Spanish A1: essential words and phrases

About this deck

This deck is for complete beginners and students in a first Spanish course. It targets the A1 level of the CEFR: greeting people, introducing yourself, counting, telling time, ordering food, and asking where things are. The cards cover greetings and courtesy, family and people, numbers and time, food and shopping, core verbs (ser, estar, tener, ir, hablar and gustar), and places and directions.

Spanish is spoken in more than twenty countries, so vocabulary varies. The cards give a neutral form first and add notes where Latin America and Spain clearly differ, such as car, bus and juice, and the use of vosotros in Spain compared with ustedes everywhere in Latin America. You do not need to choose one variety now; just learn to recognize both. Nouns are shown with el or la so you learn the gender too.

To study, say the Spanish aloud; spelling and pronunciation match closely, so reading aloud trains both. Then cover the Spanish side and produce it from the English meaning. After each tag, write two short sentences about yourself using the new words.

Common mistakes: mixing up ser and estar (use estar for location and temporary states); saying 'yo gusto el café' instead of me gusta el café, since gustar works like 'pleases me'; and forgetting that an adjective usually follows the noun and agrees with it, as in la casa blanca.

Before you start: None. Knowing basic English grammar terms (noun, verb, adjective) is helpful.