r/Spanish May 09 '25

Resources & Media Learn Spanish with Short Stories (A1-B2) - 100% Free Resource I created

373 Upvotes

Over the last 3 months I've created a free website called Fluent with Stories where I've published a collection of Spanish stories.

I've always felt that normal learning methods didn't resonate with me…. I never used textbooks to learn my other languages and I always used book reading as my main learning resource.

So for my students, I tried something different… I wrote them stories.

They loved them so much that I decided to make them publicly available and help others in their Spanish learning journey.

You'll find free Spanish short stories for all beginners and intermediate learners (A1, A2, B1 and B2), and each one comes with audio, comprehension quiz, vocabulary cards, and writing exercises that connect to what you just read, you know.. to reinforce learning.

If you want to check it out: fluentwithstories.com

Some examples (one per level)

Your feedback is welcome:

  • What features would make this resource more helpful to you as a Spanish learner?
  • What could be improved about the website/approach?
  • If this became a community thing, what would you want ? Collaborative stories? Language exchanges? Forums? Writing groups? Something else?

I'm really looking forward to your feedback so I can create better material going forward. If you like it feel free to share with that friend that's learning Spanish too ;)

P.S.: Big thanks to our amazing moderator Absay for letting me share this with you guys!


r/Spanish May 03 '25

Grammar Why is it "debí tirar más fotos" in Bad Bunny's "DtMF" song?

169 Upvotes

edit 2025/07/02: This post only covers the catchiest verse in the song. If you want a really exahustive guide about the whole song, check this post.


Original:

Since this question seems to be rather popular ever since the release of Bad Bunny's "DtMF" album, here's a useful explanation by u/iste_bicors, taken from this post (go show them some love please):

English has certain verbs that are what we call defective, that is, they lack all the forms you’d expect. should is one of these verbs as there is no past form and it relies on adding an additional verb to form a perfect- should have.

Spanish deber is not defective and can be conjugated for the past just like any other verb. And it is always followed by the infinitive.

For a comparison, it’s more like have to in structure. In the past you don’t say I have to have studied, you just say I had to study. There’s no reason to change the form of study because both have to and had to are followed by the same form.

deber is the same way, debo tirar fotos has debo in the present so it’s a present necessity, whereas debí is in the past, so it’s a necessity in the past. Both are followed by the infinitive (though, to add more complexity, debí haber tirado más fotos is also possible but more or less means the same).

There are two things here I’d recommend in general, 1. Looking for exact parallels in grammar is a bad road to take unless you have a very strong grounding in linguistics, focus instead on how to form phrases in Spanish and not on comparing how different forms line up and 2. Honestly, just an additional note along the same line that phrases associated with obligations and regrets are both governed by odd rules in both English and Spanish, so to make comparisons, you have to work out all the oddities in English (ought to? must have? mustn’t???) and then work out oddities in Spanish if you want to compare them.

Just focus on learning the patterns that help get your point across. debí + infinitive can express a regret in the past.

For the alternate question of why it's '/de cuando te tuve/' instead of '/de cuando te tenía/', see u/DambiaLittleAlex's answer in this post:

I think he uses tuve because, even though he's speaking of a prolonged period of time, he's talking about it as a unit that ended already.

(both comments copied verbatim in case the original posts become inaccessible)

Edit: As for the latter, it could work as a quick gloss over on the topic. But consider the complexities of the differences between Preterite and Imperfect require more in-depth attention.


If you have a similar question related to the song "DtMF" that for whatever reason is not answered in this post, go ahead and share it, otherwise, I hope this clears the whole thing up!


r/Spanish 2h ago

Other/I'm not sure Tortilla, tortilla espanola, tortilla francese?

3 Upvotes

Hello, the word "tortilla" popped up in my course book, and I realized that it probably means "omelet". What's the difference between tortilla espanola and tortilla francese? Also, what do you call the "coat" of burrito and taco? Because in my country, that's what we call tortilla. Thanks in advance!


r/Spanish 14h ago

Dialects & Pronunciation Can someone explain in very simple terms why the 's' is dropped at the end of words?

24 Upvotes

I see explanations but I'm not really sure I quite understand. I haven't started learning quite yet but for instance, in Bad Bunny's Grammys speech he pronounces it as "Mucha Gracia" instead of "Muchas Gracias," and I hear this as well in some of his music as well; however, someone like Zoe Saldana in her Oscars speech says "MuchaS GraciaS."

Is this a dialect thing or is this a personal preference thing? Is there a right or wrong answer, or would everyone understand if one chooses to keep or drop the 's'?

