Yes, you can learn Spanish for free, and it's one of the friendliest languages an English speaker can choose: it's spelled the way it sounds, and words like hospital, chocolate and animal are written the same in both languages. What you need is a daily routine, a course that builds the grammar in the right order and free Spanish to listen to. This guide covers what is easy and hard, whether to learn the Spanish of Spain or Latin America, the best free resources, a 12-week plan at 20 to 30 minutes a day and how long it all takes.
Is Spanish hard for English speakers?
No. The US Foreign Service Institute puts Spanish in its easiest category, estimating 30 weeks of full-time classes, about 690 class hours, for an English speaker to reach professional working proficiency in speaking and listening (FSI). The effort is front-loaded into a few grammar topics; the sounds and much of the vocabulary come cheaply.
| What comes easily |
What takes work |
| Spelled as it sounds, with five vowels |
Two verbs for "to be": ser and estar |
| Thousands of words shared with English |
The subjunctive |
| Only two genders: el and la |
Two past tenses that share the work |
| No pronoun needed: hablo means I speak |
Fast speech and the rolled r |
What is easy about Spanish?
Spanish has five vowel sounds against more than a dozen in English, and each letter keeps its sound, so after a few days you can read any word aloud. Only a handful of letters surprise you: h is silent (hola), j is a breathy h from the back of the throat (jamón, ham), and ñ sounds like the ny in canyon (año, year).
Vocabulary follows patterns. English -tion becomes -ción (nación, información), -ty becomes -dad (ciudad, city; universidad), and -ly becomes -mente (rápidamente, quickly). Verbs show the person in their ending, so the pronoun usually disappears: hablo (I speak), hablas (you speak), hablamos (we speak).
What makes Spanish hard?
Ser and estar. Both mean "to be". Ser describes what someone or something is, estar how or where it is right now. Es listo means he's clever; está listo means he's ready. Location takes estar: estoy en casa (I'm at home).
The subjunctive. After wishes, doubts and feelings, Spanish switches to a separate verb form: quiero que vengas (I want you to come), never quiero que vienes. English barely has an equivalent, so expect it to feel strange until B1.
Two past tenses. Ayer fui al cine (yesterday I went to the movies) tells a finished event. Antes iba al cine cada semana (I used to go to the movies every week) describes a habit. English blurs the two; Spanish never does.
Speed and the r. Pero (but) and perro (dog) differ only in the rolled r, and native speakers link words so tightly that ¿qué es esto? (what is this?) sounds like a single word.
False friends. Ropa means clothes, not rope. A carpeta is a folder, not a carpet, and asistir means to attend, not to assist.
Should you learn Spanish from Spain or Latin America?
Learn the Spanish of the people you'll talk to. The grammar is nearly identical; the differences lie in pronunciation and a set of everyday words, much like British and American English. In the US, most of the Spanish you'll hear is Latin American, and Mexican Spanish is the most widespread.
| English |
Spain |
Mexico |
| you (plural, informal) |
vosotros |
ustedes |
| car |
coche |
carro |
| computer |
ordenador |
computadora |
| to drive |
conducir |
manejar |
| z in cerveza (beer) |
usually like English th |
like s |
Switching later costs a few weeks of adjustment, not a fresh start. Our comparison of Mexican Spanish vs Spain Spanish goes through the differences in detail.
How do you start Spanish in Qlango?
Download Qlango on Android or iOS, or open it on the web, choose English as the language you learn through and add Spanish. The app is free to download and your first lessons are free; the first A1 lesson takes about five minutes. Spanish from Spain runs from A1 to C2 and Mexican Spanish from A1 to B2, and the languages page lists every course and level.
Answers move from picking one of four to building sentences to writing Spanish yourself, which is where ser and estar stop being a rule and become a reflex. Spaced repetition brings each word back right before you would forget it, flashcards keep vocabulary moving, and games such as Word Duel, Wordle and MinuteRush fill a spare five minutes. You can chat with other learners, with message translation and AI help to write your reply, and streaks, a weekly plan and statistics make the habit visible. Premium adds an AI teacher and offline learning.
Where can you learn Spanish for free? The best resources
Add these free resources to your lessons and you can learn Spanish for free well beyond the beginner stage.
