Jarana Spanish

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Three ways in. By level if you know roughly where you are; by topic if you are after one specific thing; or the course in order if you are starting from nothing.

By level

By topic

How the language works

  • The present

    What is happening now, what happens generally, and what Spanish uses the present for that English does not.

    15 lessons

  • The past

    Two past tenses that both translate as one English one. This is the wall most learners hit at B1.

    14 lessons

  • Adjectives

    Agreement, position, and the ones that change meaning when they move.

    10 lessons

  • Pronouns

    Subject, object, and the ones Spanish leaves out entirely.

    8 lessons

  • Subjunctive

    Not a tense and not optional. What it actually signals, and the triggers worth memorising.

    8 lessons

  • Ser and estar

    Two verbs for “to be”, and the rule that actually survives contact with real sentences.

    6 lessons

  • Pronunciation

    The sounds, and the habits from your own language that get in the way of them.

    5 lessons

  • Nouns and articles

    Gender, plurals, and which little word goes in front.

    5 lessons

  • Conditionals

    If this, then that — including the versions about things that did not happen.

    5 lessons

  • Joining ideas

    The small words that are neither nouns nor verbs — and, but, then, anyway — and that carry most of the work in real speech.

    5 lessons

  • Prepositions

    Por and para, where things are, and the small words that carry more meaning than they look like they should.

    4 lessons

  • Asking questions

    The question words, the accents they carry, and how to ask without sounding blunt.

    4 lessons

Where you will actually use it

  • Getting around

    Taxis, markets, directions — the Spanish you need in the first week, in the order you need it.

    19 lessons

  • Art and craft

    Textiles, ceramics, silver and paint — what the things are called, and how to say what you think of them.

    8 lessons

  • Small talk

    The two minutes at the start and the two at the end, which in Peru are not optional.

    7 lessons

  • Food and markets

    Ordering, shopping by the kilo, and the menu words no course book prints.

    5 lessons

  • Money and bargaining

    Soles, small change, paying by phone, and the script for agreeing a price without either side losing face.

    4 lessons

  • Buildings and architecture

    Doorways, balconies, patios and the materials they are made of — the vocabulary for describing what is in front of you.

    4 lessons

  • Health and getting help

    The pharmacy, the words for where it hurts, and how to ask for help clearly when you are rattled.

    3 lessons

Peru, and where you are coming from

  • Peruvian Spanish

    Where Spanish as spoken in Peru differs from the Spanish in your course book — which is more often than the book admits.

    49 lessons

  • Register and politeness

    Tú or usted, how much to soften, and when the same words land completely differently.

    21 lessons

  • Lima slang

    The words nobody teaches you and everybody uses.

    5 lessons

Or take it in order

The course, from the sounds up