Spanish short stories
Short, real-life dual-language stories that put lesson vocabulary into a scene — from first-week small talk to a night out. Tap any sentence to reveal its translation.
Not sure where to start?
Take the free Spanish level test — 20 questions, about 5 minutes — and get lessons, stories and practice matched to your level.
beginner9 stories
Nueva en Madrid: A Neighbor Says Hello
Follow Claire's first week in Madrid as a neighbor strikes up a conversation on the stairs and the two arrange to meet up again.
13 sentences
Café con el Nuevo Compañero de Piso
Two new flatmates share a coffee on their first morning together and get past the awkward small talk.
11 sentences
Desayuno en la Cafetería del Barrio
A simple neighborhood breakfast order becomes a lesson in ordering food the way locals actually do.
10 sentences
Charlando en la Cola del Supermercado
A slow supermarket line turns into a short, friendly chat between two strangers waiting to pay.
9 sentences
En el Mercado
A learner buys mangoes at a Mexico City market and gets a warm crash course in how vendors really talk.
15 sentences
Sacando Dinero en el Cajero
A quick trip to the ATM turns into a lesson in basic Spanish money vocabulary when the machine has other plans.
11 sentences
Perdido en el Centro
A tourist with a dead phone asks three friendly madrileños the way to the Prado — and gets three different answers.
14 sentences
Cambio de Planes por WhatsApp
Two friends reschedule their plans over a quick WhatsApp exchange, the way most plans in Spain actually get made.
8 sentences
Primera Cita en una Cafetería
A first date at a café starts with nerves and small talk, and ends with both people hoping to see each other again.
12 sentences
intermediate36 stories
Una Mesa Para Cuatro
Booking a table by phone, ordering raciones to share, and fighting over the bill — a Friday dinner out in Madrid, straight from the book.
14 sentences
El Tren Llega Tarde Otra Vez
A delayed commuter train pushes two regular passengers past politeness and into genuine, colorful Spanish frustration.
11 sentences
Una Caña Después del Curro
Two coworkers escape the office for a quick beer, order like locals, and argue over who's paying the bill.
14 sentences
Organizando el Viaje de Fin de Semana
Two friends plan a weekend getaway over a phone call, using the everyday verbs natives lean on constantly but textbooks barely mention.
10 sentences
Un Piso con Vistas en Valencia
Sara visita un piso con el agente Javier y pregunta lo esencial antes de decidir si merece la pena firmar el contrato.
12 sentences
Fiebre y un trancazo: un día en el centro de salud
Marta se despierta con fiebre y dolor de garganta, consigue cita el mismo día y termina en la farmacia con receta en mano.
14 sentences
Reunión de Equipo el Lunes por la Mañana
A Monday morning team meeting runs through the week ahead, complete with the deflections and diplomatic phrasing every office needs.
12 sentences
La Bronca de los Platos
Two flatmates, a sink full of dirty dishes, and a proper telling-off — how a Spanish argument flares up and how it gets patched over.
14 sentences
Asado del Domingo
A Buenos Aires Sunday asado in full swing: friends heckle the grill master, fernet flows, and the mate comes out after lunch.
15 sentences
Domingo en Casa de la Abuela
Diego visita a la abuela de su novia para la comida del domingo y descubre que decir que no a un segundo plato no es tan fácil.
12 sentences
Domingo de fútbol en el bar de siempre
Tres amigos ven el partido en su bar de siempre: un golazo, un penalti polémico y el eterno debate sobre quién jugó mejor.
13 sentences
Un Café en Palermo, Buenos Aires
Two old friends catch up over coffee in a Buenos Aires café, voseo and lunfardo included, the way Argentines actually talk.
10 sentences
El Completo y la Micro
A newcomer to Santiago orders a hot dog he cannot pronounce, pays in lucas, and gets talked onto the right bus by a stranger — a crash course in Chilean Spanish at street level.
20 sentences
El Menú y la Combi
A newcomer to Lima orders the set lunch in a hole-in-the-wall restaurant, discovers that "causa" is both a dish and a friend, earns his first yapa, and survives his first combi ride — Peruvian Spanish at street level.
21 sentences
El Mercado de Chacao
A Saturday morning at the Mercado de Chacao in Caracas: two friends, a shopping list of caraotas and lechosa, a neighbour who cannot stop talking about his new car, and a bag of cotufas for the evening — Venezuelan Spanish at market volume.
