Spanish conversation for beginners
Updated 2026-10-18
At the start, a conversation is a few short lines in a familiar place: a greeting, one request, a question back, a thank you. Below are two dialogues on scenes from Convola, one at A1 and one at A2, with notes on what each line does.
What A1 and A2 mean in practice
The levels come from the Common European Framework of Reference. At A1, its global scale says you can interact simply if the other person “talks slowly and clearly and is prepared to help”. At A2 you manage “simple and routine tasks”.
In Convola's A1 scenes, the people speak in sentences of three to six words, in the present tense. They ask questions you can answer with yes, no or one of two choices, and they repeat the key word. At A2 the sentences grow to about ten words, and the past comes in.
An A1 dialogue: buying bread at a bakery
A scene could start like this. The lines are our own example in the format of the app, with the English under each.
- Panadera
- Hola, ¿qué te pongo?Hello, what can I get you?
- You
- Hola. Una barra de pan, por favor.Hello. A loaf of bread, please.
- Panadera
- ¿Normal o integral?White or wholemeal?
- You
- Normal. ¿Tiene croissants?White. Do you have croissants?
- Panadera
- Sí. ¿Uno o dos?Yes. One or two?
- You
- Dos, por favor.Two, please.
- Panadera
- Aquí tienes. ¿Algo más?Here you are. Anything else?
- You
- No, nada más. Gracias.No, nothing else. Thanks.
- ¿Qué te pongo? means, word for word, what do I put for you. You only need to recognise it.
- Una barra takes una because barra is feminine. Every Spanish noun is masculine or feminine, and the article follows it.
- ¿Normal o integral? is an either-or question, the kind A1 scenes use so you can answer with one word.
- ¿Tiene...? speaks to the baker as usted, the polite form for people you do not know well. ¿Tienes...? would be tú, the familiar one. With a stranger, usted is the safe choice.
An A2 dialogue: at the pharmacy
At A2 the other person asks more, and you explain a little. Again our own example, on the scene at the pharmacy with a minor ailment.
- Farmacéutico
- Buenas tardes. ¿Qué le pasa?Good afternoon. What's the matter?
- You
- Me duele la garganta desde ayer.My throat has hurt since yesterday.
- Farmacéutico
- ¿Tiene fiebre?Do you have a temperature?
- You
- No, pero estoy muy cansado.No, but I'm very tired.
- Farmacéutico
- Vale. Le doy unas pastillas para chupar. Una cada cuatro horas.OK. I'll give you some lozenges. One every four hours.
- You
- ¿Las puedo tomar con café?Can I take them with coffee?
- Farmacéutico
- Sí, sin problema. Y beba mucha agua.Yes, no problem. And drink plenty of water.
- Me duele la garganta: the thing that hurts is the subject, as with gustar. One thing, me duele; more than one, me duelen.
- Estoy muy cansado: tiredness is a state, so it takes estar, not ser.
- ¿Tiene fiebre?: tener also covers many states that English puts with be, such as tengo frío and tengo hambre.
What a beginner's mistake looks like
From a recorded Convola conversation in the A1 scene of a hotel breakfast with a chatty guest. The learner wanted to try churros and wrote Quiero probar la churros. The tutor's note:
la churros
los churros
“Churros” is masculine plural, so it needs “los”, not “la”.
A slip like this does not stop the talk. The guest, Carmen, answers Los churros están muy ricos, with the right form in it. The tutor marks the mistake, and it comes back later in a short practice prompt.
Phrases that carry a first conversation
- ¿Puede repetir, por favor? Can you say that again, please?
- Más despacio, por favor. Slower, please.
- No entiendo. I don't understand.
- ¿Cómo se dice ... en español? How do you say ... in Spanish?
- Perdone. Excuse me, to catch someone's attention.
Use them freely in a scene. At A1, when you are lost, the people answer with fewer words.
Getting started at A1
- Pick A1 and a scene with one person: ordering at a café, a taxi ride, or buying a train ticket at the counter.
- Type first if speaking feels like too much. The tutor's notes are in English, and the Translate button shows a line in English.
- Write at least two lines of your own. A conversation with two or more of your lines ends with a short recap.
- Tap any word you did not know. It can become a vocab card.
- Switch to voice when typing feels easy.
Ready for more? Spanish conversation practice lists scenes up to C2, and common Spanish mistakes covers the slips English speakers make early on.