The following is a list of common basic Spanish vocabulary. Most of it has been taken from our StartSpanish program which is designed to get beginners off to a fast start. Please be sure to take a look at the rest of our website for more information.
Some Basic Spanish Vocabulary
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Spanish Question Words (Interrogatives), Colors in Spanish, Countries and Nationalities in Spanish
Question words (interrogatives):
- ¿Qué? - What?
- ¿Cómo? - How?
- ¿Cuándo? - When?
- ¿A qué hora? - What time?
- ¿Cuántos? / ¿Cuántas? - How many?
- ¿Cuánto? / ¿Cuánta? - How much?
- ¿Dónde? - Where?
- ¿Por qué? - Why?
- ¿Qué clase de...? - What kind of...?
- ¿Quién? - Who?
Basic colors
- blanco - white
- negro - black
- rojo - red
- azul - blue
- marrón - brown
- gris - gray
- amarillo - yellow
- verde - green
- (de color) naranja - orange
- (de color) rosa - pink
Some countries and nationalities (languages)
Note: When there is a corresponding language, it's the same word as the nationality. For example, 'italiano' is both the nationality and the language. Also note that nationalities and languages are not capitalized in Spanish.
- los Estados Unidos - The United States
- americano - American
- Canadá - Canada
- canadiense - Canadian
- Japón - Japan
- japonés - Japanese
- China - China
- chino - Chinese
- Brasil - Brazil
- brasileño - Brazilian
- Egipto - Egypt
- egipcio - Egyptian
- Grecia - Greece
- griego - Greek
- Italia - Italy
- italiano - Italian
- Alemania - Germany
- alemán - German
- Inglaterra - England
- inglés - English
- Irlanda - Ireland
- irlandés - Irish
- Escocia - Scotland
- escocés - Scottish
- Suecia - Sweden
- sueco - Swedish
- Noruega - Norway
- noruego - Norwegian
- Francia - France
- francés - French
