Spanish vocabulary lists by topic: food, travel, work, the body and health, emotions, the daily routine, days and months, and the most common nouns and verbs. Every noun comes with el or la, and each list adds what a bare list misses: gender patterns, Spain versus Latin American words and sentences from real Contos stories. Start with the common nouns.
- Spanish taught
- Spain Spanish; Latin American words noted where they differ
- List size
- 40 to 100 words, printed in full
- Nouns
- Always with el or la
- Beyond the list
- Gender rules and exceptions, false friends, phrases built from the words
- In context
- Lines quoted from Contos chapters on every list
- The most common Spanish nouns: 100 everyday words with el and la100 everyday Spanish nouns with their articles, the gender rules and exceptions (la mano, el día, la foto), plurals, and lines from Contos stories.
- The most common Spanish verbs: 100 to learn first100 everyday Spanish verbs in the infinitive, with ser and estar, stem changes, gustar, coger vs tomar and real sentences from Contos stories.
- Spanish daily routine vocabulary: 60 words from waking up to bedtime60 Spanish words for your day: reflexive verbs like levantarse, chores, weather, how-often words, greetings and lines from real Contos stories.
- Days of the week and months in SpanishThe Spanish days of the week and months, why they take no capital letter, how to write dates, seasons and time phrases, with real story lines.
- Spanish words for emotions and personality: 60 words60 Spanish words for feelings and character, with ser vs estar, tener miedo, echar de menos and real lines from Contos stories.
- Spanish food vocabulary: 60 words, from el pan to la cuenta60 Spanish food and restaurant words with el/la, Latin American alternatives, phrases for ordering, and real lines from Contos stories.
- Spanish words for the body and health: 50 words50 Spanish words for parts of the body and health, how to say what hurts with doler, Spain vs Latin American terms and real story lines.
- Spanish travel vocabulary: 60 words for airports, hotels and directions60 Spanish travel words for flights, hotels, roads and directions, with Spain vs Latin America differences and lines from real Contos stories.
- Useful everyday Spanish verbs: 100 more to learn100 more everyday Spanish verbs, from estar de acuerdo to coleccionar: the prepositions they take, -zco and -uyo forms, and real story lines.
- Spanish work and office vocabulary: 60 words60 Spanish words for jobs, offices, meetings and pay, with Spain vs Latin America terms, feminine job titles and lines from Contos stories.
Which Spanish word list should you start with?
Begin with the 100 most common nouns and 100 most common verbs. They turn up in every story whatever the topic, and the verbs page covers ser and estar, which you need from your first sentence.
Then choose by your week. Travelling to Spain? Travel and food. Using Spanish at work? Work and the office. Want to talk about yourself? Daily routine and emotions. Once the first hundred verbs feel easy, 100 more useful verbs is the next step.
How do you learn a topic list so it sticks?
A list gives you the words; a story gives you a reason to remember them. Try this with any list here:
- Read the list once for meaning, saying every noun with its article: la mano, el día, never just mano or día.
- Read a chapter at your level and notice which of the words appear. Each list quotes a few story lines to start you off.
- Save as flashcards only the words you met in the story. A word you have seen in a scene is easier to recall than one from a column.
- Come back to the list a week later and count how many you now know without looking.
Spanish packs everyday words into short sentences. This A1 line has a home, a floor and fresh bread in ten words, and piso here is the Spain word for a flat:
En el piso de la cuarta planta huele a pan fresco.Frequently asked questions
How many Spanish words do I need?
For easy stories, a few hundred go a long way. Contos moves readers up to A2 at 500 known words, B1 at 1,500 and B2 at 4,000. The guide how many Spanish words you need looks at the research behind numbers like these.
Why learn el or la with every noun?
The article tells you the gender, and gender changes the words around the noun: el piso nuevo, la casa nueva. Most nouns in -o are masculine and most in -a feminine, but el día, la mano and la foto break the pattern, so learn the article as part of the word.
Are these lists Spain Spanish or Latin American?
Spain Spanish first. Where Latin America uses a different everyday word, such as computadora for ordenador or celular for móvil, the list pages point it out.
Where can I practise these words in context?
In graded stories. Read a free chapter at your level on Contos and you will meet many of these words in use; tap any word to see its meaning and save it as a flashcard.