Castilian
Diego in Madrid wants to write España in a letter to his cousin in Mexico. He looks up the letter ñ and learns that Castilian is spoken across the ocean too.
El castellano
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About this article
What you'll learn
Present tense, querer, and words for the Spanish language, the alphabet, and countries.
Diego tries to write España in a letter to Mexico and goes to a library for the Real Academia Española dictionary. He learns that Castilian has twenty-seven letters, that the name comes from Castilla, that the language is also spoken in Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Peru, and Chile, and that Cervantes wrote Don Quixote in it. He finishes the letter with the ñ.
After reading
Article learning block
Phrases, words, grammar, and quick practice from this text.
Phrases for training
Add useful phrases to SRS or mark them as already known.
Es el idioma oficial de España
newIt is the official language of Spain
Se llama español
newIt is also called Spanish
Es uno de los idiomas más importantes del mundo
newIt is one of the most important languages in the world
El castellano usa veintisiete letras
newCastilian uses twenty-seven letters
La eñe es una n con una tilde encima
newThe eñe is an n with a tilde on top
Es puente de comunicación entre culturas
newIt is a bridge of communication between cultures
Key words
Vocabulary that carries the school-day topic.
castellano
castellano
Castilian — the official language of Spain, originating from the Castile region
eñe
eñe
eñe — special Spanish letter: n with tilde (ñ)
tildes
tildes
tildes — marks over vowels (á, é, í, ó, ú) that change pronunciation
latino
latino
Latin — derived from Latin, the language of ancient Rome
romanos
romanos
Romans — inhabitants of the Roman Empire
dialectos
dialectos
dialects — regional variations of a language
Grammar in context
Patterns from the text worth noticing after reading.
ser, estar, tener
ser estar tener
basic verbs: ser (permanent identity), estar (temporary state), tener (possession)
articles el, la, un, una
artículos el la un una
definite and indefinite articles. Example: el idioma, un país
plural: -s, -es
plural -s -es
words ending in vowel + -s; ending in consonant + -es. Example: idioma → idiomas, ley → leyes
gender agreement
concordancia género masculino femenino
articles and adjectives agree with nouns: el idioma importante, una palabra clara
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