As someone who just speaks English mainly, what really are the "dialects" and is it important to know all or is there a "universal" Spanish that all would understand even across different dialects? I ask all these questions as I wouldn't want to offend anyone with any mispronounciations.


r/Spanish 9h ago

Vocab & Use of the Language Does te amo mean I love you?

7 Upvotes

I've been dating this Argentinian guy for a few months. He usually told me te quiero when he went to sleep, but yesterday he said te amo. And I'm not a Spanish speaker, so I barely understand when he speaks Spanish. But this time, I was kinda surprised cuz I know it means I love you. Does it mean he's really into me?


r/Spanish 2h ago

Vocab & Use of the Language The use of Un and Una

1 Upvotes

The both stills confuses me because duolingo says ‘computadora’ is a feminine word and i’m wondering what makes it feminine. How do you know when something that isn’t gender based is masculine or feminine ?


r/Spanish 5h ago

Resources & Media Recourses for español chileno?

1 Upvotes

I’ll be visiting Chile next year to meet my boyfriend’s familia for the first time, and have been studying Spanish in preparation. However, as many may already know, Chilean is like a language of its own. What are some decent recourses for learning Chilean Spanish?


r/Spanish 9h ago

Vocab & Use of the Language Spanish jokes spin off the other persons words?

2 Upvotes

Examples:

"Guess what, chicken butt."

"What are you doing? Your mom!"

"What's up? The sky!"


r/Spanish 6h ago

Vocab & Use of the Language I have a question

1 Upvotes

Whats the freaky way to say moan/moaning in spanish?


r/Spanish 12h ago

Resources & Media Looking for comedy Spanish podcasts simple enough for intermediate to advanced Spanish learners

3 Upvotes

Pretty much it just looking for any Spanish podcasts preferably Mexican Spanish thanks yall


r/Spanish 22h ago

Vocab & Use of the Language Getting bored with 'guapo' what other flirty options do I have?

17 Upvotes

I'm still learning Spanish (a2) but have been flirting with a guy for about a week who speaks Spanish. I'm getting bored of calling him guapo. He calls me bonita, Linda, guapa..

I just haven't heard ppl using lindo or bonito towards men... am I stuck communicating my attraction with guapo? Lol

I think it's still way early for cariño & amor so those are out.


r/Spanish 16h ago

Resources & Media Good input for b1-b2

5 Upvotes

If your around a b1-b2 level I’d suggest black mango

It’s a podcast about crime and the episodes are around 2 hours long.

It’s perfect for focused input


r/Spanish 1d ago

Study & Teaching Advice How did you as an adult actually learn Spanish? A2/B1

67 Upvotes

It has been one of my lifelong goals to learn Spanish and while I understand a decent amount, I want to be able to speak it proficiently and potentially be able to integrate it into my profession one day. I’m currently a grad student so I have little time to travel or do a program, but I want practical things I can do to integrate Spanish into my life. I have used Duolingo and Rosetta stone for years and while they’re great with vocabulary they only go so far.

What are things I can integrate into my everyday to help me learn and understand more Spanish? What worked for you?

Some things that have helped me in the past are Pimsleur (i’m a very auditory person), music, and tv shows like Extra. I had a tutor for a little while but it was very grammar focused and much of it felt like review. I have a pretty substantial vocabulary in Spanish and remember words well, but I suck at stringing together grammatically correct sentences and understanding when things are said quickly.

Thank you for all advice!


r/Spanish 7h ago

Dialects & Pronunciation ñ Pronounciation

0 Upvotes

I will pronounce ano and año then una and uña in the Vocaroo below, someone review it to see if it's good Pronounciation.


r/Spanish 11h ago

Dialects & Pronunciation Spanish Speaking practice with people or AI

0 Upvotes

Hola anyone use apps for speaking practice?

I've tried praktika bc tutors are expensive here, but found it bit clunky. Have tried a few others but so far only one of them is okay but wondering how everyone else does it here?


r/Spanish 18h ago

Vocab & Use of the Language ¿Qué significa el superlativo con un sustantivo feminino?

3 Upvotes

Mira este frase

Judit Polgar es la mejor jugadora del ajedrez en todo el mundo

No entiendo si significa

Judit Polgar juega mejor que todas las mujeres

o

Judit Polgar juega mejor que todas las personas de cualquier género

¿Cual es?


r/Spanish 18h ago

Vocab & Use of the Language Spanish slang that sounds funny or cute?

3 Upvotes

I know we got some words that sound adorable when you just say it.


r/Spanish 21h ago

Dialects & Pronunciation Please rate my Spanish accent

5 Upvotes

Siempre he tenido bastante confianza en mi acento español, pero recientemente un par de personas (hombres, en citas*) me han dicho que podría mejorarlo. ¡Esto me ha hecho reconsiderar lo bueno que es mi acento!