30 sentences
La guagua de La Habana
Yanet leaves the house with an empty bag and a plan: the bread, the bus and whatever the day turns up. One morning in Havana, with the queue protocol, the shared taxi, an old school friend and half the Cuban street lexicon.
29 sentences
El almuerzo en Quito
Three weeks into Quito, Sara goes down for the three-dollar set lunch with her flatmate and her flatmate's ñaño, learns that a favour is asked with "dame trayendo", and finds out what the city does at six in the evening.
28 sentences
El mate en la rambla
Clara learned her Spanish in Buenos Aires and has just moved across the river. One Sunday on the Montevideo seafront teaches her that "gracias" ends your turn, that the bombilla is not to be touched, and that facturas are called bizcochos here.
31 sentences
Las boquitas del viernes
Friday evening in Zona 1 of Guatemala City: five friends, a table at doña Tere's, boquitas arriving in little plates, a car that has broken down again, a neighbour listening in, and nobody with any money until the fifteenth.
26 sentences
El trufi a El Alto
A Thursday morning in La Paz: Camila takes her cousin from Santa Cruz up to the Feria 16 de Julio by trufi and cable car, teaches him how to eat a salteña standing up, and haggles for peaches with a yapa on top.
28 sentences
El colmado de la esquina
Seven in the evening on a Santo Domingo corner: plastic chairs, a game of dominoes, bachata at full volume, credit written in a notebook, a bag of víveres for Sunday's sancocho — and everybody talking at once.
25 sentences
El casado de la soda
Midday in San José: two colleagues walk down from the office to doña Flor's soda for a casado and a fruit drink, listen to the next table complain about the morning traffic, discover that one of them has no cash until the fifteenth, and settle it all with two words.
24 sentences
El tranque de la mañana
Seven in the morning on Vía España: two cousins wait for a bus that is not coming, watch somebody jump the queue, remember the painted buses that used to run the city, and get to the office before the boss does.
26 sentences
El tereré bajo el mango
Forty degrees on a Saturday in Asunción: a jug of iced water, crushed herbs, a guampa going round the circle under the mango tree, a chipa seller in the street, and one word that means "no more for me".
25 sentences
El corillo en la playa
Saturday at Piñones: traffic on the twenty-six, alcapurrias at the kiosks, a coconut limber, music too loud to talk over, and one friend who has been blanking everybody for three days and turns up at five with no explanation.
24 sentences
El partido del barrio
Saturday afternoon in Tegucigalpa: a concrete pitch, a match against the neighbourhood up the hill, six baleadas from doña Cinthia's shop afterwards, and an argument about who still has any money the day after payday.
24 sentences
La pupusería de la esquina
Friday night in San Salvador: the sound of hands clapping pupusas into shape, revueltas and loroco, curtido in a bowl, two kids arguing over the last piece, and money that arrives every month from Virginia.
25 sentences
El domingo en Masaya
Sunday at the Masaya market: hammocks and pottery, a vigorón eaten off a banana leaf, a stall of trinkets nobody needs, and a nacatamal waiting at home that everybody has already spoiled their appetite for.
25 sentences
advanced10 stories
El Río y la Gran Vía
Julia leaves Buenos Aires for a Madrid bar she has never seen, and the forty-year family silence that came with it.
8 episodes · start at the beginning
All episodes
- El Río y la Gran Vía — Episodio 1: La Carta
- El Río y la Gran Vía — Episodio 2: Bar Casilda
- El Río y la Gran Vía — Episodio 3: El Cuarto de Atrás
- El Río y la Gran Vía — Episodio 4: La Libreta Verde
- El Río y la Gran Vía — Episodio 5: Dos Orillas
- El Río y la Gran Vía — Episodio 6: La Sobrina de Casilda
- El Río y la Gran Vía — Episodio 7: La Junta Extraordinaria
- El Río y la Gran Vía — Episodio 8: El Favor de 1994
La Sobremesa
A yellowed train ticket surfaces during a long Sunday sobremesa in Zaragoza, revealing the life Grandma Pilar almost lived — and the family that almost never was.
28 sentences
El Último Colectivo
On the last night bus through Buenos Aires, an exhausted nurse's terrible day is quietly undone by three small encounters with strangers who are not quite strangers.
28 sentences