Learn Spanish a little every day. Enseñaré means “I will teach”.
Free practice tools and a reading list for beginners: drill verb endings, review vocabulary with spaced repetition, check the grammar that trips everyone up, and learn to type á, é and ñ on an English keyboard. Your progress stays in this browser. No account needed.
Verb conjugation trainer
Type the right form of 41 common verbs in four tenses, including irregulars like ser, ir and tener. See the full table after every answer.
Start drilling → ✓Flashcards
Over 110 everyday words, from hola to el aeropuerto. Rate each card and the app schedules the next review: tomorrow, in 4 days, in a fortnight.
Open the deck → ¿?Grammar and quizzes
Short explanations of ser vs estar, por vs para, gender and gustar, each with a quiz that explains every answer.
Read a topic → ñAccents and ñ keyboard
Click to type á é í ó ú ü ñ ¿ ¡, copy the result, and learn the shortcuts for a UK keyboard, a Mac and your phone.
Learn the keys → AaReading list
Graded readers and bilingual classics sorted by level, from A1 to C1, with ISBNs so you can order them, and reviews of the ones we've read. Start with Drácula: Spanish on the left, English on the right.
Browse the books →Verb conjugation trainer
You get a verb, a tense and a person. Type the form and press Enter. Press Enter again for the next one.
What to practise
How the endings work
Take the infinitive, remove -ar, -er or -ir, then add the ending. hablar → habl- → hablo.
The future is different: you keep the whole infinitive and add -é, -ás, -á, -emos, -éis, -án. hablaré, comerás, vivirá.
Use the preterite for finished events (ayer comí paella) and the imperfect for background or habits (de niño comía mucho).
Flashcards
Try to recall the answer, then reveal it and rate how well you knew it. Cards you find hard come back soon. Cards you know well come back after longer and longer gaps. Keys: Space reveals the answer, 1–4 rate it.
Grammar and quizzes
Four topics that most beginners find hard. Read the rules, then answer the quiz below. Each answer shows why it is right. Get 5 or more right to pass.
Reading list
Reading is the fastest way to grow your vocabulary. These books are grouped by level, from A1 (beginner) to C1 (advanced). Pick one at your level or a little below, so you can enjoy the story without stopping at every word. Books we've read have a review.
Levels follow the Common European Framework (CEFR). For CIDEB books the level comes from the publisher. For the Susaeta bilingual classics it is our own estimate: the publisher gives an age instead. Prices and availability vary, so search by ISBN at your usual bookshop.
Accents and ñ
An accent can change the meaning of a word: si means “if” and sí means “yes”. año means “year”, but ano means something else entirely. Type them properly from the start.
Click to type
Where accents go
Most words have no written accent. Spanish stresses the second-to-last syllable when a word ends in a vowel, n or s (ca·sa, ha·blan), and the last syllable otherwise (ha·blar, ciu·dad).
The accent marks a break in that rule: ca·fé, can·ción, ár·bol, mú·si·ca.
It also tells apart words that sound the same: tú (you) and tu (your), él (he) and el (the), qué (what?) and que (that).
Questions and exclamations open with an upside-down mark: ¿Dónde está? ¡Qué bien!
ñ is its own letter, said like the “ny” in canyon. In the dictionary it comes straight after n.
Typing shortcuts
| Device | á é í ó ú | ñ / Ñ | ¿ ¡ and ü |
|---|---|---|---|
| Windows, UK keyboard | AltGr + vowel | Alt + 164 / 165 on the number pad | Alt + 168 ¿, Alt + 173 ¡, Alt + 129 ü |
| Windows, UK Extended layout | AltGr + vowel | AltGr + #, then n | Alt codes as above. ü: AltGr + 2, then u |
| Mac | Option + e, then the vowel | Option + n, then n | Option + Shift + ? ¿, Option + 1 ¡, Option + u then u ü |
| iPhone and Android | Press and hold the vowel | Press and hold n | Press and hold ?, ! or u |
To get UK Extended on Windows, open Settings → Time & language → Language & region, open your English (UK) language options and add the “United Kingdom Extended” keyboard. Win + Space switches between keyboard layouts. Alt codes need a number pad and Num Lock switched on.
Where the ñ came from
- Medieval scribes saved time and parchment by writing a doubled nn as one n with a little n above it. That little n wore down into the wavy tilde.
- Spanish kept it as a letter in its own right for the “ny” sound. Portuguese writes the same sound as nh, and Catalan as ny.
- In the early 1990s European single-market rules threatened to allow keyboards without an ñ key to be sold in Spain. Writers including Gabriel García Márquez spoke out, and Spain kept its rule that keyboards must have one.
- From 2007 Spain’s .es domain accepted ñ in web addresses. Underneath, españa.es is still written as plain ASCII:
xn--espaa-rta.es.