Contos has 14 Spanish comedy series, most of them at A1 and A2, so they suit beginners. Two families feud over tomatoes at a Madrid market, a plumber who sings like a creaking door joins a village choir, and two dogs set up their owners on a bench in the Retiro. Chapters 1 and 2 of each are free.
- Comedy series
- 14
- By level
- A1 6 · A2 5 · B1 1 · B2 2
- Chapters
- 84, of which 28 are free
- Chapter length
- 150–426 words (average 244)
- Kinds of comedy
- Mix-ups, feuds, swapped identities, a meddling robot
- Spanish
- Spain Spanish
- A1Comprometida por ErrorEngaged by Mistake · Romance, ComedyMaría vive en un pueblo pequeño cerca de Segovia. Es arquitecta. Es inteligente, es guapa, pero está sola. Su mejor amiga se llama Sofía. Sofía es muy buena, pero…
- A1La Batalla del Mercadillo de San MiguelThe Battle of San Miguel Market · Family, ComedyEs sábado. En el Mercadillo de San Miguel, hace calor. Carmen Moreno está en su puesto de verduras. Javier, su sobrino, llega con cajas de tomates. Carmen ve los…
- A1El Misterio del LunesThe Monday Mystery · Crime, ComedyEs lunes por la mañana. Consuelo busca su bufanda roja en el armario. No está. Consuelo vive desde hace cuarenta años en el mismo edificio de Madrid. Es viuda y…
- A1Un Robot en CasaRobot in the House · Sci-Fi, ComedyEs lunes por la mañana en el piso de la familia Martín. Consuelo y Felipe están nerviosos. Hoy llega Útil, el robot doméstico que compraron en una tienda de…
- A1Las Hermanas GarcíaThe García Sisters · Comedy, FamilySara mira a su hermana gemela Marta en la cocina pequeña. Hace calor. Afuera llueve. Sara está nerviosa. Marta está nerviosa también.
- A1El banco de las ocho y cuartoThe Bench at a Quarter Past Eight · Romance, ComedyEs temprano en el parque del Retiro. Lucía camina con Canela cerca de las rosas. Lucía es tímida y lleva un cuaderno en la mano. Canela no camina: tira de la correa…
- A2El Gato de la Calle CervantesThe Cat of Cervantes Street · Comedy, MysteryMartes por la mañana. Doña Esperanza grita desde la cuarta planta: "¡Señor Whiskers! ¡Gato!" Nadie responde. El gato no está en la casa. Está en la calle, o en…
- A2La Agencia de Don FermínDon Fermín's Agency · Crime, ComedyDon Fermín prepara el café en su pequeña oficina. Las paredes son grises. Hay una foto vieja de la Plaza Mayor en la pared. Abajo, en La Burbujeante, Rosario lava…
- A2El Repartidor de MisteriosThe Delivery Mix-Up · Crime, ComedyMarcos pedalea rápido por las calles de Malasaña. Llueve un poco y tiene prisa. En la cesta de su bicicleta hay dos paquetes idénticos, los dos envueltos en papel…
- A2El Coro de la Casa del PuebloThe Choir of the Village Hall · Comedy, FamilyMarina llegó a la Casa del Pueblo a las seis en punto. Llevaba una carpeta llena de partituras y una sonrisa nerviosa. Pero la puerta estaba cerrada. Buscó la llave…
- A2El recetario de la panadería de la esquinaThe Recipe Book at the Corner Bakery · Crime, ComedySon las siete de la mañana en la Panadería Hermanos Villalba. El horno de leña huele a pan caliente y la plaza empieza a despertar. Lucía está muy cansada, pero…
- B1Las Dos MitadesThe Two Halves · Comedy, FamilyEl bar olía como siempre: a vermut rancio, a croquetas que se enfriaban en la barra, a treinta años de conversaciones que nadie había limpiado de las paredes. Lucía…
- B2Secretos de PlatóStudio Secrets · Comedy, RomanceLos estudios de Televisión Española hierven de energía el lunes por la mañana. El plató de "El Legado" es un caos controlado: cámaras se deslizan sobre raíles,…
- B2La Calle de los SecretosThe Street of Secrets · Crime, ComedyEl martes por la mañana, Javier repartía cartas en la calle Goya cuando vio al chico. No tenía más de dieciocho años, mochila a la espalda, ese aire de quien…
What makes Spanish funny on the page?
