📖LearnModule 1 · Lesson 2 of 30Basic User · CEFR A1, first halfUnit 1 · ¡Hola! Sounds and greetings
The alphabet, ñ, and the accent mark
Module 1 of the free Spanish course (CEFR A1, first half), lesson 2 of 30: Spanish adds one letter to the alphabet you know, ñ, which says ny as in España. On this page: 8 words with their genders and respellings, the rule, a watch-out line and the audio — the study notes behind the workbook's QR.
The words
Spanish
English
Say it
el niño
the boy
ehl NEE-nyoh
la niña
the girl
lah NEE-nyah
el año
the year
ehl AH-nyoh
la montaña
the mountain
lah mohn-TAH-nyah
el baño
the bathroom
ehl BAH-nyoh
España
Spain
ehs-PAH-nyah
el español
Spanish (the language)
ehl ehs-pah-NYOHL
la piña
the pineapple
lah PEE-nyah
Respellings follow the course’s say-it key; the stressed syllable is in capitals. Print this lesson’s flashcards (PDF) — the words on the front, the English and respelling on the back.
Hear the words
Each word is read twice — say it back in the gap. Computer-generated voice; credits on the course page.
La regla · The rule
Spanish adds one letter to the alphabet you know — ñ, which says ny as in España — and one accent mark, which never changes a vowel's sound: it marks the syllable you stress, as in adiós.
Y también · And also
Written Spanish opens a question with ¿ and closes it with the usual question mark, and opens an exclamation with ¡ the same way. When you copy a question, copy both marks; they are part of the sentence.
Ojo · Watch out
The tilde is part of the letter: año (year) and ano are different words. Copy the ñ every time, and copy the accent mark with it — adiós, not adios.
Do it now — on paper
Say all 8 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the Spanish spelling alone — begin with el niño.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the Spanish.
Write two sentences of your own that get the watch-out line right, then the two practice pages of workbook lesson 2 in Module 1 are the written half of this page.
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 these words
Turn this lesson’s words into flashcards, then space your reviews — the two habits the research behind our study guides backs hardest.