Everybody has to start somewhere! These one and two letter Spanish words will probably be easy to remember, even if you’re a total novice. Memorize these short words, and you’ll start to see them everywhere in context. It’s a great way to start your Spanish learning journey.
A
What it means: This single letter is also a standalone word in Spanish, albeit an extremely short one. “A” means “to”.
Example in a sentence: Voy a la casa de mi amigo (I am going to my friend’s house)
O
What it means: The next of several single-letter Spanish words, “o” means “or”.
Example in a sentence: Quiero bizcocho o galletas. (I want cake or cookies.)
Y
What it means: This means “and” in Spanish. Don’t get tripped up, it’s actually pronounced like the English vowel “e”.
Example in a sentence: Quiero bizcocho y galletas. (I want cake and cookies.)
E
What it means: “E” is sometimes substituted for “Y” (and), when the next word in the sentence starts with an I sound. This is primarily to make things less confusing during spoken language.
Example in a sentence: Juan e Iván fueron a la biblioteca. (John and Ivan went to the library.)
Al
What it means: This is actually a combination of two word, “a” and “el”. It is used when those two words spoken together would be hard to differentiate.
Example in a sentence: Yo fui al cine. (I went to the movie theater).
Ir
What it means: The verb “ir” means to go. It’s really only short in the infinitive form. When conjugated, it can be as long as fueron or fuimos, depending on the tense and pronoun. As you can see, it’s quite an irregular verb.
Example in a sentence: Quiero ir al cine (I want to go to the movie theater).
En
What it means: Pay close attention to the words around this one, because (depending on the context) it can mean “on” or “in”
Example in a sentence: ¿Cuál es la palabra más corta en esta página? (Which is the shortest word on this page?)
El
What it means: This means “the” when you’re talking about a masculine noun
Example in a sentence: El hombre fui al cine. (The man went to the movie theater)
La
What it means: This means “the” when you’re talking about a feminine noun
Example in a sentence: La mujer fui al cine. (The woman went to the movie theater)
Él
What it means: Add the accent, and now this means “he”
Example in a sentence: Él es mi padre (He is my father)
Me
What it means: This is used to make a verb reflexive in the I form. You would use it when you want to indicate that a verb is being acted to you (by someone else) or to yourself
Example in a sentence: Hola, me llamo Juan. (Hello, my name is Juan – literally, “I call myself” Juan.)
No
What it means: A pretty easy Spanish/English cognate. You guessed it, it means no. In some contexts, it also means “not”
Example in a sentence: No quiero chocolate (I do not want chocolate).
De
What it means: “De” can mean “from” when you’re talking about a place, or “of” in other contexts.
Example in a sentence: Soy de España (I am from Spain), or Es el coche de me mama (It is my mom’s car – literally, “the car of my mother”.)
Si
What it means: Meaning “whether” or “if”
Example in a sentence: Me gustaría ir si pudiera. (I would like to go, if I could).
Sí
What it means: Another word where adding the accent dramatically alters the meaning. As you probably know already, sí means “yes”
Example in a sentence: Sí, quiero chocolate por favor. (Yes, I would like chocolate please)
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