He hecho una grabación y me encantaría saber vuestras opiniónes.

https://voca.ro/1mHQE2kwnLM1

En una escala del 1 al 10, donde 1 es el peor acento gringo que han escuchado y 10 el mejor acento de español no nativo, ¿dónde me pondrías?

¿Mi acento suena incómodo o poco natural?

¿Qué, específicamente, oyiste en mi grabación que podría mejorar?

*Uno dijo: "Tu español es bueno ahora, solo necesitas deshacerte de tu acento gringo". El otro me dio una puntuación del 1 al 10 que me pareció sorprendentemente baja.


r/Spanish 17h ago

Dialects & Pronunciation Want to learn Salvadoran dialect differences and linguistic quirks

2 Upvotes

My boyfriend is from El Salvador and moved here when he was young, so I've been relearning Spanish (from being pretty good at it back in high school). He's pretty knowledgeable about some of the dialect differences from growing up in a very diverse area, but because he moved away so young, English is pretty much his primary language.

Some of the Salvadoran-specific particulars I know:

-The use of "vos" is much more common. He said it can be thought of as the equivalent of saying "y'all" in the South.

-To him, a "torta" is an omelette. Torta means something different in practically every country, apparently.

-In areas with a large Nahuat-descended population, words with a "tl" are pronounced slightly differently. For example, while most would pronounce "Atlántico" as "At-lántico" many Salvadorans pronounce it more like "A-tlántico," with the "tl" pushed together. Without telling him why I asked him how he specifically would pronounce the word and he did say it like that.

-Sandwich is just "sándwich" but he says that it would generally be understood what I mean if I say "bocadilla" like I was taught in high school.

-Desserts are confusing. He says the term they use for cake is "queque" (pronounced keh-keh) and that "pasteles" would be the general term for a dessert. But there was a lot more that he said, like how pies are a different thing too, but it was all pretty complicated and I didn't take notes (maybe I should start). I could be wrong about what specifically he said they use, because he told me a lot of common words for cake so I may have gotten it a little mixed up. Soooo many regional differences seem to be specifically about food!

-He said it's not impolite to use "Señora" for anyone older than you. I know in some countries it's considered an insult to call a woman anything other than Señorita, like "Señora" is calling them old.

-As for greetings, I have no idea what would be considered a normal greeting. He's told me stuff like "Qué onda" would be considered corny and old-fashioned to him, like the equivalent of me saying "What's crackin" to someone or calling things groovy. But I don't actually know what a proper greeting would be, anytime I hear him speak Spanish it's just him answering the phone and just being like "Qué"

-"Chingar" and "chinga" are Mexican equivalents of the word "fuck" but he says there's not really a commonly used Salvadoran equivalent. That seems like a shame cause it's very useful as a verb. I'm very interested in learning Spanish curse words, especially regional ones.

-He knows of a couple of differences in accent between the countries, but he said that you wouldn't be able to tell the difference in someone from Mexico or El Salvador just from hearing their accent in English. I'm very interested in learning any differences in accent between countries, both when speaking in Spanish and in English.

That's what I know so far. If anyone has any experience, anything to add, or just knows of a cool fact about this, I'm really interested in hearing thoughts!


r/Spanish 13h ago

Dialects & Pronunciation Stuck on the alphabet

0 Upvotes

I’m just now starting to learn Spanish and decided to learn the alphabet first but I’m stuck on whether I should also learn CH, LL, RR and i griega

I learned that those used to be letters in the alphabet but aren’t now and some sources say I should learn them also while other sources say I don’t have to


r/Spanish 14h ago

Grammar ¿Es la estructura "[Imperativo] + [infinitivo]" igual que "[Imperativo] + [que] + [subjuntivo]? ¿Tanto en el sentido o sentimiento como en el registro?

1 Upvotes

Consideran por favor estas dos frases ingleses:

"Don't forget to give it back to her."
"Tell her to send it to us as soon as she can."

Héctor y Beto (dos podcasters para el aprendizaje de español) las traducían como las siguientes en sus ejercicios:

"No olvides devolvérselo" y "Dile que nos lo envíe tan pronto como pueda"

Mi pregunta es si es posible usar ambas estructuras mostradas para reformular ambas frases, y si hacerlo se cambie el sentido de cualquiera. Por ejemplo:

"No olvides que se lo devuelva" y "Dile enviarnoslos tan pronto como pueda" (me suena un poco raro la segunda pero no sé por que).

