Unit 2: Basics
Unit 2: Basic Vocabulary
Vocabulario básico (Basic Vocabulary)
Remember that these are very common words that you will likely encounter often and in most contexts. Do your best to memorize these if you don’t already know them. Basic Vocabulary lists will focus more on verbs as you work through the course and will generally get shorter as we go.
Adverbios (Adverbs) / Preposiciones (Prepositions):
| cerca (de) | near (to) |
| lejos (de) | far (from) |
Without the de these words are adverbs of place. (La ciudad está lejos. = The city is far away.) With the de, they are prepositions and are followed by an object (Mis parientes están cerca de mí. = My relatives are near me.)
Días de la semana (Days of the Week):
| el lunes | Monday |
| el martes | Tuesday |
| el miércoles | Wednesday |
| el jueves | Thursday |
| el viernes | Friday |
| el sábado | Saturday |
| el domingo | Sunday |
La Familia (Family):
| la abuela | grandmother |
| el abuelo | grandfather |
| la esposa | wife |
| el esposo | husband, spouse* |
| los esposos | husband and wife |
| el hermano | brother |
| la hermana | sister |
| los hermanos | brothers and sisters, siblings, brothers |
| la madre | mother |
| el marido | husband |
| el padre | father, priest |
| los padres | parents (priests [occasionally, “fathers”]) |
| el pariente | relative (false friend) |
| el/la primo/a | cousin |
| la tía | aunt |
| el tío | uncle |
| los tíos | aunt and uncle (occasionally, “uncles”) |
*When the first three letters of a Spanish word are e + s + consonant, it may help to recognize it by imagining the word without the initial e. As Spanish does not permit words to begin in s + consonant, an e very frequently appears at the beginning. Among many other such words that that undergo the same phenomenon are : escuela, estado, español, escándalo, espinaca, etc.
Interrogativos (Question Words):
All interrogatives in Spanish, when directly asking a question or indirectly implying one (No sé cuándo es. = I don’t know when it is.), take a written accent mark.
| ¿cómo? | how (used alone, “what?”) |
| ¿cuál/es? | which?, what? |
| ¿cuándo? | when? |
| ¿cuánto?* | how many?, how much? |
| ¿de quién?, ¿de quiénes? | whose? |
| ¿dónde?, ¿adónde?, ¿de dónde? | where?, where to? (to where?), where from? |
| ¿por qué? | why? |
| ¿qué? | what?, which? |
| ¿quién?, ¿quiénes? | who? |
*Cuánto also has feminine, and masculine and feminine plural endings. See section 3.2.
Números (Numbers):
| cero | zero |
| uno | one |
| dos | two |
| tres | three |
| cuatro | four |
| cinco | five |
| seis | six |
| siete | seven |
| ocho | eight |
| nueve | nine |
| diez | ten |
| once | eleven |
| doce | twelve |
| trece | thirteen |
| catorce | fourteen |
| quince | fifteen |
| dieciséis (diez y seis)* | sixteen |
| diecisiete (diez y siete)* | seventeen |
| dieciocho (diez y ocho)* | eighteen |
| diecinueve (diez y nueve)* | nineteen |
| veinte | twenty |
*The three-word forms of these numbers are becoming outdated. In the rare case when numbers are spelled out, which form you will see will likely depend on the date of the text.
Otros adjetivos (Other Adjectives):
| mucho | many, much, a lot |
| pobre | poor, unfortunate |
| poco | few, a little |
| rico | rich, delicious |
Otras palabras (Other Words):
| casi | almost (cognate: quasi) |
| hoy | today |
| mañana | tomorrow |
| para | for* |
| por | for* |
| si | if |
| sí | yes |
| también | also, too |
*The difference between these two prepositions will be studied in section 5.5.
Sustantivos (Nouns):
| el campo | country, countryside, rural area, field |
| la chica | girl |
| el chico | boy |
| los chicos | boys and girls (or “boys”)* |
| la ciudad | city |
| el/la estadounidense | U.S. native, American |
| el fútbol | soccer |
| el fútbol americano | football |
| el hombre | man |
| la muchacha | girl |
| la muchacho | boy |
| los muchachos | boys and girls (or “boys”)* |
| la mujer | woman, wife |
| el país | country, nation |
| el pasatiempo | pastime |
*The masculine gender is the default in Spanish if the group is mixed, that is, of boys and girls. Chicos could also refer to a group made up of boys only. If it is important to know which of the two translations is the correct one, the situation should clarify the meaning.
verbos (Verbs) / Preposiciones (Prepositions) / Conjunciones (Conjunctions):
| a | to, at |
| ahora | now |
| allí | there |
| aquí | here |
| con | with |
| de | of, from, about |
| e | and (before words beginning in -i, -hi) |
| en | in, on |
| entre | between, among |
| es | (he, she, it) is/(you) are* |
| está | (he, she, it) is/(you) are* |
| hay | there is, there are |
| muy | very |
| o | or |
| pero | but |
| y | and |
*The difference between these forms will be studied in Section 3.4.
