Basic Conversational Spanish

Basic conversational Spanish is a bit more than just saying, "Un vaso de vino, por favor" at the local bar, though this could be a reasonable start. Spanish words, or at least some of them, can be a bit like English.

For example, the English words that end in "ty" can be changed to end in "dad" and they will in many cases mean the same thing in Spanish. Take eternity as an example. Change it to eternidad and you've just learned a Spanish word. You can do this with over 3,000 similarly ending words.

The reason this is so is simply because Spanish and English have a Latin root in common. English has other mixtures, such as Anglo Saxon and Norse, while Spanish benefits from Arabic through the Moors who occupied the land in the early medieval era.

There are certain important words you will need to learn for basic conversational Spanish. These include the words for, "hello" (hola), "goodbye" (adios), "see you later" (hasta luego), "thank you" (por favor), "OK" (vale) and "of course" (claro – literally, clear).

There are also certain phrases that you will need to use more often than others, so these should be learned first. These include, "I have" (tengo), "I need" (necesito), "I want" (quiero), "I don't know" (no se), "I think" (creo que), "I don't think" (no creo que), "there is" (hay) and "there isn't" (no hay).

The word for "I" is "yo", but you don't need to include it to say, "I have." The "o" ending on "tengo" shows that the having part is being done by you. This comes from the verb "to have," which is "tener." All Spanish verbs end depending on who is involved. To say "we have" the word becomes "tenemos."

Trying to say things the way we do in English doesn't work very often. The word for "we" is "nosotros," and the word for "have" is "tener." Trying to say, "we have" by saying "nosotros tener" is wrong in Spanish. They may guess what you mean but that's not how to do it in basic conversational Spanish. You have to use the verb declination, which means that "we have" is "tenemos."

You will often come across situations where the correct way to say something in Spanish has the words all mixed up from an English point of view. To say "no problem," for example, is said as, "no hay problema." This is literally, "no there is problem." Don't worry though - the Spanish will know exactly what you mean. Did you notice that "problem" is "problema?" You've just learned another Spanish word that is a very close to its English counterpart.

Basic conversational Spanish doesn't demand that you get it right every time. The Spanish are a very forgiving people when it comes to their language. They may gently correct you when you say something wrong, but that's all part of the learning process. They will be much more impressed by the fact that you are trying to speak to them in their language, rather than trying to make them understand you in English.