for breakfast you would say “Desayuno…” (For breakfast I have…) followed by whatever you eat. For example:
- Tostadas -- toasts
- Cereales -- cereals
- Café – coffee
- Té -- tea
- Galletas – biscuits
- Zumo de naranja – orange juice
- Huevos -- eggs
- Salchichas – sausages

Almuerzo = Lunch

To say what you have for lunch you have to say “Almuerzo” (For lunch I have…” followed by your lunch. For example
- bocadillo – sandwich
- ensalada – salad
- pizza – pizza
- yogur – yoghourt
- fruta – fruit

You can of course specify what kind of fruit you have. These are some basic words for fruits
- manzana – apple
- plátano -- banana
- uvas – grapes
- fresas – strawberries
- mango – mango

Cena = Dinner

To say what you eat in the evening you would use the word “Ceno…” which means “For dinner I have…”
So what can we have for dinner??
- Verduras – vegetables
- Sopa – soup
- Arroz -- Rice
- Pescado – fish
- Carne – meat
- Pollo – chicken
- Patatas fritas – chips
- Patatas asadas – roast potatoes
- Pan – bread

A little bit of grammar!

In Spanish all words are either feminine or masculine. Yes, this sounds strange for English speakers, but that is the way it is in Spanish!

So how do we know if a thing/word is masculine or feminine?
Well, normally if the last letter of a word is –a the word is feminine. If the last letter is an –o, then the word tends to be masculine. Unfortunately, this is not always the case and there are a few words that do not follow this rule. Of course, there are also words whose last letter is not –a nor –o

And why do we need to know whether a word is masculine or feminine?

Because depending on the gender of a word, we will use slightly different articles, adjectives and so on.
But don’t panic! Let’s take one step at a time because it is not as hard as it sounds.
Today we are looking at articles only. Articles are words that go in front of the noun. For example, in English “the” is an article.
In Spanish “the” will be translated as “el” for masculine words and “la” for feminine words. So let’s look at the words we have seen before and find out which are masculine and which are feminine.

Masculine words
El café
El té
El zumo de naranja
El bocadillo
El yogur
El plátano
El mango
El arroz
El pescado
El pollo
El pan

Feminine words
La ensalada
La pizza
La fruta
La manzana
La carne
La sopa

Plural words
With words that are in plural the articles would be “los” for masculine words and “las” for the feminine ones. So looking back at the previous words we would have:

Masculine and plural
Los cereales
Los huevos

Feminine and plural
Las galletas
Las salchichas
Las fresas
Las verduras
Las patatas fritas
Las patatas asadas
Las tostadas

Give me your opinion!
To say if we like or do not like a particular food we are going to look at the singular and plural words separately.
For all the words that are in singular we would start by saying:
“Me gusta…” = I like
“No me gusta” = I do not like
For example,
Me gusta el café = I like coffee
No me gusta el té = I do no like tea

The structure is very similar with the words that are in plural, simply add “n” to the word “gusta” and you have it! So now we will be saying:
“Me gustan…” = I like (for plural words)
“No me gustan…” = I do not like (for plural words)
For example:
Me gustan las patatas fritas = I like chips
No me gustan las pasatas asadas = I do not like roast potatoes

Let’s Learn Spanish – Describing Yourself

Soy / Estoy = I am

To describe what you look like in English you would normally start a sentence by saying “I am…” and then say tall, short, thin, etc.

In Spanish you can start this sentence with two different words:

- Soy …
- Estoy…

Both “Soy” and “Estoy” mean I am. However, if you say “Soy” it implies that you are describing a personal characteristic that is part of you, has always been like that and will never change. On the other hand, if you say “Estoy” it means that the characteristic can change.

For example

- Soy delgada
- Estoy delgada

Delgada means thin.

If you say “Soy delgada” you imply that you are a thin person, have always been and will always be, probably because of your genes, life style or other reasons.

However, if you say “Estoy delgada” you are saying that you look thin, but that has not always necessary been the case and in future you might, or might not, continue to be thin.

¿Cómo eres? = What are you like

If somebody ask you in Spanish ¿Cómo eres? they are asking you to describe yourself. You could talk about your physical appearance by using the words “Soy / estoy” followed by the words that describe you best:

- Tall – Alto/alta
- Short – Bajo /baja
- Thin – Delgado / delgada
- Fat – Gordo / gorda

You can also use words that describe your character. In this case you would use the word “Soy” followed by the words that describe your attitude and character best:

- Kind – simpático / simpatico
- Unkind – antipático / antipática
- Intelligent – inteligente
- Hard working – trabajador / trabajadora
- Lazy – vago / vaga
- Optimist – optimista
- Pessimist – pesimista

Feminine and masculine words

You have probably noticed that I have written two different versions for the majority of the previous words.
For example “Tall” in Spanish is “Alto / alta”

Why??
Because in Spanish we use different words to describe ourselves depending on whether we are males or females.

On the previous list the words that finish with –o are masculine and therefore the ones you will have to use if you are a man. On the other hand, the words finishing with –a are feminine and you will have to use them if you are female

So for example:

I am tall = Soy alto (a boy/man would say this)
I am tall = Soy alta (a girll/woman would say this)

¿Cómo es tu pelo? = What is your hair like?

If you need to describe your hair in Spanish you would start the sentence by saying “Mi pelo es…” (My hair is…) and then complete it with the relevant adjective:

- Long – largo
- Short – corto
- Straight – liso
- Curly – rizado
- Wavy – ondulado
- Blonde – rubio
- Brunette – castaño
- Red – pelirrojo

¿Cómo son tu ojos? = What are your eyes like?

To describe your eyes you would say “Mis ojos son…” (My eyes are…) followed by the colour of your eyes:

- Blue – azules
- Brown – marrones
- Green – verdes

Practise describing people in Spanish