Learn Spanish free — 450 lessons, A1 to C2

A free Spanish course of 450 lessons in fifteen modules, from the five pure vowels of A1 to the written register of C2. Every word carries its article and a plain-English respelling in Latin American pronunciation, every lesson its rule, its watch-out line and its audio, and every page ends with practice you can do on paper today. Start at Module 1, lesson 1.

This course is the whole ladder: fifteen modules of thirty lessons each, in a deliberate order — the sound system first, and Spanish rewards that order faster than any other major language, because its five vowels never change and its spelling says what it means; nouns always with their gender; sentences from Lesson 5 on; and by the last module, the written register a proficient user is measured on. It follows the CEFR — the international standard for language ability — band by band: Basic (A1 and A2) in Modules 1–5, Independent (B1 and B2) in Modules 6–10, Proficient (C1 and C2) in Modules 11–15. Module N assumes Module N−1.

It is written for a child working with a parent and for an adult starting alone, on the same pages: universal topics, no baby talk, pronunciation respelled in plain English syllables (Latin American pronunciation as the default).

Reading teaches you ABOUT Spanish; writing it by hand is what makes it stick. Each lesson ends with practice prompts for any sheet of paper — and the companion workbook turns that into a full program: write-in lesson pages, daily practice with built-in review, self-checks and a complete answer key.

Start here — Module 1: 6 units, 30 lessons

Unit 1 · ¡Hola! Sounds and greetings

Greetings by time of day, ñ and the accent mark, the five vowels, the consonant kit, and your first conversation.

Unit 2 · ¿El o la? First nouns

Gender with the o/a shortcut, un/una, twelve classroom words, es-sentences and plurals you can hear.

Unit 3 · Counting and colors

Numbers 0–31, eleven colors, the o→a agreement flip, and hay for describing any room.

11.Numbers 0 to 12
12.Numbers 13 to 31
13.The colors
14.El gato negro — colors after the noun
15.Hay — there is, there are

Unit 4 · Me and my family

Ser and tener in the singular, one-stem family pairs, mi/mis, ages with años, and the three-sentence portrait.

Unit 5 · My body, my pets

Body and animal words, describing with tener, the grande/pequeño agreement pair, framed questions and no.

Unit 6 · My week, my likes

Days of the week, me gusta opinions, your first -ar verbs, position words with está, and the self-portrait.

The whole ladder — 15 modules, 450 lessons

Each module assumes the one before it. Open a module to see its six units and thirty lessons; every lesson page carries its words, its rule, a watch-out line, audio and a printable flashcard sheet.

Module 2 · Basic User, module 2 of 5 — CEFR A1, completed

Unit 1 · El presente — the full present tense

Ser, estar and tener with ALL their persons: nosotros and ustedes join, then the -ar, -er and -ir families, plus ir and hacer.

Unit 2 · Questions

The question words — qué, quién, dónde, cuándo, cómo, cuánto, por qué — and cuál, the asking "which".

Unit 3 · No… and numbers to 100

Real negation drilled — no, nunca, nada, nadie — then the numbers from 32 to 100, with prices in pesos.

Unit 4 · The date and the weather

Months, seasons, saying the full date, and the weather phrases with hace and está that open a Spanish conversation.

Unit 5 · La comida — food

Meals, fruit and vegetables, drinks, hunger and thirst with tener, and ordering politely with quisiera.

Unit 6 · The house and the clock

Rooms and furniture, telling time with es la una and son las dos, and the shape of your own day.

Module 3 · Basic User, module 3 of 5 — CEFR A2, first half

Unit 1 · El pretérito — the past, part I

The A2 gate: one word says what happened. The regular -ar, -er and -ir endings, the giants hacer and ir, questions and negation in the past.

Unit 2 · Ir a + infinitivo, and new verb families

Ir a + an infinitive says what is about to happen; the stem-changing verbs — poder, pensar, jugar, dormir — join the presente.

Unit 3 · Agreement in earnest, and comparing

The -o/-a and -s rules formalized, the adjectives that shorten before a noun, and más… que / menos… que / tan… como for comparing anything.

Unit 4 · En la ciudad — in town

The places of a Spanish-speaking town, asking and giving directions, and al / a la for going places.

Unit 5 · La ropa — clothes and shopping

Clothes with their genders, llevar, sizes and fit, and the shop dialogue from busco to me lo llevo.

Unit 6 · Reading and writing I

Connector words, your first real reading passages with questions, and writing frames for sentences of your own.

Module 4 · Basic User, module 4 of 5 — CEFR A2, completed

Unit 1 · El pretérito, part II — the irregulars

The famous irregular pasts — tuve, estuve, pude, puse, vine, dije, vi, di — and acabar de for what has just happened.

