6 Spanish phrases for beginners

Hi, What’s up!? ¿Cómo te encuentras hoy?

Today I’m going to share with you 6 Spanish phrases for beginners, that will save your life. If you don’t know me yet, my name is Daniela and I’m from Mexico. I want to share with you what I have found during this past three years teaching Spanish.

Spanish sentences to practice... common mistakes

This space is free to share what is useful for you, also for questions, if you have any doubts, you can write your comment and we will try to answer as soon as possible.

So, most common mistakes… there are a lot, of course, and I want to talk about this, because maybe this is something that has been stopping you from learning or improving your Spanish. Here I will try my best to share some tips, false friends and phrases, which hopefully will save you on a stressful situation.

Before we start, there’s a bonus that I will give you… an action plan with a structure for those willing to learn by themselves, this document will help you a lot. Then, if you want to receive this document you can just send us an email here with the subject “I want my action plan and you will have it.

If you’re ready to start, please bring your notebook, write it on your computer or your phone, whatever works for you the best on note taking.

Spanish phrase for beginners #1 - I'm learning Spanish

«Estoy aprendiendo español» – “I’m learning Spanish” I know this one is VERY basic, but it will help you, if you just started learning Spanish. Remember that depending on the country, state or city, we tend to talk pretty fast in Spanish. Also, Spanish is the second fastest language… I think first one is Japanese.

Okay, so this phrase has two verbs, but one is working as an auxiliary verb and the other one is going to be conjugated “estoy” it means “I am” this structure is similar to English, but if you notice this phrase doesn’t have the pronoun “I”.

In Spanish we have the conjugated verb, so we don’t use pronouns in different situations. However, I do recommend you to use pronouns, if you are in a basic level.

Another thing that you have to know about Spanish is that it really doesn’t matter if you have two or three vowels together each one is going to have a sound so in this case the word “aprendiendo” has two vowels together and each one has its sound.

There’s another thing that you don’t have in English, we have this in “ñ” letter and sound, Italian and French have it, I mean, the sound, but it’s not that complicated once you get used to it (We recommend you watching the video at the end of this page to hear all the sounds).

Spanish phrase for beginners #2 - I don't understand

Another phrase that is going to help you is “No entiendo” – “I don’t understand”. Because, if you’re in the middle of the conversation and you don’t understand something, you can just drop this phrase. You can say, “Lo siento, no entiendo” – “Sorry, I don’t understand” and people (hopefully) will repeat it.

You may think that learning phrases is not that useful, but if you’re on a basic level and you’re going to start practicing, there’s no harm in learning these phrases to get by on a Spanish speaking situation.

You may not understand the grammar completely, but this is going to make your life easier in the beginning.

Spanish phrase for beginners #3 - Could you speak slowly, please?

The next phrase is “¿Podría hablar más lento por favor?” – «Could you speak slowly, please?» There’s a possibility that you already know this but in Spanish the formal “you” and the informal “you” are different.

For example, in this phrase the “Podría” which is “Could” is conjugated in formal way and I wanted to keep it like that because it’s almost certain that you will use it a lot with strangers and that is something that you have to know, we use the pronoun “Usted”, we use it in professional relationships or when you don’t know the person (strangers) or when talking to elderly people.

If I come back to the professional scenario, you may use it when speaking to your boss or in restaurant when addressing waiters, etcetera.

It really doesn’t matter if you don’t use the formal, there won’t be a big problem over that, because we understand that you’re learning, but once you already know the language it’s better for you to use it accordingly.

Spanish phrase for beginners #4 - Could you write it down, please?

Next phrase is “¿Puedes escribirlo por favor?” – “Could you write it down, please?” Remember I told you about the formal and informal? Well, in this phrase you’re using informal, so you would use “Tu” (informal YOU).

Okay, so in these phrases, I am not using pronouns, because we want to sound natural. In this case, the pronoun would be “Tu”. Then, if we wanted to state it with the pronoun, it would look like this “¿Tu puedes escribirlo, por favor?”, it’s correct, people will understand, but it doesn’t sound natural.

Spanish phrase for beginners #5 - How do you say...?

The fifth phrase is “¿Cómo se dice…?” – “How do you say…?” If you’re not sure about a word, this is a go to question. Remember that this depends on the region, because there are a lot of people that don’t speak English, sometimes you’ll have to mimic your way out of situations in Spanish speaking countries.

In the case you’re in a city like Tijuana, Mexico (for example) there are more chances on encountering bilingual people. Now, you can either stay in the comfort zone and talk in English or use this opportunity to practice your Spanish and get as much experience out of this scenario with a bilingual person.

There’s something else that you have to know about this phrase. You’ll see the word “Cómo” in three forms, first, like in this phrase, it works to formulate questions (how), second is a conjugated verb (eat), and the last one is to compare (like).

At this point, you may feel a bit overwhelmed, remember this article is for you to dive in right away into the language. However, it’s important that you get a solid structure on you learning process, so feel free to send us your questions.

Spanish phrase for beginners #6 - Give me a moment

Finally, the last phrase of this article is “Dame un momento” – “Give me a moment” Maybe because you don’t have an answer right away or you want to think through the phrase you’re about to say. This one is going to give you time for you to create the phrase, don’t overthink too much, follow the flow of the conversation.

The context will help you and, I think, if you are honest with the person you’re talking to, he/she/they will always help you out.

How to pronounce these phrases (Spanish pronunciation)

GREAT, so we finished with the phrases we had for you in this article. HOWEVER, we created a video for you to finish this Spanish learning session. Actually, it’s a live we did on Facebook, this will help you with the pronunciation of the phrases we shared with you today.

If you want to get serious about learning Spanish, you can head on to our Spanish classes in Tijuana or online Spanish classes. Feel free to send us any doubt you may have.