Basic English course for Spanish speakers

This course is built for Spanish speakers who want usable beginner English, not just abstract rules. English at the A1 beginner level usually starts with greetings, numbers, age, everyday vocabulary, and very simple sentence patterns such as subject + verb + object . For a Spanish speaker, that is not quite enough. The real beginner problem is not only learning what English says, but learning where English works differently from Spanish.

So this page is built around four priorities.

Pronunciation and spelling traps. English spelling is much less predictable than Spanish spelling, so beginners cannot trust the written word letter by letter .
Core grammar for simple sentences. You need a small set of structures that you can reuse many times: I am..., She works..., Do you like...?, Where do you live? .
Survival conversation. Greetings, introductions, asking for help, numbers, time, and simple personal information are the fastest route to usable English .
High-frequency vocabulary with Spanish interference. Some words look familiar but behave differently, and some easy-looking English patterns cause repeated errors for Spanish speakers, especially pronunciation, prepositions, and false friends .

The important idea is simple: many beginner mistakes are predictable. They are not a sign that you are bad at English. They are usually the result of carrying over strong habits from Spanish into a language that organizes sound, spelling, and grammar in a different way. Once you can see those patterns, English becomes much easier to build and much easier to hear.

English sounds and spelling that confuse Spanish speakers

For many Spanish speakers, the first wall in English is not grammar. It is hearing and producing sounds that Spanish does not organize in the same way. Spanish is more phonetic: you usually read a word and have a strong idea of how to say it. English is not like that . That is why a beginner can know a word on paper and still fail to recognize it in speech.

A good way to think about this: Spanish often trains the eye first. English often forces you to train the ear first.

Several pronunciation problems are especially common for Spanish speakers:

Short vs long vowels. English often changes meaning with vowel length and quality. ship and sheep are different words. The trap is to hear both through the five-vowel system of Spanish, where that distinction is much weaker.
/ɪ/ vs /iː/. This is the classic ship vs sheep contrast. The short vowel in ship is shorter and more relaxed. The long vowel in sheep is tenser and longer.
The English h sound. In Spanish, written h is silent. In English, hello begins with a real breath sound. If you drop it, the word may still be guessed, but your listening suffers because you are not expecting the sound .
b/v perception. Many Spanish speakers hear and produce English b and v too similarly. In English, berry and very begin differently. The lower lip touches the upper teeth for v.
Final consonants. English often keeps strong consonants at the end of words: big, cat, work, need. Spanish speakers often soften them, drop them, or add an extra vowel after them .
Written form vs spoken form. A word may look simple and still sound surprising. That is why beginners must learn many common words as sound chunks, not spelling puzzles .

The trap here is to think, "If I know the letters, I know the word." In English, that is often false. A better beginner rule is this:

First learn how the word sounds. Then connect the spelling to that sound.

That habit changes everything. It improves listening, speaking, and memory at the same time.

Spelling is not pronunciation in English

This is one of the biggest mindset shifts for a Spanish speaker. In Spanish, spelling usually gives you a reliable road to pronunciation. In English, spelling often gives you only a hint .

Look at a few very common beginner words:

one — does not sound like it looks
two — the w is silent
have — the final e is not pronounced like a separate vowel
does — sounds very different from its spelling
people — common word, irregular sound pattern

These are not advanced exceptions. These are survival words. You meet them immediately in beginner English, which is why reading English like Spanish creates so much frustration .

A useful rule for beginners:

Learn the word as a whole unit.
Repeat it aloud many times.
Connect the written form only after the sound feels familiar.

For example, do not decode people letter by letter every time you see it. Store it as one chunk: people. Same with does, have, and one. This is faster than fighting English spelling every time.

The goal is not perfect pronunciation on day one. The goal is to stop trusting the letters too much.

Stress and rhythm in simple English sentences

Spanish and English do not move with the same rhythm. Spanish tends to give syllables a more even beat. English gives more force to the important words and reduces the less important ones.

In a short sentence like I WANT a COFfee, the strong beats fall on want and coffee. In SHE WORKS at HOME, the strong beats fall on she, works, and home, while at is weaker.

This matters because natural English is not just correct words in correct order. It is also a pattern of stress. If every word receives the same force, the sentence may be understandable, but it sounds less natural and can be harder to follow in fast conversation.

A good beginner rule:

Content words usually carry stress: nouns, main verbs, adjectives, important adverbs.
Function words are often weaker: articles, prepositions, auxiliary verbs, pronouns in unstressed positions.

Examples:

I LIVE in MADrid.
She WORKS at HOME.
We LIKE this RES-taurant.
He NEEDS some HELP.

The trap here is to pronounce every word carefully and equally. That feels safe, but English often becomes clearer when you do the opposite: stress the key words and relax the rest.

Building simple English sentences

Once pronunciation stops feeling mysterious, the next step is sentence building. A beginner does not need all of English grammar. A beginner needs a small machine that can produce many useful sentences.

That machine has a few essential parts:

a subject: I, you, she, they
a verb: am, is, work, live, like
a complement or object: tired, at home, coffee, in Madrid

From those parts, you can already build real communication:

I am tired.
She is my friend.
We live in Madrid.
They like music.

This sounds simple, but Spanish speakers often transfer habits from Spanish that cause early errors:

dropping the subject because Spanish allows it
putting the adjective after the noun
forgetting do in present simple questions
omitting articles where English expects them

So the goal is not to memorize grammar terms. The goal is to build a few repeatable sentence patterns until they become automatic.

Subject pronouns and the verb be

English normally wants the subject to be visible. Spanish can say a complete sentence without an explicit subject because the verb ending often shows the person. English usually cannot. That is why I am tired is normal, but am tired is not.

