Lección 5: Vocabulario

24 most common words in Spanish

Rank	Spanish	English	Connection	Part of sentence
1	el / la	the	———-	noun phrase (article)
2	de	of, from	derived	connector (preposition)
3	que	that, which	question	connector (conjunction)
4	y	and	———-	connector (conjunction)
5	A	to, AT	AT	connector (preposition)
6	EN	IN, ON		connector (preposition)
7	UN / una	a, an	ONE	noun phrase (article)
8	ES	IS	ser (to be, permanent)	verb phrase (verb)
9	se	oneself (reflexive)	-SELF	verb phrase (pronoun)
10	NO	NO		verb phrase (adverb)
11	hay	there is/ are	HABER (to HAVE) as in past done, been, etc.	verb phrase (verb)
12	POR	by, FOR, through	FOR, PER	connector (preposition)
13	con	with	connected	connector (preposition)
14	su	his, her, their, your	———-	noun phrase (adjective that acts like article)
15	para	for, to, in order to	parasol	connector (preposition)
16	como	like, as	question mode	connector (conjunction)
17	está	is	estar (to be, temporary) STATE (initial S → Es)	verb phrase (verb)
18	tiene	has	tener (to have and hold) -TAIN	verb phrase (verb)
19	le	third person indirect object	—————-	verb phrase (pronoun)
20	lo / la	the/ third person masculine direct object	——————	verb phrase (pronoun)
21	todo	all, every	TOTAL	noun phrase (adjective that acts like article)
22	pero	but, yet, except	—————-	connector (conjunction)
23	más	more	MASS	noun phrase (adjective that acts like article)
24	hacer	to do; to make	facilitar (facilitate) (Latin origin, F → H)	verb phrase (verb)

Practice LISTENING about topics by individuals from a variety of countries at LAITS Spanish Proficiency Exercises. There are 6 levels and each level has 15 topics. Each topic has an example of at least 4 different native speakers and indicates their city of origin. Each audio has a transcript and a translation into English. For example:

Listen and read along as Alejandra tells us what she likes to do… https://www.laits.utexas.edu/spe/vid/beg05d.html

1. Read through the transcript in Spanish (S) and make note of words (especially common vocabulary) that you recognize. 2. Read the English translation (E). 3. Make connections and note phrases that are helpful for you. Here is an example with her first phrase of connections that can be made:

part of sentence:	Verb	Noun phrase	Connector	Verb phrase
original phrase:	“Hay	cuatro cosas	que	me encantan hacer!”
natural translation:	There are	four things	that	I love to do!
translation using connections between the two languages:	HAVE	QUADRI- CAUSES	QUEST-	to ME they are ENCHANTing to do (FACILITATE)

Practice LISTENING to natural conversations on a variety of essential topics at Langmedia. You can browse conversations by country: Mexico, Spain, Argentina, Nicaragua, and Ecuador. You can also browse by topic of conversation. These conversations are good practice for listening to language as it occurs naturally which can be very difficult for beginners. Each audio has a downloadable pdf of the transcript and translation into English. For example:

Listen for common and conversational vocabulary in these brief conversations in Mexico… https://langmedia.fivecolleges.edu/lbc-subtopic/124104

Common Conversational Terms

common	English	=	Spanish	common
please	FOR	FAVOR	POR	por favor
PARDON			PERDÓN
(very) pleased (to meet you)	A PLEASURE		UN PLACER	(mucho) gusto (conocerle)
	HELLO		HOLA
how	what way (MODE)		que MODO	COMO
to be, you are	STATE of being (been)		ESTADO	estar, está(s)
I/ you have	to HAVE (ie: been, existed…)		HABER	he/ ha(s)
I, you, we (let’s) go	CARAVAN (they go)	VAN	CARAVANA	voy, vas, vamo(no)s
we (will) see each other	to VISIT–> to see		VISITAR–> ver	nos vemos
Thank you	GRACES		GRACIAS
(very) good, ok, well	BENEFIT		BENEFICIO	(muy) bien
good morning, good afternoon/ evening/ night	BENE- DIEM/ TARDY/ NOCT-		BENE- DIA/ TARDE/ NOCHE	buenos dias, buenas tardes/ noches
good-bye				adiós
same to you	EQUALLY		IGUAL(MENTE)
(see you) until later				(hasta) luego

A YouTube channel that was popular with my high school students is called Easy Spanish. Each video focuses on a topic and the creators interview a variety of people on the street in a given Spanish-speaking city. It is a good opportunity to LISTEN to natural language in a question and response (interview) format. The audio is captioned and translated.

Although proper Spanish and the most frequent vocabulary stay mostly consistent, each region where Spanish is spoken has its own variations in less frequent vocabulary and conversational terms. The following is a list of national anthems, independence days, writers and music (with lyrics) per Spanish-speaking country.

Practice LISTENING, VOCABULARY and GRAMMAR through a variety of online activities and quizzes that utilize a variety of natural language sources from throughout the Spanish-speaking world, at VER-TAAL.

Practice VOCABULARY and GRAMMAR through elaborated cultural topics at Spanish Language & Culture.