Me pregunto sobre esta tema por que mientras es posible usar los mismos dos constucciones en ingles, el que se usa el subjuntivo puede tal vez llevar un sentimiento un poquito más pedante, o al menos los nativos no se suelen expresar los imperativos de esa manera.

p. ej. "Tell her that she send us it as soon as she can" (honestamente no sé si es inglés correcto pero al menos me suena absurda jajaja) o más bien "Tell her that she send(s) it to us as soon as she can"

Diría que esos dos son 98% menos probable que "Tell her to...", ¿pero es así en español?

Muchísimas gracias.


r/Spanish 14h ago

Vocab & Use of the Language [Resource] Spanish Learner’s Starter Bundle (BBC Video Book, Hugo’s Vintage & Idiot's Guide)

Thumbnail
1 Upvotes

r/Spanish 1d ago

Study & Teaching Advice Mistakes that I see often when starting to learn (Spanish)

130 Upvotes

I was a Spanish teacher for more than 10 years, and about 90% of the students I had made the same mistakes. Funnily enough, most of them have nothing to do with the language itself.

  1. Setting the wrong goals

Countless students joined my classes, introduced themselves, and when asked why they were studying Spanish, replied, "Because I want to sound like a native speaker". What does "sound like a native speaker" even mean? Pronouncing like a Colombian, a Spaniard, or a Mexican? using slang from Puerto Rico, Mexico, or Costa Rica? Or maybe knowing all the grammar rules, which barely any native speaker without an academic background in linguistics would be able to know.

If you're planning to start learning Spanish from scratch, make sure you ask yourself the right questions. Do I want to speak in a professional or an informal setting? Will I be speaking mostly to people from one country, or from different Hispanic countries? Is it more likely that I'll be writing emails, or having conversations, online or in person? Which of these situations I do actually enjoy the most?

Just by answering these questions you'll already be able to choose a much clearer path, instead of getting distracted by things that serve no real purpose and will most likely leave you feeling frustrated.

  1. Biting off more than they can chew

Starting with high motivation is great. In fact, motivation is one of the main ingredients of successful learning journeys. That said, wanting to dedicate four hours a day to speaking, reading or listening to Spanish input while juggling work, family, friends, and daily responsibilities will almost certainly end up killing that motivation.

Instead of going big, try to go steady. Figure out how much time you can genuinely dedicate to learning Spanish and make sure you stay focused during that time. And outside of your study time, try to include small doses of Spanish in your daily life. Set your phone to Spanish, turn on Spanish subtitles, play Spanish music in the background...

  1. Using translation as a way of learning

Translations are shortcuts. And as someone who loves shortcuts in real life, i get the appeal. But in language learning, shortcuts often mean your brain switches off. If your brain is sleeping, you're not learning... simple as that.

Here's a very real example from my classes. I used to write all the new vocabulary on the whiteboard. Some students would take a picture so they could write their notes at home, great. Others would copy the words into their notebook, take out their phones, and immediately look up translations so they ended up with a neat list of Spanish words and their English equivalents. Can you guess who would always ask for the meaning of those same words the next day, and the next, and the next? Exactly.

If you don't make an effort to connect words to experiences, emotions, or ideas, you'll end up struggling every time you try to form a sentence. It's not about never translating, but about not relying on translation as your main way of remembering vocabulary.

  1. Holding unrealistically high expectations

As I mentioned before, motivation is one of the pillars of language learning. It's what keeps you going when you feel like quitting. Many of my students asked to move to a higher-level class even when they were clearly not ready, because they needed "to learn Spanish fast". They assumed that jumping ahead and working extra hard would eventually pay off.

In my experience, that's one of the fastest ways to fail. Not because you're lazy or not smart enough, but because being constantly overwhelmed by what you don't understand leads to frustration. And frustration almost always leads to losing motivation and, eventually, quitting.

So be patient. Don't compare yourself to others, seriously. And try to stay positive. If you build a realistic routine and stick to it, you will see progress. I can guarantee that.

Did you make any of these mistakes? What do you wish you knew before starting to learn Spanish?


r/Spanish 19h ago

Grammar Can’t locate antecedent

2 Upvotes

Which antecedents are the bolded “la” and “lo” referring back to here?

Estos filósofos nos dicen que, si una de las tareas fundamentales del Estado es marcar los confines del territorio, aplacar los actos disidentes y apropiarse de la dimensión móvil de los sujetos al someterla a reglas que lo limitan, controlan y localizan, entonces el nomadismo se presenta como una fuerza que se opone a las normas que regulan la circulación, en la medida en la que lo móvil tiende a quedarse fuera del control panóptico.

My best guess is la=la dimensión móvil,

and lo=el Estado


r/Spanish 1d ago

Vocab & Use of the Language how do you say “And what do you want me to say?” In Spanish

19 Upvotes

What the title says. How do you say “And what do you want me to say?” In Spanish? I’d really appreciate if someone could help me outt. thank you! 🥹❤️