📖LearnModule 1 · Lesson 8 of 30Basic User · CEFR A1, first halfUnit 2 · ¿El o la? First nouns
En la clase — classroom words
Module 1 of the free Spanish course (CEFR A1, first half), lesson 8 of 30: Twelve things in a classroom or on a desk. On this page: 12 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 lápiz
the pencil
ehl LAH-pees
el bolígrafo
the pen
ehl boh-LEE-grah-foh
el cuaderno
the notebook
ehl kwah-DEHR-noh
el papel
the paper
ehl pah-PEHL
el pupitre
the school desk
ehl poo-PEE-treh
el pizarrón
the board
ehl pee-sah-RROHN
la silla
the chair
lah SEE-yah
la ventana
the window
lah behn-TAH-nah
la mochila
the backpack
lah moh-CHEE-lah
la regla
the ruler
lah RREH-glah
el borrador
the eraser
ehl boh-rrah-DOHR
la clase
the class
lah KLAH-seh
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
Twelve things in a classroom or on a desk, each with its article: six el-words and six la-words, and the o/a shortcut predicts nearly all of them.
Y también · And also
Writing new nouns in two gender columns — el on the left, la on the right — is a memory trick that costs nothing and pays every time. Write the two columns from memory tomorrow and see what stuck.
Ojo · Watch out
el papel and el pizarrón take el without ending in -o: the shortcut is a guide, not a guarantee. Learn the article with the word.
Do it now — on paper
Say all 12 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the Spanish spelling alone — begin with el lápiz.
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 8 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.