Unit 2 · Los verbos reflexivos — the reflexive day

Wake, wash, dress: the daily verbs Spanish points back at yourself — me levanto, me ducho, me visto, me acuesto.

Unit 3 · El imperfecto — the way things were

The second past tense: era, había, tenía — for how things WERE, while the pretérito says what HAPPENED.

Unit 4 · Lo, la, los, las — object pronouns

Stop repeating nouns: lo veo, la compro, los quiero — the little words that stand for things and people, plus me, te, nos and conmigo.

Unit 5 · De viaje — travel

Planes, tickets and hotels: the words and sentences of a real trip, with en and a for how you go.

Unit 6 · Reading and writing II

Messages, invitations and longer passages — the birthday party unit: reading them, answering them, and writing your own.

Module 5 · Basic User, module 5 of 5 — CEFR A2 mastery + the B1 bridge

Unit 1 · The grand review: people

Family, descriptions, ages, the reflexive day and the classroom — everything about people, replayed at speed.

Unit 2 · The grand review: my world

Food, house, town, clothes, weather, dates and the clock — the vocabulary of daily life, consolidated.

Unit 3 · The two pasts, mastered

Pretérito against imperfecto, the irregular club completed, reflexives in the past — the contrast that makes Spanish stories work.

Unit 4 · El futuro simple, and your opinion

The one-word future arrives — seré, tendré, hablaré — with the opinion phrases that make you a conversation partner.

Unit 5 · Exam training

The A2 exam task shapes: reading signs and letters, the two short writing tasks, and speaking cards to say aloud.

Unit 6 · The self-check, and the view from the top

A full practice check in exam shape, two B1 preview texts, and the summit page of the whole Basic ladder.

Module 6 · Independent User, module 1 of 5 — CEFR B1, first half

Unit 1 · Contar — telling the past

The two pasts in real stories, and the past BEFORE the past — the pluscuamperfecto joins the narration toolkit.

Unit 2 · Work, school and the future

Jobs, studies and plans, told in a futuro simple you now own in full — saber and conocer included, and the cuando that takes the subjuntivo.

Unit 3 · El condicional — would, could, should

The conditional arrives whole: polite requests, wishes, advice, and the si pudiera wishes you will build for real in Module 3.

Unit 4 · Sentences that breathe

Relative words — que, quien, donde, lo que — and the connectors that turn short sentences into real paragraphs.

Unit 5 · The pronoun machine

Object pronouns alone and together: lo, la, le, se lo — say more while repeating less, the mark of an independent speaker.

Unit 6 · Your opinion, defended

Opinions with reasons, polite disagreement, and the B1 task shapes: the article read and the letter that argues.

Module 7 · Independent User, module 2 of 5 — CEFR B1, completed

Unit 1 · Quiero que — the subjunctive opens

The mood Spanish uses after will, wish and feeling: how to build it, the six stems that refuse to behave, and when a plain infinitive does the job instead.

Unit 2 · La salud y el cuerpo

At the doctor, at the pharmacy, and the time words that say how long it has been going on: desde hace, hace… que, durante, dentro de.

Unit 3 · El trabajo y el dinero

Jobs, studies, earning and saving — and the passive voice, met properly for the first time, with the se that Spanish prefers to it.

Unit 4 · Contar lo que dicen

Reported speech: statements, questions and instructions passed on, with the pronouns that have to change along the way.

Unit 5 · Ya no, nunca, nada, nadie

Negation past no — the whole family, where each piece sits in a sentence, the double negative that is correct Spanish, and the words they answer.

Unit 6 · Leer y escribir en B1

The four written shapes B1 asks for: the short article read, the formal letter, the opinion posted, the problem reported.

Module 8 · Independent User, module 3 of 5 — CEFR B2, first half

Unit 1 · Causa, consecuencia, finalidad

Why something happened, what followed from it, and what it was for — the three joints an argued sentence turns on.

Unit 2 · La concesión

Admitting the other side and keeping your own: however, although, in spite of — and the one word, aunque, that changes its mood to change its meaning.

Unit 3 · El subjuntivo ampliado

Past will into emotion, doubt, the negated opinion and the thing you are still looking for — and the contrast where choosing the mood changes what the sentence claims.

Unit 4 · El medio ambiente y la sociedad

The subject matter B2 actually reads about, with the vocabulary of increase, decrease and proportion that every such text runs on.

Unit 5 · Los medios y la tecnología

The press, the screen and the question underneath both of them: how do you say a piece of information is reliable?

Unit 6 · Argumentar por escrito

The three si-sentences together at last — with the past subjunctive built properly — and the argued paragraph: claim, reason, example, qualification.

