En resumen (the short version)
- Everyone has passive Spanish (what you recognise) and active Spanish (what you can say). The only way to grow your active Spanish is to speak, and speaking grows your passive Spanish too.
- Collect whole phrases instead of single words, then make each one about your own life, out loud.
- Prepare answers to the questions learners always get asked, and learn a few phrases to talk around missing words.
✌🏼 ¡Hola aventurero!
You're watching a Spanish TV series and following almost everything. You read a Spanish menu and sí, claro, you know what you're ordering. Then a real person asks you something simple… and your Spanish packs its maleta and leaves 🧳💨
If that's you, tranquilo. It's one of the most common things learners tell me, and it's very fixable. In this post I'll show you how to start speaking Spanish with the Spanish you already have.
And trust me, I get it. Remember, I'm the girl who failed every single English test at school 🙈
You have two kinds of Spanish
Every learner has two Spanish "boxes" in their head.
Passive Spanish is everything you recognise. You see it or hear it and ¡ah, sí!, you know what it means.
Active Spanish is everything you can pull out and say yourself, right now, while someone is waiting for an answer.
Quick test. Read this word: aunque. You probably know it means "although" ✅. Now imagine you're mid-conversation and you need to say "although"… does aunque jump out? For most learners, it doesn't.
That word lives in your passive box. The passive box is always bigger, even in your own language. The problem is when the gap between the two gets huge.
Why the gap gets so big
Most Spanish learning only feeds the passive box:
- ❌ Apps where you tap the right answer
- ❌ Reading and listening (great, but only half the work)
- ❌ Grammar exercises where you fill in one word
- ❌ Waiting to speak "when you're ready"
All of that helps you understand. None of it makes you say anything. So your passive Spanish keeps growing, your active Spanish stays tiny, and the moment you go blank is exactly that gap.
That's why I always say speaking is HOW you learn Spanish, not the reward you get at the end. Your active Spanish only grows when you speak. And here's the bonus: speaking grows your passive Spanish too, because you hear new words, ask questions and get corrected along the way 🗣️
Going blank isn't a sign that Spanish "isn't for you". It just means that bit of Spanish hasn't moved into your active box yet. Todavía.
Steal whole phrases, not single words
This is my favourite trick, and I've used it for every language I've learned.
When you read or listen, don't just collect words. Collect whole phrases: the little chunks native speakers say again and again. A phrase comes out in one go. A single word still needs you to build a whole sentence around it, y eso es lento (and that's slow).
Say you want to talk about your last trip ✈️. Instead of learning viaje, mejor and comida on their own, steal these:
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| El verano pasado fui a… | Last summer I went to… |
| Estuvimos una semana. | We were there for a week. |
| Lo mejor fue… | The best part was… |
| Me encantó. | I loved it. |
| ¿Has estado alguna vez en…? | Have you ever been to…? |
With just those five you can talk about a trip and ask someone about theirs. That's a real conversation already ✨
Paper or phone, da igual. Every time you hear a phrase you'd actually use, write the whole thing down. Not the word. The phrase.
Make every phrase about YOU
A phrase you've stolen is still somebody else's phrase. To move it into your active box, use it for your own life. Out loud.
Finish each phrase with something true about you:
| The phrase | Your version (example) |
|---|---|
| El verano pasado fui a… | El verano pasado fui a Portugal con mi familia. |
| Lo mejor fue… | Lo mejor fue la comida. ¡Qué rica! |
| Me encantó… | Me encantó la playa. |
Say your version out loud three or four times. Sí, out loud, even if your cat is judging you 🐱. Your mouth needs the practice as much as your brain does.
Next time someone asks about your summer, you're not building a sentence from zero. You're saying something you've already said. Mucho más fácil. If you catch yourself translating from English as you go, read how to stop thinking in English when you speak Spanish.
Get ready for the questions you'll definitely get
Good news: as a Spanish learner, people ask you the same questions again and again. Siempre. So prepare your answers before anyone asks.
| The question | What it means | Start your answer with… |
|---|---|---|
| ¿De dónde eres? | Where are you from? | Soy de… |
| ¿A qué te dedicas? | What do you do for work? | Trabajo como… / Soy… |
| ¿Por qué aprendes español? | Why are you learning Spanish? | Porque… |
| ¿Cuánto tiempo llevas aprendiendo español? | How long have you been learning Spanish? | Llevo… años / meses. |
| ¿Has estado en España? | Have you been to Spain? | Sí, he estado en… / Todavía no, pero… |
Write a two-sentence answer for each one and say them until they feel easy. There's more on this in how to talk about yourself in Spanish.
Record yourself answering the five questions in one go. Listen back tomorrow. You'll hear what needs work, and you'll hear that you sound better than you thought.
When a word goes missing, talk around it
Even with all this practice, some words will hide from you. That's fine. It still happens to me in English, Italian and Chinese 😅
The trick is to describe the word instead of stopping. Native speakers do it all the time, and it keeps the conversation moving.
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Es una cosa que se usa para… | It's a thing you use for… |
| Es como un… pero más pequeño. | It's like a… but smaller. |
| Es lo contrario de… | It's the opposite of… |
| Es una persona que… | It's a person who… |
| No sé cómo se dice, pero… | I don't know how to say it, but… |
So if you forget sacacorchos, just say: Es una cosa que se usa para abrir una botella de vino 🍷. Most of the time the other person says the word for you, and now you'll never forget it.
For the little pauses while you think, have a look at the little words that make your Spanish sound natural.
Don't switch to English the second a word goes missing. Try one "talk around it" phrase first. Even if it's messy, it's still Spanish, and it still counts.
Your first step this week
Don't try to do everything at once. Pick one:
- Start a phrase notebook. Write down five phrases you hear this week that you'd actually use.
- Prepare your answers to the questions everyone asks you, like ¿De dónde eres? and ¿Por qué aprendes español? Write two sentences for each and say them out loud.
- Learn one "talk around it" phrase, like Es una cosa que se usa para…, and use it next time a word goes missing.
Small and out loud beats big and silent, siempre 💛
Recap ✨
- Passive Spanish is what you recognise. Active Spanish is what you can say. Only speaking grows your active Spanish, and it grows your passive Spanish too.
- Collect whole phrases, not single words.
- Make each phrase about your own life and say it out loud.
- Prepare answers to the questions you'll always get asked.
- When a word goes missing, describe it instead of stopping.
If you'd like people to practise all this with, that's exactly what the Aventureros Club is for: aventureros from all over the world, speaking Spanish together, with me right there cheering you on 🎉
Now I'm curious 👀 Which question always makes you go blank in Spanish? Cuéntame in the comments!
Lucía ✨
Lucía · Linguist, translator, Spanish teacher and author of the Visual Spanish Grammar Book.
Come and learn Spanish with me and other aventureros like yourself at skool.com/learnspanish 🎉