Olive Grove

Free Spanish lessons for students

Learn Spanish like it's home

Olive Grove is a free, self-paced Spanish course for students. Short daily lessons take you through six units, from your first ¡hola! to telling stories in the past tense, with plenty of practice along the way. There's nothing to sign up for. Just open a lesson and start.

Start with Unit 1 Try the flashcards
  • Free, no account needed
  • Beginner to intermediate
  • About ten minutes a lesson
el sol la casa la colina el olivo el camino
la ventana la maceta la pared

How the course works

Little and often, like a daily habit

Languages stick when you meet them every day, not once a week in a rush. So every Olive Grove lesson is short enough to fit before school, on the bus or at the start of a class, and each one builds gently on the last.

Casa means home. The idea is simple: start with the Spanish you'd use around the house, then move outwards to school, the market and the wider world.

  1. Ten minutes a day

    Each lesson introduces one idea, shows it in real examples and ends with a quick practice task.

  2. Six units, one path

    Units go in order, from beginner to intermediate: roughly the ground covered by levels A1 and A2.

  3. Say it out loud

    New words come with simple pronunciation hints, so you can practise speaking, not just reading.

  4. Check yourself

    Every unit ends with a short quiz. Answers are explained, so a wrong answer still teaches you something.

The units

Six units, from hola to historias

Work through them in order. Open a unit to see the lessons inside. Each unit takes most students two to three weeks at a lesson a day.

Saludos y presentaciones Greetings & introductions Say hello and goodbye, introduce yourself and ask someone's name. Beginner 6 lessons
  1. ¡Hola! Hello and goodbye
  2. ¿Cómo te llamas? Asking and giving names
  3. ¿Cómo estás? Saying how you feel
  4. Tú y usted Informal and formal “you”
  5. ¿De dónde eres? Countries and nationalities
  6. El alfabeto Spelling your name
Los números y las fechas Numbers & dates Count to 100, say the date and talk about birthdays. Beginner 6 lessons
  1. Del cero al veinte Numbers 0–20
  2. Hasta cien Numbers 21–100
  3. Los días de la semana Days of the week
  4. Los meses Months and seasons
  5. ¿Qué fecha es hoy? Saying the date
  6. ¿Cuántos años tienes? Age and birthdays
La familia y la casa Family & home Describe your family and the rooms of your home. Beginner 7 lessons
  1. Mi familia Family members
  2. Mi, tu, su Saying whose something is
  3. ¿Cómo es? Describing people with ser
  4. Las habitaciones Rooms of the house
  5. Hay… There is, there are
  6. ¿Dónde está? Estar and where things are
  7. Mi casa Writing a short description
La comida y el mercado Food & the market Name foods, say what you like and buy things at a market stall. Elementary 7 lessons
  1. Frutas y verduras Fruit and vegetables
  2. Me gusta, me gustan Likes and dislikes
  3. ¿Cuánto cuesta? Prices and paying
  4. Un kilo de… Quantities and containers
  5. Las comidas del día Meals and mealtimes
  6. En la cafetería Ordering food and drink
  7. Quiero, puedo Polite requests
El colegio y la rutina diaria School & daily routine Tell the time and describe a typical school day from start to finish. Elementary 8 lessons
  1. Las asignaturas School subjects
  2. En la clase Classroom objects
  3. ¿Qué hora es? Telling the time
  4. -ar, -er, -ir Regular verbs in the present
  5. Me levanto Reflexive verbs
  6. Mi rutina Describing your day
  7. Siempre, a veces, nunca How often
  8. Me encanta el dibujo Opinions about school
Historias en pasado Stories in the past Tell a short story about something that happened, using the preterite. Intermediate 8 lessons
  1. Ayer, el año pasado Talking about when
  2. Hablé, cociné The preterite of -ar verbs
  3. Comí, viví The preterite of -er and -ir verbs
  4. Fui, hice, tuve Common irregular verbs
  5. Primero, luego, después Putting events in order
  6. Era, había A first look at the imperfect
  7. Mi historia Telling a story from start to end
  8. Repaso Review and final quiz

Practice

A word a day, and a few around the house

Start with today's word, then test yourself on the rooms and parts of a house. Tap a card to turn it over.

