Is Spanish Hard to Learn? Why & Why Not…

There is no simple, straightforward answer to whether “is learning Spanish hard?”. Learning Spanish has many challenges and many benefits.

In this article, we are going to go over some of the factors that make learning Spanish difficult versus easy, discuss how much effort it will take to learn the language, and explore some top tips that will help you master it. You might discover that you already know a lot of Spanish words. Afterward, you can decide for yourself how difficult it is to learn Spanish.

Is Spanish Hard to Learn?

There isn’t a specific answer whether to learning Spanish is hard or easy. Depending on your mother tongue it might be easier to learn and pick up on Spanish; for example English, Italian, and Filipino speakers might find it easier to understand the grammar and vocabulary.

Facts & Data on Spanish Speakers 

There are currently around more than 20 Spanish speaking countries, with an estimate of more than 500 million speakers worldwide. Spanish is currently ranked the 4th most spoken language, and can be heard everywhere in the world from Asia to the Americas. But Spanish didn’t always naturally develop as the language of choice for these millions of people but thanks to centuries of complex history, the Spanish alphabet and language have found their way around the world.

3 Reasons Why Spanish is Hard to Learn

1. Irregular verbs

While there are some basic patterns that most regular verbs follow, unfortunately, there are also many irregular exceptions. If you want to communicate effectively in Spanish, you need to learn which verbs are irregular, and what their irregularities are.

Many of the most commonly used verbs are irregular like ser and estar. This can make your life harder when you are just getting started, but because you will encounter them so often in ordinary speech, you can get used to them much faster as you practice more.

Verbo	Verb	Yo	Tú	Usted/Él/Ella	Nosotros/as	Ustedes/ Éllos/ Éllas
ser	to be	soy	eres	es	somos	son
haber	auxiliary to be/to have	he	hes	ha	hemos	han
estar	to be	estoy	estás	está	estamos	están
tener	to have	tengo	tienes	tiena	tenemos	tienen
ir	to go	voy	vas	va	vamos	van
saber	to know	sé	sabes	sabe	sabemos	saben
dar	to give	doy	das	da	damos	dan
hacer	to make/ to do	hago	haces	hace	hacemos	hacen
poder	can/ to be able to	puedo	puedes	puede	podemos	pueden
decir	to say	digo	dices	dice	decimos	dicen

2. Pronunciation

Anyone whose first language does not require accent marks will find it difficult to understand accents, whether they be Spanish or any other kind. How does the use of accent marks affect how a word is pronounced?

Only the five vowels (a, e, i, o, u) can be written with the Spanish accent mark (tilde) which looks like a little tick on top of the letters á, é, í, ó, ú. An accent mark above a vowel in a word in Spanish denotes that the vowel is stressed. Accents are so important because a simple tilde can change the meaning of words. For example:

• más (more/plus) – mas (but)
• sé (I know) – se (direct object pronoun)
• sí (yes) – si (if)
• cómo (how) – como (like)
• tú (you) – tu (your)

3. Gendered Words

Spanish nouns have genders assigned to them, which may take some getting used to for first-timers.

Every ‘día’ (day) is masculine while every ‘noche’ (night) is feminine. Every ‘mesa’ (tables) is female while every ‘libro’ (book) is male. This gendering also carries over to the articles and adjectives the modify these nouns. For example:

• Buenos días – (m.)(Good morning.)

  Buenas noches – (f.)(Good evening.)

• La mesa roja es pequeña – (f.) (The red table is small).

  El libro rojo es pequeño – (m.) (The red book is small).

The term “gender” can be deceptive since it seems like it should refer to sex-based characteristics like human gender. But words have a grammatical gender that has very little to do with our common understanding of gender. It is important to remember that it is the words that are gendered not the thing itself and not the person it refers to.

Some words can change depending on the biological gender of the subject. For example:

• un camarero – (m.) (a waiter)
• una camarera – (f.) (una waitress)

Two words for the same thing can be different genders

• el carro – (m.) (the car)
• la maquina – (f.) (the car)

Some always stay the same regardless of the person’s ender.

• Carla (f.) es una (f.) persona (f.) lista (f.). (Carla is a smart person.)
• Miguel (m.) es una (f.) persona (f.) lista (f.). (Miguel is a smart person.)

So no matter if you are male, female, or anything in between. You are una persona (a person).