- Instituto Cervantes. Spain's public institute for the Spanish language offers free interactive activities from A1 to C2, Pasatiempos de Rayuela, on its Centro Virtual Cervantes, plus free sample papers for its official DELE exams, with audio and answer keys. Try the DELE A1 sample in week 12.
- Spanish Proficiency Exercises. The University of Texas at Austin publishes short video clips of native speakers from Latin America and Spain demonstrating everyday language tasks. They're also a painless way to hear many accents.
- BBC Bitesize GCSE Spanish. The BBC's free revision pages cover the topics and grammar of the Spanish exam British students take at 16.
- Your public library. Many libraries lend Spanish course books with audio, graded readers and films, and many in the US have whole Spanish-language sections.
- Spanish around you. In many US cities, Spanish-language radio and TV are free over the air. A language exchange with a Spanish speaker who wants to practice English costs nothing but time.
- Series with subtitles. Once you know a few hundred words, watch with Spanish subtitles; our guide to learning with films and series explains when to switch.
What does a free 12-week Spanish plan look like?
Plan 20 to 30 minutes a day, six days a week: about 15 minutes of Qlango lessons and reviews, then 10 minutes of one free resource. Never skip more than two days in a row; regular short sessions beat a long one on the weekend.
| Week |
Focus |
Say it like this |
| 1 |
Vowels, h, j and ñ, greetings, numbers to 20 |
Hola, me llamo Daniel. Soy de Chicago. |
| 2 |
ser, el and la, nationalities and jobs |
Soy enfermera. Mi amigo es inglés. |
| 3 |
Present tense of -ar verbs, questions with dónde and qué |
¿Dónde trabajas? Trabajo en un hospital. |
| 4 |
-er and -ir verbs, numbers to 100, ordering |
Un café con leche, por favor. ¿Cuánto es? |
| 5 |
estar and hay, saying where things are |
El baño está a la derecha. Hay una farmacia cerca. |
| 6 |
tener, ir, hacer, querer, poder, the near future |
Voy a comer con mi familia. |
| 7 |
Stem-changing verbs |
Duermo ocho horas. ¿Puedo pagar con tarjeta? |
| 8 |
gustar for likes and dislikes |
Me gusta la playa, me gustan las películas de terror. |
| 9 |
Past tense of regular verbs |
Ayer hablé con mi madre. |
| 10 |
Irregular past tenses |
El sábado fui a la playa y tuve un día perfecto. |
| 11 |
The imperfect for habits |
Antes iba al cine cada semana. |
| 12 |
Review, the DELE A1 sample, messages to other learners |
El año que viene quiero viajar a México. |
After twelve weeks you can introduce yourself, order, find your way and talk about what you did on Saturday, slowly but in Spanish.
How long does it take to learn Spanish?
Cambridge English estimates about 180 to 200 guided learning hours to reach A2, 350 to 400 for B1 and 500 to 600 for B2. Those figures are for learners of English, but they work as a yardstick for Spanish. At 30 minutes a day, about 180 hours a year, you reach A2, simple conversations about everyday life, in about a year, and B1 in about two.
At an hour a day, those times roughly halve. The FSI's 30 weeks assume 23 hours of class a week plus homework, so they don't translate directly into evenings. Our guide to how long it takes to learn a language shows how to work out your own date.
FAQ
Can I learn Spanish for free?
Yes. The Instituto Cervantes activities, the Texas videos and the BBC pages are free, and Qlango is free to download, so you can start structured lessons today and add free listening from week one.
How long does it take to learn Spanish?
About a year to A2 and two years to B1 at 30 minutes a day. The FSI's estimate for full-time study is 30 weeks.
Is Spanish easier than Portuguese?
Spanish is easier to pronounce; Portuguese has nasal vowels and, in Portugal, swallowed vowels. The FSI actually gives Portuguese 24 weeks against 30 for Spanish. Our guide on how to learn Portuguese for free covers the other side.
Can I learn Spanish from TV shows?
Not on their own. Shows train your ear and give you natural phrases, but without lessons you collect phrases you can't adapt. Combine the two, and switch to Spanish subtitles as soon as you can.
Read this page's Spanish examples out loud tonight, add Spanish or Mexican Spanish in Qlango with English as the language you learn through, and do your first lesson before you go to bed.
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