Spanish for Travel
A Beginner’s Guide for your trip to Spain
(or other Spanish speaking countries)
So you’re traveling to Spain but you don’t speak Spanish (or you only remember a little from your high school days). Chances are, if you speak English you may be able to get by. But why not pick up a little bit of the language before you go. Even if it’s just a word or two, it will ingratiate you with the people in your host country and may even help you out of some sticky situations 🙂
Here’s our list of the most useful phrases if you’re going to travel to Spain. For more practice sign up for our Survival Spanish course which you’ll find these words and more spoken by a native speaker in video format:

Politeness
Por favor
please
Gracias
thank you
De nada
you’re welcome
Perdona
excuse me

Directions
Derecho
right
Izquierda
left
Todo recto
straight
Atrás
back (behind)
*Note derecho can also mean ‘go straight’, so just in case you can confirm with todo recto

Greetings
Hola
hello
Buenos Dias
good day
¿Como estás?
how are you? (informal)
¿Como está Usted?
how are you? (formal)

Goodbyes
Adios
goodbye
Hasta luego
see you later
Hasta pronto
see you soon
Buenas noches
good evening

Questions
¿Dónde?
where?
¿Cuándo?
when?
¿Como?
how?
¿Qué?
what?
* if want to say ‘what’? as in ‘what did you say?’, use ¿como? instead of ¿que?.

Numbers
zero(0)
uno(1) dos(2) tres(3)
cuatro(4) cinco(5) seis(6)
siete(7) ocho(8) nueve(9)
diez(10)
once(11) doce(12) trece(13) catorce(14) quince(15) dieciséis(16) diecisiete(17) dieciocho(18) diecinueve(19) vente (20)
vente(20) veintiuno(21) veintidós(22) veintitres(23) veinticuatro(24) veinticinco(25) veintiseis(26) veintisiete(27) veintiocho(28) veintinueve(29)
vente(20) trenta(30) cuarenta(40) cincuenta(50) sesenta(60) setenta(70) ochenta(80) noventa(90) cien(100)

Easy phrases
¡Salud!
Cheers!
Lo siento
I’m sorry
Bien ¿Y tú?
Good. And you?
No pasa nada
No problem