Spanish · Gender, cognates, accentsHow to learn
Spanish vocabulary

The short answer

• Save the phrase you met, not just the word: the noun with el or la⁠, the verb with its preposition (pensar en⁠, depender de).
• Use cognates, but check them: -ción words are usually what they look like; embarazada is not.
• Review on a schedule: a few words a day, seen again after 1, 3, 7 and 21 days, beat long lists read once.

What makes Spanish words easy, and hard

Four things decide how a Spanish word should go into your notebook.

Every noun has a gender

A noun is masculine or feminine, and the article, adjectives and pronouns follow it. Endings help: most nouns in -o are masculine and most in -a are feminine; nouns in -ción⁠, -sión⁠, -dad and -tud are feminine. The exceptions are common words, which is why the article belongs on the card: el día and el mapa are masculine, la mano is feminine, and many words of Greek origin in -ma are masculine (el problema⁠, el tema).

One rule looks like an exception: a feminine noun that starts with a stressed a sound takes el in the singular, but stays feminine. So it is el agua fría and las aguas⁠, el águila and el hacha (Real Academia Española, Diccionario panhispánico de dudas, “el”). Save it as el agua (f.)⁠.

Cognates are a head start

Many English words of Latin origin have Spanish forms that follow patterns: -tion often becomes -ción (nation, nación), -ity becomes -idad (possibility, posibilidad), and -ous becomes -oso (famous, famoso). These words are cheap to learn: you need the pattern and the gender more than the meaning. Spend your reviews on the words that do not follow a pattern.

False friends cost the most

Some words look English and mean something else. Embarazada means pregnant, not embarrassed; actualmente means currently, not actually; a librería is a bookshop (a library is a biblioteca); and in Spain constipado means having a cold (Real Academia Española, Diccionario de la lengua española). Give each one its own card, with the meaning you expected in the usage note, because the wrong meaning will keep coming back until the right one is practised.

Accents change words

Ñ is a letter of its own, so año (year) and ano (anus) are different words. A written accent can separate two words that sound alike: sí (yes) and si (if), tú (you) and tu (your), él (he) and el (the) (RAE, Diccionario panhispánico de dudas, “tilde”). Copy words with their accents from the text you read, and type them that way.

Spain or Latin America

Everyday words differ between countries: a car is a coche in Spain and a carro or auto in much of Latin America; a computer is an ordenador in Spain and a computadora in Latin America; a mobile phone is a móvil or a celular⁠. Pick the variety you hear most and save its word as the main one; add the other in the usage note when you meet it. Both are correct Spanish.

What to put on each card

A Spanish card needs one or two things an English one does not. Here is the layout, using the fields of a Lexpad card; the same works on paper or in any flashcard app.

Where to find your words

• Graded readers written for learners at your level: you meet a few new words a page, in a story you can follow.
• News in Spanish, such as BBC Mundo or RTVE, read slowly: one article a day gives more words than you can keep.
• Series and films with Spanish subtitles, so you can see a word you heard. Pause and save the line.
• Your class or textbook: the words your teacher uses again are the ones you will need.

Pick only the words you met and want to use. To pick words from a text you are reading, paste it into the free text to flashcards tool and tap the ones you don’t know.

How many Spanish words a day

Most learners keep 10 to 15 new words a day going; the reviews they bring are the real cost. Try your own numbers in the spaced repetition calculator, and see roughly how many words each level is estimated to need in CEFR levels for vocabulary. The method itself, step by step: How to memorize vocabulary.

How Lexpad helps with Spanish

Made by the author of this page

A Spanish notebook in Lexpad

• Type el día or la mano and the card keeps it exactly as you wrote it, article included, while AI writes the meanings, examples, IPA, part of speech, a CEFR level and the usual collocations.
• Año and ano are two different words in a Lexpad notebook. La mano and mano are two entries too, so choose one way (with the article) and keep to it.
• Typing answers ignore accents, the tilde of ñ included: a drill will not mark ano wrong for año⁠. Check your accents when the card turns over.
• Write the region or the false friend in the usage note, in More details.
• Save words from Spanish websites with the browser extension, or from a Kindle book with its own import. The app’s own screens are in English.

Open in LexpadAll downloads

Free account, no card. Apps: Mac · Windows · Android · iPhone