Palabra del día

Hoy

el olivo

noun, masculine · say it: oh-LEE-boh

olive tree

El olivo del jardín tiene cien años.

The olive tree in the garden is a hundred years old.

Flashcards: la casa

Words with el are masculine; words with la are feminine. Learn the little word along with the noun.

Grammar

Three verbs, three patterns

Almost every Spanish verb ends in -ar, -er or -ir. Learn these three regular verbs in the present tense and you can conjugate thousands of others the same way.

  • Take off the ending (hablar) and add a new one for each person.
  • -er and -ir verbs share their endings, except for nosotros and vosotros.
  • Vosotros is used mainly in Spain. In Latin America, ustedes is used for “you all”.
Present tense of hablar (to speak), comer (to eat) and vivir (to live)
Person hablarto speak comerto eat vivirto live
yohablocomovivo
túhablascomesvives
él / ella / ustedhablacomevive
nosotros / nosotrashablamoscomemosvivimos
vosotros / vosotrashabláiscoméisvivís
ellos / ellas / ustedeshablancomenviven

Hablo español en clase. I speak Spanish in class.

Comemos a las dos. We eat at two o'clock.

¿Dónde vives? Where do you live?

Useful phrases

Ten phrases to carry with you

The syllable in capitals is the one to stress. Hints follow Latin American pronunciation; in much of Spain, c before e or i, and z, sound like the English “th”.

  • ¡Hola! ¿Qué tal?

    OH-lah, keh TAHL

    Hi! How's it going?

  • Me llamo…

    meh YAH-moh

    My name is…

  • Mucho gusto.

    MOO-choh GOOS-toh

    Nice to meet you.

  • ¿Cómo se dice… en español?

    KOH-moh seh DEE-seh… ehn ehs-pah-NYOHL

    How do you say… in Spanish?

  • No entiendo.

    noh ehn-TYEHN-doh

    I don't understand.

  • ¿Puedes repetir, por favor?

    PWEH-dehs reh-peh-TEER, por fah-BOR

    Can you repeat that, please?

  • Más despacio, por favor.

    MAHS dehs-PAH-syoh, por fah-BOR

    More slowly, please.

  • ¿Cuánto cuesta?

    KWAHN-toh KWEHS-tah

    How much does it cost?

  • Mi casa es tu casa.

    mee KAH-sah ehs too KAH-sah

    Make yourself at home. (Literally: my house is your house.)

  • ¡Hasta mañana!

    AHS-tah mah-NYAH-nah

    See you tomorrow!

Mini quiz

Five questions, no pressure

A quick check on what's on this page. Choose an answer for each question, then press Check my answers. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

1 How do you say “the kitchen” in Spanish?
2 Complete the sentence: Nosotros ____ en una casa grande. (vivir)
3 Complete the sentence: Yo ____ español en clase. (hablar)
4 Which sentence means “I like olives”?
5 You're meeting a new teacher for the first time. Which greeting fits best?

For teachers

Free to use in your classroom

Olive Grove is built to sit alongside your own teaching, not replace it. Lessons are short enough to use as a starter, a homework task or independent catch-up for a student who has missed a few classes.

  • No logins. Students don't need accounts or email addresses, so there's nothing to set up or manage.
  • No ads, no tracking. Nothing on the site collects data about your students.
  • Works on the board. Flashcards, verb tables and quizzes are designed to be readable when projected.
  • Fine to share. Link to it, project it or print pages for your classes. See our terms.

Spotted a mistake, or want a topic covered? Tell us. Corrections from teachers are the most useful messages we get.

Get in touch
¡Buenos días, clase! la casa yo hablo tú hablas él habla

Contact

Questions, corrections, ideas

Whether you're a student stuck on a lesson, a teacher with a suggestion or a parent with a question, we'd like to hear from you. We read everything and reply as soon as we can.

Email us at hello@olivegrove.casa

If you're under 13, please ask a parent, carer or teacher before sending us a message, and don't include personal details like your address or school.