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Thirty Spanish words

If you are visiting a Spanish speaking country for a holiday or any other reason it is worth learning some Spanish. Ever if you don’t have much time it is possible to learn a few words and phrases in a few hours, and generally people respond favourably when you try and speak their language

The thirty words

I have chosen thirty Spanish words and phrases which you can use on any trip and also will have plenty of opportunity to use. You will also hear many of them again and again.

Pronunciation

Spanish is a phonetic language and you can read these basic words as written and have a fair chance of being understood. However, you will sound very much the hapless tourist and I would suggest listening to and imitating a native speaker to avoid this.

Greetings and farewells

hello hola
goodbye adios
good morning buenos días
good afternoon buenas tardes
good evening buenas noches

Although you can get away with using hola, it is worth learning the other greetings because they are constantly used.

Being Polite

please por favor
thanks gracias

Ye, No and And

yes sí
no no
and y

Communication Problems

I don't understand no entiendo
do you speak english? ¿habla inglés?

If you only speak fifty words of Spanish these are bound to be useful. Even if you speak five hundred they will be useful as well ……

Directions

Who doesn’t get lost ? Directions are tricky because even though you can ask where something is the answer will be incomprehensible. However, people are often more willing to help the tourist who is trying his best. Knowing left and right you can point and participate in the ensuing confusion.

where is .... ? ¿ dónde está .... ?
is it far? ¿ está lejos ?
left izquierda
right derecha

Signs

You will see these from your arrival to departure. These words are different from the others as you will see them rather than speak them.

the entrance la entrada
the exit la salida

Numbers

One ticket, two coffees, three glasses of wine etc. You can’t escape from them.

one uno
two dos
three tres
four cuatro
five cinco

Food and Drink

With only thirty words you can’t learn much here but it is always nice to be able to pay,

order a beer, a tea or coffee and make sure you get milk (if you want).

the bill la cuenta
a beer una cerveza
a tea un té
a coffee un café
with milk con leche

Finally

This is it. Thirty words. It is not very many and it might improve your holiday.It is surprising how many English speakers don’t make the effort to do this.

Learn Spanish words and phrases quickly with Linguata language software.

www.linguata.com