Lesson 1 — ¿Cómo te llamas?

Dialogue

Raúl: ¡Hola! Me llamo Raúl. ¿Cómo te llamas?
Sofía: Hola, Raúl. Me llamo Sofía. ¿Cómo se escribe Raúl?
Raúl: Se escribe R-A-Ú-L. ¿Qué tal?
Sofía: Bien. ¿Y tú?
Raúl: Fenomenal, gracias.
Sofía: ¡Qué fantástico! Adiós, Raúl.
Raúl: ¡Hasta luego!

Hello!

Notes
Hasta means "until"; luego means "then"; you can translate it as "see you later" or "see you soon". In the same vein, hasta mañana means "see you tomorrow".
Note the upside-down exclamation (¡) and question marks (¿); you will learn more about them in lesson three.
Examples
¡Buenos días, clase!
Good morning, class!
Hola, ¿Qué tal hoy?
Hello, how are you today?
Adiós, ¡hasta luego!
Bye, see you soon!

What's your name?

To ask someone else's name in Spanish, use Cómo, then one of the phrases in the table below (¿Cómo te llamas? is "What's your name?").

In Spanish, to say your name, you use the reflexive verb llamarse, which means literally to call oneself (Me llamo Robert is "My name is Robert").

Notes
"Os llamáis" is only used in Spain. In most other Spanish-speaking countries, "Se llaman" is used in both familiar and formal situations.
Examples
Me llamo Chris
My name is Chris
Se llaman Peter y Robert
They're called Peter and Robert.
¿Cómo te llamas?
What's your name?
¿Cómo se llama?
What's his/her name?

How are you?

Note
For some of the words above, there are two options. The one ending in "o" is for males, and the one ending in "a" is for females. It's all to do with agreement, which is covered in future chapters.

Examples
Roberto: Hola, Rosa. ¿Qué tal?
Hello, Rose. How are you?
Rosa: Muy bien, gracias. ¿Y tú, Roberto?
Very well, thanks. And you, Robert?
Roberto: Bien también. ¡Hasta luego!
I'm good too. See you later!

The Spanish alphabet

Here is the normal Spanish alphabet. However, words aren't alphabetized by it. Please read the notes and sections below. (Blue letters are a part of the normal English alphabet).

Although the above will help you understand, proper pronunciation of Spanish consonants is a bit more complicated:

Most of the consonants are pronounced as they are in American English with these exceptions:

b like the English b at the start of a word and after m or n, (IPA: /b/). Elsewhere, especially between vowels, it is softer, often like a blend between English v and b.
c before i and e like English th in “think” (in Latin America is like English s) (European IPA: /θ/; Latin American IPA: /s/)
c before a, o, u and other consonants, like English k (IPA: /k/)
The same sound for e and i is written like que and qui, where the u is silent (IPA: /ke/ and /ki/).
ch like ch in “cheese” (IPA: /tʃ)
d between vowels (even if it starts a word following a word ending in a vowel) or at the end of a word, like English d in dental (IPA: /d/)
g before e or i like the Scottish pronunciation of ch in “loch” (IPA: /x/)
g before a, o, u, like g in “get” (IPA: /g/)
The same sound for e and i is written like gue and gui, where the u is silent (IPA: /ge/ and /gi/).
h is always silent (except in the digraph ch)
j like the h in hotel, or like the Scottish pronunciation of ch in "loch" (IPA: /h/ or /x/)
ll is pronounced like gli in Italian "famiglia," or as English y in “yes” (IPA: /ʎ/)
ñ like nio in “onion” (or gn in French cognac) (IPA: /ɲ/)
q like the English k; occurs only before ue or ui (IPA: /k/)
r at the beginning of a word or when doubled (rr), it is pronounced as a full trill (IPA: /r/), elsewhere it is a single-tap trill (IPA: /ɾ/)
v is pronounced like b, there is no distinction whatsoever between B and V. (IPA: /b/)
z like the English th (in Latin America, like English s) (European IPA: /θ/; Latin American IPA: /s/)

How do you spell that?

Examples
Roberto: Buenos días. Me llamo Roberto. ¿Cómo te llamas?
Good day. My name is Robert. What's your name?
Benjamín: Hola. Me llamo Benjamín. ¿Cómo se escribe Roberto?
Hello. I'm Benjamin. How do you spell Robert?
Roberto: Se escribe R (de Rioja); O (de Orangután); B (de Barcelona); E (de España); R (de Rioja); T (de Tigre); O (de Orangután).
It's spelt R (as in Rioja); O (as in Orangutan); B (as in Barcelona); E (as in Spain); R (as in Rioja); T (as in Tiger); O (as in Orangutan).
Benjamín: Muchas gracias. ¡Adiós, Roberto!
Many thanks. Goodbye, Robert.

Summary

In this lesson, you have learned

How to greet people (Hola; buenos días; adiós).
How to introduce yourself (Me llamo Rosa).
How to introduce others (Se llama Roberto).
How to say how you are (Fenomenal; fatal; bien).
How to spell your name (Se escribe P-E-T-E-R).
How to ask others about any of the above (¿Cómo te llamas?; ¿Cómo estás?; ¿Cómo se escribe?).

点击进入 Lesson 2 — ¿Cuándo es tu cumpleaños?  >>