The basic subject pronouns are:

I
you
he
she
it
we
they

With the verb be, the present forms are:

I am
you are
he is
she is
it is
we are
they are

Now build from them.

Affirmative

I am tired.
She is my friend.
They are at home.

Negative

To make the sentence negative, add not.

I am not tired.
He is not here.
We are not ready.

Questions

With be, the verb moves before the subject.

Are they at home?
Is she your teacher?
Am I late?

This is worth noticing because beginners often try to build every question the same way. But be has its own pattern. You do not say Do you are ready? You say Are you ready?

That one contrast saves many mistakes.

Present simple with everyday verbs

After be, the next big tool is the present simple with common verbs such as live, work, like, want, and need. These verbs let you talk about routine, preference, and basic facts.

Start with the easy pattern:

I work here.
You live in Barcelona.
We like coffee.
They need help.

Now the important beginner trap: with he, she, and it, English usually adds -s to the verb.

He works here.
She likes music.
It needs water.

This looks small, but it matters. Spanish speakers often omit that third-person singular -s, especially in speech. They say He work here because the meaning is still clear. But standard English needs He works here.

A practical way to remember it:

With I, you, we, they, the verb stays simple. With he, she, it, add -s.

This pattern gives you a lot of power very quickly:

I live in Madrid.
She works in a bank.
He likes football.
They want a taxi.

That is already enough for identity, routine, likes, needs, and daily life.

Articles, adjectives, and basic word order

English word order is stricter than Spanish. The default beginner pattern is:

subject + verb + object
article + adjective + noun

So:

I have a small house.
She wants a red car.
They live in a big city.

For a Spanish speaker, two habits cause repeated errors.

1. Adjectives usually come before the noun

English says:

a red car
a small house
an interesting book

Not:

a car red
a house small

The trap is to copy the Spanish order. English usually wants the adjective first.

2. Articles matter

English uses a, an, and the constantly.

a book
an apple
the teacher

Spanish speakers sometimes drop the article because the sentence still feels understandable. But English often sounds incomplete without it. Compare:

I have car → incorrect
I have a car → correct

A quick rule:

Use a/an when the thing is one item and not specific yet.
Use the when both people know which thing you mean.

Even at beginner level, getting this habit early makes your English sound much more solid.

Making questions and short answers

A beginner needs questions early, because conversation depends on them. English has two basic question patterns here: questions with be and questions with do.

Questions with be

Move be before the subject.

Are you ready?
Is she at home?
What is your name?
Where are they?

Questions with do

With most other present simple verbs, English uses do or does.

Do you live here?
Do they like coffee?
Where do you work?
What do you need?

For he, she, and it, use does.

Does he work here?
Does she like music?

The trap here is very common: Spanish speakers often try to ask a question using only intonation, or they forget do. So they say:

You live here?
Where you work?

These may be understood in some informal situations, but standard beginner English needs:

Do you live here?
Where do you work?

Short answers

Short answers make conversation faster and more natural.

Do you live here? — Yes, I do. / No, I don't.
Is she ready? — Yes, she is. / No, she isn't.
Are they at home? — Yes, they are. / No, they aren't.

Notice that English short answers repeat the helper: do, is, are. That is a habit worth copying from the start.

Everyday survival English

Grammar becomes real when it helps you survive a basic interaction. In the first weeks of study, you do not need elegant language. You need language that works in ordinary situations.

That means being able to:

greet someone
introduce yourself
ask for repetition or help
say numbers, time, and prices
order or buy simple things
talk about family, work, and where you live

Think of this as communication before complexity. A beginner who can say Hello, my name is Ana. I am from Spain. I live in Madrid. Can you help me? already has useful English. The sentences are short, but they open real conversation.

The best practice at this stage is not isolated vocabulary lists. It is small reusable exchanges. Learn language in pairs and mini-dialogues:

Hello. How are you?
I am fine, thank you.
What is your name?
My name is Carlos.

That is how beginner English becomes usable instead of decorative.

Greetings, introductions, and polite basics

This is the minimum social starter pack. With a few phrases, you can begin, continue, and repair a simple interaction.

Greetings

Hello
Hi
Good morning
Good afternoon
Good evening

Introductions

My name is Lucia.
I am Pablo.
Nice to meet you.
I am from Spain.
I live in Madrid.

Polite basics

Please
Thank you
Sorry
Excuse me

These words do different jobs:

please makes a request polite
thank you shows gratitude
sorry apologizes
excuse me gets attention, interrupts politely, or asks someone to move

A beginner can already build a full first-contact exchange:

Hello.
My name is Elena.
Nice to meet you.
I am from Spain.
I live in Madrid.
Thank you.

Short. Clear. Enough to begin.

Numbers, time, and everyday information

Numbers appear everywhere: phone numbers, addresses, prices, times, dates, age, room numbers, bus numbers. That is why beginners must practice them early, not later.

Numbers and age

I am twenty-eight years old.
My phone number is...
Two coffees, please.

The difficulty is not only saying the number. It is hearing it quickly when another person says it at natural speed.

Time

It is three thirty.
It is nine o'clock.
What time is it?

Prices

It costs ten pounds.
How much is it?

Dates and days

Today is Monday.
My class is on Friday.
My birthday is on 12 May.

The trap here is pronunciation and comprehension. Fast numbers are easy to miss, especially in phone numbers, prices, and times. So beginners should practice them in whole expressions, not as isolated math facts.

For example, do not only practice ten. Practice:

ten pounds
ten thirty
room ten
bus ten

That is closer to real life, and real life is the point.