3 Reasons Why Spanish is Not Hard to Learn

1. Similar English Words

Do you know any of these words?

• popular
• radio
• actor
• capital
• conductor

Can you recognize any of these words?

• Atlántico
• restaurante
• importante
• presidente
• constructive

You already know hundreds of Spanish words, even if you’ve never seen or heard a single one. The only reason you aren’t aware of these words yet is that they have not been pointed out to you. The lexicon of English is heavily influenced by Latin and Romance languages. Since Spanish derives from these same sources, the two languages have a lot in common.

2. Simple Sentence Structure

Because English uses a Subject-Verb-Object pattern like Spanish, Spanish word order is extremely similar to English word order. The subject of a sentence is the person or thing who performs the action, the verb is what is being done, and the object refers to what is affected by the action.

• Pablo (s) eats (v) apples (o).

  Pablo (s) come (v) manzanas (o).

• He (s) has (v) work (o).

  Él (s) tiene (v) trabajo (o).

3. Fixed Spanish Sentence Patterns

We mentioned the Spanish gendered nouns and irregular verbs earlier and how they could make your life harder. However, those are just exceptions to the rules. There are patterns and principles that still apply the majority of the time.

Words ending in a are generally female, and words ending o are generally male.

• el periódico (m.) (the newspaper)

  un hermano (m.) (a brother)

• la cantina (f.) (the canteen)

  una hermana (f.) (a sister)

Verb conjugation is also pretty consistent across the language, so all you need to do is master the patterns. For example in the present tense, and with the different Spanish subject pronouns: 

Pronouns	-ar verbs	-ir verbs	-er verbs
Yo	-o	-o	-o
Tú	-as	-is	-es
Usted/ el/ ella	-a	-e	-e
Nosotros/as	-amos	-imos	-emos
Ustedes/ Ellos/ Ellas	-an	–en	-en

Spanish Learning Tips

1. Practice! Practice! Practice!

The fastest way to learn Spanish is to practice and use the language as much as possible.  it really is the fastest way to learn Spanish. If you want to learn and improve, you need to make a commitment and find time to practice. When it comes to Spanish, just like any other skill, practice is the key to learning.

The best approach to learning Spanish is to practice and expose yourself to it as often as possible. It is the quickest method to learn Spanish. If you want to learn Spanish fast you must make a commitment and schedule practice time. Practice is as essential to learning a language as it is with any other craft or ability.

2. Speak as much as you can!

If you have access to a Spanish-speaking community, you may find it more convenient to learn the language. Practicing with others in person is a vital part of the learning process, and having Spanish speakers nearby provides you with more opportunities to put your Spanish abilities to practice. But if you don’t have access to people to talk to in person, you can always find a tutor or a language partner online. You can try speaking Spanish to yourself. Look at your surroundings and describe the things in your room to yourself out loud in Spanish. You can even talk to your cat in Spanish!

3. Fully immerse in Spanish

Consider switching the language setting to Spanish on your phone, computer, tablet or whatever device you use on a daily basis. This is a simple but practical way to expose yourself to the Spanish language on a regular basis and is a small way of living the language.

You’ll see the date and time in Spanish every time you set an alarm or look at your calendar. You’ll see ‘buscar’ every time you search for something. On your music player, you’ll see ‘artistas’ instead of ‘artists’, ‘albumes’ instead of ‘albums’, ‘pistas’ instead of ‘tracks’, and ‘listas de reproduccion’ instead of ‘playlists.’

Seeing a handful of the same words again and over can help the language feel more natural to you, and you’ll find it simpler to incorporate them into your daily life with no effort.

FAQ

Es Hora De Decidir Por Ti Mismo – Time to Decide on Your Own 

Now that you are familiar with some of the advantages you have and the challenges you will face in learning Spanish as an English speaker, it’s time for you to decide for yourself how hard it is. Why not check out some online Spanish courses?

With AmazingTalker, you can work with professional Spanish tutors at reasonable rates from the comfort of your home while receiving, personalized learning plans and 1-on-1 support. Anyone who wants to learn Spanish effectively and efficiently can benefit from working one-on-one with a Spanish tutor from AmazingTalker. Whether it is for toddlers, young kids, older kids, middle school and high school students, or adults of all levels, we have professional Spanish tutors in beginner, intermediate, and advanced Spanish language programs.

Head on over to AmazingTalker to learn more about Spanish and any other languages that might catch your interest.