Spanish for Beginners

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Español para principiantes

If you want to start learning Spanish from the bottom up, you’ve come to the right place! Lawless Spanish for Beginners is a self-study course divided into 30 loosely themed units consisting of grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation lessons; cultural tips; and assorted listening exercises and quizzes along the way. Keep reading for some info and advice on making the most of this course, or go straight to the lessons.

How to learn Spanish

Each unit is in the form of a checklist with links to online lessons and other resources. I recommend spending at least a week but no more than a month on each unit: study/practice each item in the list and then go back through them again more quickly to cement your learning before moving on to the next unit. And of course you can go back to an earlier unit any time you like.

Are you really a beginner?

If you’re not an absolute beginner, I recommend you take this free proficiency test in order to figure out where you are: Progress with Lawless Spanish. After creating your free account and taking the placement test, you’ll receive a level assessment and personalized study plan.

Also try Hotel Borbollón – this fun program uses comics and videos to tell the story of Ana Borbollón, a doctor who must choose between her career in Buenos Aires and her family’s hotel in Madrid.
 

Units

1. Greetings, introductions, nouns, verbs, alphabet
2. Politeness, definite articles, subject pronouns, –ar verbs, vowels
3. Essential Spanish, tú vs Ud., present tense, the letter A
4. Numbers, hay, ir (to go), the letters E and O
5. Telling time, ser vs estar (to be), indefinite articles, the letter I
    
6. Calendar, tener (to have), plurals, the letter U
7. Dates, good-bye, –er verbs, accents
8. Weather, hacer (to do, make), adjectives, the letters B and V
9. Food, questions, poder (to be able to), the letter C
10. Feelings, negation, –ir verbs, the letter D
     
11. Family, drinks, preposition de, recent past (acabar de), the letter F
12. Body, toiletries, reflexive verbs, the letter H
13. Clothes, colors, possessive adjectives, the letters G and J
14. Descriptions, preposition a, personal a, querer (to want), the letter K
15. Home and furniture, stem-changing verbs, the letter L
     
16. School, office, adverbs, deber (to have to), the letter M
17. Transportation, saber vs conocer (to know), the letter N
18. Directions, demonstrative adjectives, g verbs, the letter P
19. Personality, prepositions, spelling change verbs, the letter Q
20. Professions, pretérito, the letter R
     
21. Ordinal numbers, coordinating conjunctions, imperfect, the letter S
22. Fractions, pretérito vs imperfecto, the letter T
23. Hobbies, indirect objects, IO verbs like gustar, the letter W
24. Shopping, shops and businesses, direct objects, the letter X
25. Weights and measures, word order with object pronouns, imperative, the letter Y
     
26. Restaurant, por vs para, future, the letter Z
27. Nationalities, subordinating conjunctions, conditional, hard and soft vowels
28. Languages, neuter lo, present perfect, silent letters
29. On the phone, prepositional pronouns, infinitive, diphthongs
30. Dishes and silverware, comparatives, superlatives, present progressive, dieresis

¡Ahí está! Follow the above for a thorough grounding in beginning Spanish, then use the links below to continue your studies. ¡Sigue así!
 

 Useful resources

• Beginning Spanish lessons
• Explanation of CEFR levels
• Online Spanish dictionary
• Progress with Lawless Spanish
• Relearning Spanish
• Verb conjugations
   

 En français

• French for beginners
   

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