Speaking Spanish requires you to keep tabs on all sorts of topics: essential words and phrases, basic Spanish questions, and the proper gender of articles. Plus, if you intend to travel, you want to be able to get help and give warnings in the case of an emergency.Refer to this Cheat Sheet for your Spanish essentials.

When you’re eating out at a Spanish-speaking restaurant, knowing some basic Spanish vocabulary can make the ordering process a little easier. Placing your order basically consists of two parts: ordering a beverage and ordering food. But first you need to get the attention of your server. Calling a waiter over to your table If your waiter is a man, the appropriate way to address him depends on where you are.

The letters that are vowels in English are also vowels in Spanish, but they aren't always pronounced the same. Generally speaking, pronouncing vowels in Spanish is a lot less complicated than pronouncing them in English. You’re well aware that one vowel in English can have more than one sound.

The Spanish and English alphabets are almost identical, with just a few exceptions. The Spanish alphabet includes all of the letters in the English alphabet but it adds ñ (eh-nyeh), and sometimes the double letters ch (cheh), ll (ye), and rr (a trilled r) are treated as one letter.When you’re speaking to a native Spanish speaker, correct pronunciation is key to avoiding misunderstandings.

In general, consonants tend to sound the same in English and Spanish when they are spoken within a word. But you’ll find a few differences in how certain consonants are pronounced in Spanish. Sometimes two letters have the same sound; other times one letter can be pronounced two ways. And in one instance, a letter is always silent!

Introducing yourself or someone else in Spanish requires more than "Hola. Me llamo . . ." Spanish has informal and formal greetings and introductions. This video tutorial lets you hear pronunciation and explains the rules for using formal and informal greetings and introductions.

Spanish uses the pluperfect subjunctive more than English does. If you’ve ever hoped or expected that something had happened, you probably hoped or expected in this verb tense and probably didn’t even realize it. In English, you don’t really use the pluperfect subjunctive, but you use something similar to it in sentences like this one: I wished that I had slept before the party.

When speaking Spanish, the pronoun you use depends upon the person you’re speaking to and the person you’re speaking about. And, just as in English, you change pronouns according to person — I, you, he or she and we, you, they. The following table shows all the Spanish subject pronouns: Person Singular Plural 1st Person yo (I) nosotros/as (we [male or mixed group/female]) 2nd Person tœ (you 
[informal]); Ud.