Mostly the same things that make English funny: a comparison nobody expected, a straight face, a joke that keeps coming back. The comparison is the easiest to spot, because Spanish builds it with como (like):
Paco era el mejor fontanero del pueblo, pero cantaba como una puerta vieja.
Paco was the best plumber in the village, but he sang like an old door.
El Coro de la Casa del Pueblo (A2), chapter 1. Pero sets up the turn, como delivers it. Paco also turns up late in both free chapters with the same excuse, a leak at Amparo's, and the second time the whole choir laughs.
Some jokes only work in Spanish. Spain has a stock of proverbs built on the pattern Quien mucho…, poco… ("whoever does a lot of X does little Y"), the best known being Quien mucho abarca, poco aprieta, roughly "grasp at too much and you hold on to nothing". The grandfather in a corner bakery has his own versions, and he never opens his eyes to deliver them:
—Quien mucho duerme, poco sabe —responde él, sin abrir los ojos.
"Sleep a lot and you know little," he replies, without opening his eyes.
El recetario de la panadería de la esquina (A2), chapter 1. When his granddaughter asks again in chapter 2, he flips it round: Quien mucho pregunta, poco duerme, "ask a lot and you sleep little".
Why comedy suits beginners
Comedy in these series comes mostly from situations rather than wordplay: a message sent to the wrong person, twins who swap lives for a week, a budget home robot that knows things it shouldn't. You usually know more than the characters do, and that head start does a lot of your reading for you.
It is also a free comprehension test. A joke only lands if you understood the sentence, so if you smile you have followed it. Take Lucía in El banco de las ocho y cuarto, who has a perfect conversation planned in her head: En la vida real solo dice: "Hola". In real life, all she says is "Hola". Short, present tense and funny, at A1.
Funny series also repeat themselves on purpose, and repetition is how vocabulary sticks. A running gag brings the same words back in every chapter without anyone drilling them.
Which funny Spanish story should I read first?
- A1: Comprometida por Error, in which a joke proposal reaches the wrong Marco; La Batalla del Mercadillo de San Miguel, two families at war over a market stall; Las Hermanas García, identical twins who swap lives; or Robo en Casa, with a home robot that solves problems a little too well.
- A2: El Coro de la Casa del Pueblo, a Castilian village choir that must win a contest to keep its hall; El recetario de la panadería de la esquina, with notes in green ink appearing in a bakery's recipe book; or El Gato de la Calle Cervantes, a missing cat and a building full of suspects.
- B1: Las Dos Mitades, in which a brother and sister each inherit half of their mother's recipe book.
- B2: Secretos de Plató, about rivalry and sabotage on the set of a hit television drama.
Most comedy series sit at the beginner end. For the full range of levels, browse every Spanish series or the Spanish romance stories, several of which are romantic comedies.
Frequently asked questions
Will I get the jokes as a beginner?
Most of them. The A1 comedies are funny because of what happens, not because of puns, so you need the plot rather than every word. Proverb jokes and wordplay start to appear at A2.
Which levels is the comedy at?
6 series at A1, 5 at A2, 1 at B1 and 2 at B2. Comedy is strongest at the beginner levels.
Are funny stories good for learning Spanish?
They help in a practical way: you keep reading because you want the next joke, and a story you keep reading is one that keeps bringing words back. Whether comedy beats any other genre for learning is not something the research settles, so pick what you enjoy.
How many comedy chapters are free?
Chapters 1 and 2 of every series on this page, 28 chapters in all. Chapters 3 onwards are part of Contos Premium.