Cheatsheet: Foundations
Foundations
The Alphabet and Spelling
| Point | Rule | Example | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| 27 letters | five vowels, a, e, i, o, u; ñ is a letter of its own | niño / español | child / Spanish |
| Letter names | each name is a short word; spelling aloud uses the names | ¿Cómo se escribe Ana? — a, ene, a. | How do you spell Ana? — A, N, A. |
| v and w | v is called ve, and w doble uv is called uve, and w uve doble | ¿Con be o con ve?¿Con be o con uve? | With a b or with a v? |
| Two letters | ch / ll / rr / qu / gu write one sound with two letters | chico / calle / perro | boy / street / dog |
| Silent h | h is never pronounced | hola / hora | hello / hour |
| c and qu | c before a, o, u, qu before e, i, for one sound, /k/ | casa / queso | house / cheese |
| g and gu | g before a, o, u, gu before e, i, for one sound, /g/ | gato / guitarra | cat / guitar |
| z and c | z before a, o, u, c before e, i, for one sound, /s/z before a, o, u, c before e, i, for one sound, /θ/ | zapato / cine | shoe / cinema |
| j and g | j before any vowel and g before e, i sound the same, /x/ | jamón / gente | ham / people |
| b and v | one sound, /b/, with two spellings; each word keeps its own | bueno / vino | good / wine |
| ll and y | ll and y before a vowel sound the same, /ʝ/ | calle / yo | street / I |
| Small letters | days, months, languages and nationalities start with a small letter | Los lunes estudio inglés. | On Mondays I study English. |
| ¿ ? / ¡ ! | questions and exclamations open with an upside-down mark | ¿Dónde vives? / ¡Hola! | Where do you live? / Hello! |
| Trap | the u of gue and gui is silent; ü makes it sound | pingüino | penguin |
Sounds and Stress
| Point | Rule | Example | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vowels | five vowels, a, e, i, o, u, each with one short, clear sound | banana | banana |
| r / rr | one r between vowels is a single tap; rr is a trill | pero / perro | but / dog |
| j / ge / gi | a strong, rough h from the back of the throat | jardín / gente | garden / people |
| ñ | like ny in English canyon | mañana | tomorrow |
| z / ce / ci | sound /s/, like s | zapato / ciudad | shoe / city |
| z / ce / ci | sound /θ/, like th in English think | zapato / ciudad | shoe / city |
| ll / y | one sound, /ʝ/, close to y in English yes | calle / yo | street / I |
| A1Stress | ending in a vowel, n or s: the next-to-last syllable | casa / hablan | house / they speak |
| A1Stress | ending in any other consonant: the last syllable | hablar / ciudad | to speak / city |
| A1Written accent | marks a stress that breaks those two rules | café / árbol / música | coffee / tree / music |
| A1Words written alike | an accent tells apart two words that are written the same | Tú tienes tu libro. | You have your book. |
| A2Words written alike | sí and si, mí and mi follow the same rule | Sí, es para mí. | Yes, it's for me. |
| A1Trap | question words always carry an accent | ¿Dónde vives? | Where do you live? |
Numbers
| Point | Rule | Example | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0–15 | each has its own word | once / quince | eleven / fifteen |
| 16–29 | one word: dieci- or veinti- and the unit | dieciséis / veintidós | sixteen / twenty-two |
| 31–99 | the tens, y, the unit: three words | treinta y uno / cuarenta y cinco | thirty-one / forty-five |
| 100 | cien alone or before a noun, ciento before another number | cien euros / ciento veinte | a hundred euros / a hundred and twenty |
| 1000 | mil takes no un and stays the same after any number | mil / tres mil | a thousand / three thousand |
| A1Hundreds | from 200, they agree with the noun | doscientas personas | two hundred people |
| A1millón | a noun: millones in the plural, de before what it counts | dos millones de personas | two million people |
| A1uno | un before a masculine noun, una before a feminine one | veintiún años / veintiuna casas | twenty-one years / twenty-one houses |
| A1Ordinals | primero to décimo; they agree with the noun and go before it | la segunda calle | the second street |
| A2primer / tercer | primero and tercero drop -o before a masculine singular noun | el primer día / el tercer piso | the first day / the third floor |
| Trap | 500, 700 and 900 change their first part | quinientos / setecientos / novecientos | five hundred / seven hundred / nine hundred |
| Trap | no y after the hundreds | ciento veinte / doscientos cinco | a hundred and twenty / two hundred and five |
Days, Months and Dates
| Point | Rule | Example | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| Days | the week starts on lunes and ends on domingo | lunes / domingo | Monday / Sunday |
| On a day | el before a day, with no preposition; los for every week | el lunes / los lunes | on Monday / on Mondays |
| Months | twelve months, from enero to diciembre | enero / diciembre | January / December |
| In a month | en before a month, a season or a year | en mayo / en verano | in May / in summer |
| Small letters | days and months start with a small letter | Hoy es martes. | Today is Tuesday. |
| The date | el + number + de + month; the day is a plain number | el 22 de marzo | 22 March |
| The first | el primero / el uno for the first day of the month: both are correct | el primero de mayo | 1 May |
| Years | a whole number, with de before it in a full date | el 2 de mayo de 2026 | 2 May 2026 |
| Asking | ¿Qué día es hoy? for the day, ¿Qué fecha es hoy? for the date | ¿Qué día es hoy? — Hoy es martes. | What day is it today? — Today is Tuesday. |
| Written dates | day, month, year | 04/07/2026 → el 4 de julio de 2026 | |
| Trap | a date takes el, never en | Llego el 3 de junio. | I arrive on 3 June. |
Telling the Time
| Point | Rule | Example | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| Asking | ask ¿Qué hora es? and answer with es or son | ¿Qué hora es? — Son las tres. | What time is it? — It's three o'clock. |
| The hour | es la una; every other hour takes son las | Es la una. / Son las dos. | It's one o'clock. / It's two o'clock. |
| en punto | a full hour | Son las cinco en punto. | It's five o'clock. |
| Minutes 1–30 | the hour, y, the minutes | las dos y diez | ten past two |
| cuarto / media | cuarto is 15 minutes, media is 30 | las tres y cuarto / las tres y media | quarter past three / half past three |
| A1Minutes 31–59 | the next hour, menos, the minutes left | las cuatro menos diez / las cuatro menos cuarto | ten to four / quarter to four |
| A1Minutes 31–59 | also the minutes left, para, the next hour | diez para las cuatro | ten to four |
| A1a las | a las and the time for when something happens; a la una | La clase empieza a las nueve. | The class starts at nine. |
| A1Parts of the day | de la mañana / de la tarde / de la noche after the time | las ocho de la noche | eight in the evening |
| A124 hours | speech uses 12 hours; timetables use 24 | 18:30 → las dieciocho treinta | |
| Trap | the hour always takes la or las | Son las tres. | It's three o'clock. |