Basic Spanish words for beginners: 25 words with examples

🇪🇸 SpanishA1–A225 words

These are the words you need in your first days of Spanish: greetings, polite words, time words and a few everyday nouns and adjectives. Every example is written the way people speak in Spain, so you meet words like "vale" and "ahora" in real sentences from the start.

Where you will use it: First conversations, shops, bars and everyday situations in Spain.

Basic Spanish words — The word list

Meanings and translations are in English.

Spanish	Meaning and example
hola	Hello.“¡Hola! ¿Qué tal estás hoy?”Hi! How are you today?
buenos días	Good morning.“Buenos días, ¿cómo está usted?”Good morning, how are you?
buenas tardes	Good afternoon; good evening.“Buenas tardes, tengo una pregunta.”Good afternoon, I have a question.
buenas noches	Good evening; good night.“Buenas noches, me voy a dormir.”Good night, I'm going to bed.
adiós	Goodbye.“Adiós, nos vemos el lunes.”Goodbye, see you on Monday.
hasta luego	See you later.“Hasta luego, nos vemos esta tarde.”See you later, see you this afternoon.
gracias	Thank you.“Muchas gracias por vuestra ayuda.”Thank you very much for your help.
por favor	Please.“Un vaso de agua, por favor.”A glass of water, please.
perdón	Sorry; excuse me.“Perdón, ¿es esta tu silla?”Excuse me, is this your chair?
sí	Yes.“Sí, soy de aquí también.”Yes, I'm from here too.
no	No; not.“No, esa bolsa no es mía.”No, that bag isn't mine.
vale	OK; all right.“Vale, nos vemos a las cinco.”OK, see you at five.
hoy	Today.“Hoy he paseado por el centro.”Today I've walked around the centre.
mañana	Tomorrow.“Mañana tenemos clase de español.”Tomorrow we have a Spanish lesson.
ayer	Yesterday.“Ayer visité a mi hermana.”Yesterday I visited my sister.
ahora	Now.“Ahora no puedo, estoy en clase.”I can't right now, I'm in class.
aquí	Here.“Aquí hay una silla libre.”There's a free chair here.
bien	Well; fine.“Estoy bien, gracias por preguntar.”I'm fine, thanks for asking.
mal	Badly; unwell.“Me encuentro mal esta mañana.”I feel unwell this morning.
grande	Big; large.“Esta mesa es muy grande.”This table is very big.
pequeño / pequeña	Small (male / female).“La habitación es pequeña pero bonita.”The room is small but pretty.
cansado / cansada	Tired (male / female).“Estoy cansada después del viaje.”I'm tired after the journey.
la casa	House; home.“La casa tiene un jardín pequeño.”The house has a small garden.
el agua	Water.“El agua está en la mesa.”The water is on the table.
el dinero	Money.“Tengo el dinero en la mochila.”I have the money in my backpack.

Tips for learning Spanish words

Learn the article with the nounWrite el billete or la cuenta, not just the noun: the article tells you the gender, and adjectives agree with it.
Say every example aloudSpanish is spelled almost exactly as it sounds. Play the audio, then read the example aloud — it trains your ear and your pronunciation at once.
Type the accentsIn WordNest a missing accent counts as a mistake. Typing está, mañana and también correctly from the start saves relearning them later.

Spanish as spoken in Spain

Spanish is spoken in more than twenty countries, and everyday words differ between them: a car is a coche in Spain and a carro in much of Latin America, a phone is a móvil rather than a celular. These lists follow Spain's usage — vosotros, coger el tren, el ordenador — and WordNest's examples, audio and AI corrections use the same standard. You will still be understood everywhere.

Add five or six of these words a day rather than the whole list at once, keep the example sentence on the card, and review them when they come due. WordNest schedules each word across seven growing intervals — same day, then 1, 3, 7, 14, 30 and 60 days — so the list is still with you months later. Read how spaced repetition works if you want the reasoning behind those numbers.

Spanish word lists →

Questions about this list

Is this Spanish from Spain or Latin America?

Spanish as spoken in Spain. Where Latin America usually uses a different word, the list gives the Spain one — for example coche instead of carro — but every word is understood across the Spanish-speaking world.

How do I practise Basic Spanish words?

Start with five words, listen and say each example aloud. Then recall the Spanish word from its English meaning and review it over several days.

How many words are in this list?

This list contains 25 words and phrases with English meanings and example sentences. It is a starting set, not a complete course.

Study these words with spaced repetition

Create a free account, choose Spanish as a study language and add these words to your own deck.