Module 9 · Independent User, module 4 of 5 — CEFR B2, completed

Unit 1 · La narración escrita

Narration on paper rather than out loud: three layers of past at once, the gerundio, and the markers that tell a reader where they are in time.

Unit 2 · El arrepentimiento y el reproche

The tense for what did not happen — habría ido, debería haber escuchado, si hubiera sabido — and how to apologize in Spanish without groveling.

Unit 3 · El estilo indirecto en pasado

The tense shift: every reported verb steps one place back, and ayer becomes el día anterior.

Unit 4 · Los relativos complejos

Lo que, lo cual, el que and el cual after a preposition, and cuyo — the joints a long Spanish sentence turns on.

Unit 5 · El mundo laboral

The company, the contract, the rights and the meeting — and the professional email, which has rules of its own.

Unit 6 · Las tareas B2

The four long written pieces the level is examined on: the argued essay, the formal complaint, the summary of a text, and the frame both ends of an essay need.

Module 10 · Independent User, module 5 of 5 — CEFR B1 + B2 mastery, and the C1 bridge

Unit 1 · Los tres pasados, en contraste

Narration reviewed as one system rather than three tenses, and put to work on the things B2 asks you to tell: a memory, a news item, a plot.

Unit 2 · La hipótesis, los tres niveles

Si with the present, si with the imperfecto de subjuntivo, si with the pluscuamperfecto de subjuntivo — one word, three distances from reality, finally on one page.

Unit 3 · El subjuntivo, el mapa completo

The whole trigger map, the two tests that decide between moods and between que and the infinitive, and the traps that catch confident writers.

Unit 4 · La prueba escrita

The written paper as it is actually set: reading the instruction, planning in three parts, the formal letter template, and the proofreading pass.

Unit 5 · La exposición oral

A spoken presentation, prepared in writing: how to open it, illustrate it, defend it against an objection and close it.

Unit 6 · El puente hacia C1

The first sight of the level above — the formal register, the noun-heavy written style, and the literary tenses you will read but never write.

Module 11 · Proficient User, module 1 of 5 — CEFR C1, first half

Unit 1 · El registro — la voz escrita

Three registers for one idea, the noun-heavy written style, and the literary forms you must read but never write.

Unit 2 · El subjuntivo, dominado

Every trigger, the irregular forms, the indicative contrast that changes meaning, the pretérito perfecto and the imperfecto de subjuntivo.

Unit 3 · La hipótesis y el arrepentimiento

The unreal past: si + pluscuamperfecto de subjuntivo with the condicional compuesto, reproach, regret, and the condicional de rumor of the press.

Unit 4 · La voz pasiva — y cómo el español la evita

The passive with ser, and the four Spanish escapes from it: the se-passive, the impersonal se, estar + participio, and hacer + infinitivo.

Unit 5 · Relatar y conectar

Reported speech with its tense shift, the relatives el cual and cuyo, the gerundio, and the neutral relatives lo que and lo cual.

Unit 6 · Argumentar con matices

Concession, cause and consequence at full strength, reservation, figurative language, and the C1 written shapes.

Module 12 · Proficient User, module 2 of 5 — CEFR C1, completed

Unit 1 · La lengua literaria

The forms Spanish writes and never says, met at length and only to be read — plus the classical narrative voice they belong to.

Unit 2 · Las perífrasis verbales

Ir, venir, andar, llevar and seguir with the gerundio, acabar de, volver a, dejar de, ponerse a — the verb phrases that carry what English says with an adverb.

Unit 3 · La frase cuidada

Word order for emphasis, the enclitic pronouns, dequeísmo and queísmo, the cascading subordinate, and the punctuation that lets a long sentence stay readable.

Unit 4 · La prensa y las instituciones

The state, the law and the public argument — the vocabulary every Spanish-language newspaper assumes you already have.

Unit 5 · El vocabulario abstracto

Register pairs, verbs that say exactly what a writer is doing, abstract nouns that carry an argument, and how to stop reaching for cosa and hacer.

Unit 6 · La argumentación C1

Tesis, antítesis, síntesis — and the two tasks the DELE C1 is built on: the synthesis of texts and the argued essay.

Module 13 · Proficient User, module 3 of 5 — CEFR C2, first half

Unit 1 · El énfasis

English stresses a word with the voice; Spanish rebuilds the sentence around it. Five constructions that put the emphasis exactly where you want it.

Unit 2 · Las construcciones impersonales

Resulta que, conviene, cabe señalar, no queda más remedio que — the machinery for asserting something without standing behind it, and how to hear who is really speaking.

Unit 3 · Los conectores raros

The joints that have no English translation, starting with ahora bien — a turn most learners never use and every Spanish essay depends on.

Unit 4 · El pensamiento y la ética

The abstract vocabulary an educated argument runs on: premises and corollaries, duty and legitimacy, taste and form — without the jargon.

