Basic Spanish words

This and the next page list some of the basic 'function' words in Spanish. They provide some of the 'glue' that allow other more 'referential' words (nouns, adjectives) to be put together to form sentences.

Basic function words

This section contains a mixture of common basic function words in Spanish, such as pronouns, adverbs, quantifiers etc, plus a handful of basic verb forms.

a	-	to, at, in (see below for a full list of prepositions)
acá	-	(Latin American) here
ahí	-	there, just there
algo	-	something
alguien	-	somebody, someone
algun...	-	some ... or other
(en) alguna parte	-	somewhere, someplace
allí	-	there, thereabouts, around there
allá	-	there, over there
aquí	-	here
bastante	-	enough
cerca	-	nearby
de	-	of, from (see below for a full list of prepositions)
demasiado	-	too much, excessively
demasiado..., demasiada...	-	to much...
demasiados..., demasiadas...	-	too many...
él	-	he, him
el..., la...	-	the...
ella	-	she, her
ellos, ellas	-	them
entonces	-	then
eso	-	that, it
es²...	-	it/he/she is...
está²...	-	it/he/she is..., it stands...
este..., esta...	-	this...
estos..., estas...	-	these...
esto	-	this (unspecific, meaning 'this fact', 'this thing' etc)
hay...	-	there's..., there are...
lejos	-	far (away)
los..., las...	-	the... (plural)
más	-	more
menos	-	less
mi...	-	my...
mis...	-	my... (plural)
mucho	-	a lot, to a great extent
mucho..., mucha...	-	a lot of...
muchos..., muchas...	-	a lot of..., many...
muy	-	very
nada	-	nothing
nadie	-	nobody, no one
(en) ninguna parte	-	nowhere
no	-	not, n't
no es...	-	it isn't...
no hay...	-	there isn't aby..., there aren't any...
nunca	-	never
otro..., otra...	-	another...
otros..., otras...	-	some more..., other...
poco	-	little, a little bit
poco..., poca...	-	little.., hardly any...
pocos..., pocas...	-	few...
porque	-	because
que	-	that, which, who¹; than
siempre	-	always
si...	-	if..., whether...
su(s)...	-	his/her...; your... (formal)
tan...	-	so...
tanto..., tanta...	-	so much...
tantos..., tantas...	-	so many...
tengo...	-	I have...
todavía	-	still
todo	-	everything
todo el..., toda la...	-	all the...
todos	-	all; everyone
todos los..., todas las...	-	all the... (plural)
tú	-	you (singular, familiar)
tu(s)...	-	your... (familiary)
uno..., una...	-	a...
unos..., unas...	-	some..., a few...
usted	-	you (formal)
ustedes	-	you (plural)
vosotros	-	you (familiar plural, used mainly Spain³)
yo	-	I, me

Suggest a change / cambios sugeridos

Notes:
1. Like French, Spanish does not distinguish between people and things when que is the object in a relative clause: el amigo que vi = the friend (that/who) I saw. Unlike French, que is also used in Spanish for the subject of relatives. Hence: el hombre que viene = the man who is coming.
2. Spanish has two verbs, ser and estar, commonly translated by to be in English. The choice between them is a complex issue, but as a general rule, estar is used (a) whenever 'stand' would be a possible alternative in English, including to indicate location; (b) with adjectives to indicate the 'state' of something; (c) with continuous verb forms (equivalent to English is ...ing). The verb ser (hence es...) is used to state generalities (es posible) or permanent features (es inglés), as well as to form the passive.
3. In younger generations at least, ustedes is predominantly used rather than vosotros in Latin America. Butt & Benjamin (2000) note that "vosotros [...] is found in business correspondence, flowery speeches and similar solemn or formal texts in Latin America" (p. 131). We surveyed Internet usage in as many countries as we could get country-specific results for (Argentina, Chile, Columbia, Cuba, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru and Uruguay). The number of pages using vosotros compared to ustedes ranged from less than 1 per cent (Cuba) to 16 per cent (Uruguay), with around 6 per cent being average.

Spanish Phrases: Basic Spanish words

Basic function words

Question words

Prepositons