How to Use

Learning Spanish on Spanish From Square One is simple: follow each day's instructions carefully. The most crucial part of your learning will always be input: reading, listening, watching, and absorbing as much Spanish as you can, consistently.

The Spanish of Mexico

This course teaches the Spanish of Mexico, the country with more Spanish speakers than any other, as educated Mexicans speak it in everyday life. The conversations take place mostly in Mexico, from Mexico City and Guadalajara to Oaxaca and Mérida, and use the words Mexicans use: carro (car), celular (cell phone), jugo (juice), departamento (apartment), and ¿mande? when you didn't catch what someone said.

Spanish is one language everywhere, and a Mexican accent is understood across the Spanish-speaking world. Spain has some words and sounds of its own, so when you meet Spanish from Spain in films or books, a few things will differ from the lessons; that is normal, and good input too.

First, Learn How Spanish Sounds

Spanish is written in the Latin alphabet, with one extra letter (ñ), accent marks on vowels, and upside-down question and exclamation marks. Its spelling is very regular: once you know what the letters stand for, you can read almost any word aloud, even ones you've never seen. Take a few minutes with this before Day 1.

There are only five vowels, and each always keeps its sound: short, clear and pure, never gliding as English vowels do.

These are the consonants that surprise English speakers:

Say p, t and k without the little puff of air English gives them, and t and d with the tongue against the back of the top teeth. Spanish keeps a steady rhythm, each syllable about as long as the next, so unstressed vowels keep their full sound instead of fading to uh: chocolate has four clear vowels.

Where the stress falls follows simple rules. Words that end in a vowel, n or s are stressed on the next-to-last syllable: casa, hablan (they speak). Words that end in any other consonant are stressed on the last syllable: hablar (to speak), ciudad (city). Every word that breaks these rules has a written accent (´) on the stressed vowel: café, teléfono, canción (song). The accent also tells apart words that sound the same: tú (you) and tu (your), sí (yes) and si (if), él (he) and el (the).

Questions and exclamations open with an upside-down mark, so you know from the start how to say the sentence: ¿Cómo estás? (How are you?), ¡Qué padre! (How cool!).

A good free place to see more: Omniglot: Spanish language, alphabet and pronunciation. You don't need to know any rules by heart. Once you can sound out a word slowly, you're ready.

Why Input Matters Most

Traditional language learning tries to make you speak before you're ready, forcing you to memorize grammar rules or drill vocabulary out of context.

But when you're pushed to speak too early, you're often just guessing, making mistakes, and creating bad habits. Instead, our method emphasizes constant exposure to natural, understandable Spanish, similar to how children learn their first language.

Required Reading: Input - what it is and why you need it

Daily Lessons: How to Use Them

Each day's lesson comes with clear instructions: simply follow along step by step. If you've comfortably finished a day's content, it's perfectly fine to continue to the next lesson. But don't rush, and take breaks if you're tired. Enjoying the process is crucial; if you don't, burnout is inevitable.

Using a Lesson Page

Every lesson is one short conversation: the situation under the title, then each line in Spanish with its English translation. These settings help as you go:

• Hide English covers the translations with soft bars so you can test yourself. Tap a covered line to peek at it.
• Word hints: point at a Spanish word (or tap it) to see which English words it means, and the other way round. With Hide English on, it uncovers just that word.

Audio recordings are on the way. When a lesson gets its recording, its page will play the whole dialogue or any single line, repeat lines, slow them down, and offer a listen-only mode.

On a computer, the keyboard works too: E hides or shows the English, and the ← → arrows go to the previous or next day.

When you've finished a lesson, press Mark as done. Your progress is saved in your browser (no sign-up), and the course page and the menu then show where you left off. If you spot a mistake in a line, press the small flag next to it to tell us.

Tú or Usted? Part of Every Lesson

Spanish has two ways of talking to one person. Family, friends, children and young people say tú to each other, as in ¿Tienes tiempo? ("Do you have time?"). Mexicans use the polite usted with older people, strangers, customers and officials, and in many families with their grandparents: ¿Tiene tiempo? Get it wrong and you sound rude, or oddly stiff.

To more than one person, Mexicans always say ustedes, to friends and strangers alike: ¿Tienen tiempo? The vosotros you may see in textbooks is used only in Spain, so you won't meet it in these lessons.

Spanish also shows who is talking in its adjectives and nouns: a man says Estoy cansado ("I'm tired") and a woman Estoy cansada; a man is a maestro (teacher) and a woman a maestra. You don't need to study the rules. Each lesson's situation says who the speakers are and how they know each other, and across the course you meet every combination: women and men, children and teenagers, parents and grandparents, bosses, customers and old friends. Notice how they speak to each other, and the right forms will start to feel natural, the same way they do for Mexicans.

Maximizing Your Input

Your goal is simple: get as much input as possible. This doesn't mean just focused study; it means immersing yourself in Spanish as often as you can, even passively. Listen to Spanish podcasts, YouTube videos, films or series while you walk, exercise, cook, or commute.

AJATT famously emphasizes this: passive listening helps your brain get accustomed to Spanish sounds, making the language feel natural over time. In our resources section, you'll find podcasts and channels to keep your input levels high.

Enjoy the Process and Avoid Burnout

Learning a language should be enjoyable. If you're feeling exhausted, slow down. Remember, this isn't just about learning Spanish; it's about getting used to Spanish. Meeting Spanish every day, even passively, makes it part of your daily life. Eventually, it becomes natural, comfortable, and even part of your identity.

If you consistently engage with the language through input, you'll soon find yourself thinking in Spanish. When you've had enough exposure, the desire to speak will naturally emerge, and you won't need to force it. It'll come as naturally as breathing.

Don't Give Up: We're Always Here

Learning Spanish is a journey, not a race. If life gets in the way and you take a break, that's fine. We'll always be here. Simply come back whenever you're ready, pick up exactly where you left off, and keep going.

Trust the process, keep reading and listening, keep reviewing, and above all, enjoy yourself. Spanish will become a natural part of your life before you know it.

If this free course has helped you in your Spanish journey, please consider supporting the project. It's a one-person effort, and even small contributions help keep it running and free for everyone.