Unit 5 · Las figuras retóricas

Irony, understatement, euphemism, metaphor and escalation — what a Spanish reader hears that a dictionary cannot tell you.

Unit 6 · Leer el pensamiento ajeno

The essay, the review and the editorial: following a mind through a long text, and reporting what it actually said.

Module 14 · Proficient User, module 4 of 5 — CEFR C2, continued

Unit 1 · Los niveles de lengua

The full range, from what is said in a café to what is said at a lectern — recognized, marked, and switched between on purpose.

Unit 2 · Las expresiones fijas

The phrases a Spanish listener hears as a single word, the proverbs everyone finishes for you, and the one rule that matters: knowing when not to use them.

Unit 3 · La sintaxis compleja

The constructions written Spanish uses to say more in fewer words — the infinitive and its preposition, the perception clause, the aside, the ellipsis, and the order things go in.

Unit 4 · Los lenguajes profesionales

Law, medicine, finance and technology: enough of each to read a document written for someone else.

Unit 5 · El matiz

False friends, the words Spanish has that English lacks and the reverse, and the hardest thing to carry across: a tone.

Unit 6 · Escribir largo

The report, the nota de síntesis and the complex formal letter — plus the revision pass a long text cannot do without.

Module 15 · Proficient User, module 5 of 5 — CEFR C2 mastery — the capstone

Unit 1 · La síntesis de documentos

The C2 examination's hardest task, taken apart: reading several texts as one, organizing by idea, and keeping yourself entirely out of it.

Unit 2 · El punto de vista argumentado

The essay where a position is not merely defended but earned — and where the counter-argument has to be the strongest version of itself.

Unit 3 · La exposición preparada

A case built on paper and delivered without it: structure, evidence, the answer to the question you hoped would not come, and the close.

Unit 4 · El dominio del registro

The whole scale, reviewed and put to work — the same content written four ways, for four readers.

Unit 5 · La gramática de la precisión

A last pass over the five things that still go wrong at this level, and the two-minute check that catches each of them.

Unit 6 · La cima

The end of the ladder: what a proficient user actually does next, and the honest account of what fifteen books of written practice can and cannot give you.

The say-it key

Every respelling in this course reads by these rows — plain English syllables, the stressed part in capitals.

Spelling	Say	Example
a · e · i · o · u	ah · eh · ee · oh · oo — always	la casa — lah KAH-sah
h	silent, every time	hola — OH-lah
ñ	ny	el año — ehl AH-nyoh
ll	y	me llamo — meh YAH-moh
j	strong breathy h	rojo — RROH-hoh
g before e/i	breathy h, like j	el gigante — ehl hee-GAHN-teh
c before e/i	s (Latin America)	cinco — SEEN-koh
qu	k	¿qué? — keh
rr / r at a word’s start	rolled r (a tap while you learn)	el perro — ehl PEH-rroh
á é í ó ú	the stressed syllable	adiós — ah-DYOHS

Lesson audio is computer-generated speech, made with the open-source Piper engine (Spanish voice: Apache-2.0 licensed, Latin American pronunciation). It is a practice aid, not a native speaker — imitate it loosely and it will serve you well.

Reading is the start — writing is the work

This free course is the reading half. The writing half — write-in lessons, daily practice pages with built-in review, self-checks and a full answer key — is the companion workbook series, The Spanish Ladder: one workbook per module, fifteen in all, released band by band with the Basic band (Modules 1–5) first.

Keep the words alive

Frequently asked questions

Is this Spanish course really free?

Yes. All 450 lessons are free to read, with the vocabulary, pronunciation respellings, grammar points, audio and printable flashcards included. The companion workbooks are separate paperbacks for the written half of the work — the course does not require them, and they do not require the course.

What level does this course cover?

The whole CEFR scale, one band per five modules: Modules 1–5 cover the Basic User band (A1 and A2), Modules 6–10 the Independent User band (B1 and B2), and Modules 11–15 the Proficient User band (C1 and C2). Each module page names its exact scope, such as "A1, first half", so you always know where a lesson sits on the ladder.

Which Spanish does it teach — Spain or Latin America?

The vocabulary here is standard across the Spanish-speaking world; the respellings use Latin American pronunciation, the most common in North America, with the main Spain difference (c and z sounding like English "th") noted where it applies. Whichever accent you settle into, these lessons serve it.

Is there a Spanish workbook like the French one?

Yes — The Spanish Ladder, one workbook per module, fifteen in all, in the same style as our French program: write-in lessons, daily practice pages with built-in review, self-checks and a full answer key. They are released band by band, the Basic band (Modules 1–5) first; the email signup on this page is where each release is announced.

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