LANGUAGE
From written signs to everyday conversation.
Bopomofo / Zhuyin
注音符號A set of phonetic symbols used to show Mandarin pronunciation. Syllables are assembled from an initial, a medial or final, and a tone.
The first version was created in 1913 and released in 1918. It remains a practical reading, dictionary, and keyboard tool in Taiwan.
- SYMBOLS
- 37
- TONES
- 5
- ALSO CALLED
- Zhuyin / Zhuyin Fuhao
Initials
21Medials
3Finals
13Tones
5Español
Start with the words you need.
Build your own sentences.
The words for everyday life.
Find a situation, read the phrase, or show the native text. Learn common replies as well as questions.
Pronunciation & how to use these phrases
Start with the writing charts, then listen to complete words. Device speech depends on installed voices and may use a different regional accent. Spelling and sound do not match one-to-one.
Use usted-style verbs with unfamiliar adults until the local level of formality is clear. Disculpe gets attention politely; perdón also apologizes. Learning path: recognise words and phrases → build simple sentences → practise questions and replies → expand tense and connected speech → read and discuss longer texts. These foundation lessons are available now; later stages will grow with the collection.
24 phrases
Basics
Communication
Bathrooms
Food & ordering
Shops & payment
Taxi & transport
Airport
Help
Listen for
Reply
Hotels
Forms, rules & structure
Standard Spanish, with tú/usted and the Spain vosotros forms shown. Voseo has additional regional paradigms.
Grammar terminology
- Noun
- A word used to name or classify an entity: person, place, object, substance, idea.
- Adjective
- A word that describes a property; its form and position depend on the language.
- Pronoun
- A form used to refer to a participant or entity without repeating a full noun phrase.
- Determiner
- A word such as an article, demonstrative or possessive that helps specify a noun phrase.
- Verb
- A word heading a predicate, often describing an action, event or state.
- Conjugation
- A pattern of verb forms expressing grammatical distinctions such as person, tense or mood.
- Declension
- A pattern of noun, pronoun or adjective forms, often marking case, number and gender.
- Case
- A distinction marking a noun phrase’s grammatical role or its relationship to a governing word.
- Gender
- A grammatical classification of nouns; it need not match sex or have a transparent meaning.
- Agreement
- A form changes to match features of another expression, such as person, number, gender or case.
- Tense
- A grammatical way of locating a situation relative to a time of reference.
- Aspect
- How a situation is viewed: for example ongoing, habitual, completed or prior to a reference point.
- Mood
- A grammatical distinction associated with assertion, possibility, commands, wishes or other clause functions.
- Finite form
- A verb form that can serve as a clause’s main inflected verb, contrasting with infinitives and participles. The precise criteria vary by language.
- Participle
- A verb-derived form used in constructions such as modifiers, compound tenses or passives; its roles vary by language.
- Infinitive
- A nonfinite verb form in languages that have one; it is not automatically equivalent to English “to + verb”.
- Subject / object
- Grammatical relations in a clause, not universal synonyms for “doer” and “receiver”.
- Clitic
- A short grammatical form that depends phonologically on a neighboring word.
- Transitive
- Describes a verb construction that takes a direct object.
- Register
- A variety of expression associated with context, relationship or level of formality.
Nouns, gender & articles
- Nouns are masculine or feminine. Many -o nouns are masculine and -a nouns feminine, but gender must be learned with the word.
- Plural commonly adds -s after an unstressed vowel and -es after a consonant; final z becomes c before -es. Articles agree in gender and number.
| Type | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| masculine | el libro / un libro | los libros / unos libros |
| feminine | la casa / una casa | las casas / unas casas |
| consonant | el papel | los papeles |
| z spelling | la luz | las luces |
| exception | la mano | las manos |
Worked examples
El agua fría está aquí.
The cold water is here.
How it works: Agua remains feminine; singular el occurs before its stressed initial a. Fría shows feminine agreement.
Location
Use estar for location; ¿dónde está…? asks where a singular thing is.
Read the model, complete the gap, then change one word and explain what changes.
Try it yourself
1 / 1 · 0 correctComplete the model using the rule.
¿Dónde ___ el baño?
All words · vocabulary quiz
1 / 20 · 0 correctChoose the English meaning.
agua
aguawater
comidafood
lechemilk
panbread
cafécoffee
tétea
arrozrice
bañobathroom
aeropuertoairport
estaciónstation
billete / boletoticket
salidaexit
izquierdaleft
derecharight
hoytoday
mañanatomorrow
unoone
dostwo
tresthree
ayudahelp
Between the words
Billete and boleto both refer to tickets, with regional differences; ordenador/computadora and zumo/jugo vary too. This starter uses broadly understood wording.
Hola.
Regional vocabularyBillete and boleto both refer to tickets, with regional differences; ordenador/computadora and zumo/jugo vary too. This starter uses broadly understood wording.
Hola.
Use usted-style verbs with unfamiliar adults until the local level of formality is clear. Disculpe gets attention politely; perdón also apologizes.
Read the situation
1 / 1 · 0 correctRecall the opening greeting from this collection.