En resumen (the short version)
- A conversation partner gives you three things: something to talk about, questions, and reactions. You can get the first two on your own.
- Pull random questions out of a jar, explain how to get to your house, argue both sides of a question, and retell things you've watched. All out loud.
- Reactions and surprises still need real people, so solo practice is how you get ready for them.
¡Aventurero!
You've decided today's the day you practise speaking. You sit down, open your mouth and… wait. Who exactly are you talking to? 🤔
No partner, no teacher, no Spanish neighbour. Pues nada, back to the app you go.
Not so fast. There's a lot you can do to speak Spanish without a partner, and most of it happens at your kitchen table. Here are four of my favourites.
What a partner actually gives you
Before we start, let's look at what you're missing when there's nobody there. A conversation partner gives you three things:
| What a partner gives you | Can you get it alone? | How |
|---|---|---|
| Something to talk about | Yes | Pick the topic in advance, so you never sit there thinking "um…" |
| Questions you have to answer | Yes, mostly | Write questions down and pick them at random |
| Reactions and surprises | Not really | That's what real conversations are for |
So two out of three are yours already, sin nadie (without anyone). Everything below works on those two.
One rule for all of it: say it out loud. Thinking an answer in your head feels like practice, but your mouth learns nothing. A whisper is fine.
The question jar
This one is suuuper simple. Write Spanish questions on little bits of paper, fold them, and put them in a jar (or a mug, da igual). Pull one out and answer it for one minute.
Because you don't know which question is coming, it feels a lot more like a real chat. Here's a set about food to start with:
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| ¿Qué sueles desayunar? | What do you usually have for breakfast? |
| ¿Cuál es tu plato favorito? | What's your favourite dish? |
| ¿Sabes cocinar? | Can you cook? |
| ¿Qué comiste ayer? | What did you eat yesterday? |
| ¿Has probado alguna vez la paella? | Have you ever tried paella? |
| ¿Prefieres comer en casa o fuera? | Do you prefer eating at home or eating out? |
Teacher bit 🤓 There are three tenses hiding in that list. Sueles is present, for habits. Comiste is the past for a finished time, like ayer. Has probado is the perfect, for "ever" questions. Mixing them in one jar means you practise switching between them, which is exactly what real conversations make you do.
Keep a few jars or envelopes, one per topic: food, work, travel, your weekend. When a topic starts to feel easy, add harder questions to it, like ¿Qué cambiarías de tu trabajo? (What would you change about your job?)
Explain how to get to your house
Explaining something you know well is great practice, because you already know what to say. You just need the Spanish for it.
Directions are a perfect place to start. Imagine a Spanish friend is coming to visit and explain, out loud, how to get from the nearest station to your door 🚶♀️
Quick grammar note: Spanish speakers often give directions in the present tense. Sales de la estación is literally "you leave the station", where English would say "leave the station" or "come out of the station". It sounds friendly, and you don't need the imperative to do it.
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Sales de la estación. | You come out of the station. |
| Giras a la derecha. | You turn right. |
| Sigues recto hasta la farmacia. | You go straight on as far as the chemist's. |
| Cruzas la calle. | You cross the road. |
| Está enfrente del supermercado. | It's opposite the supermarket. |
| Es el portal verde, el número 12. | It's the green front door, number 12. |
Once you can do your house, explain other routes: home to work, your favourite café, the supermarket. Same phrases, new places.
Have an argument with yourself
Pick a question with two sides, like ¿Es mejor vivir en el campo o en la ciudad? (Is it better to live in the countryside or in the city?). Spend one minute arguing for one side. Then switch and argue for the other.
Yes, you'll feel a bit dramatic. That's fine 😄
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Yo creo que… | I think… |
| Por un lado… | On the one hand… |
| Por otro lado… | On the other hand… |
| Lo bueno es que… | The good thing is… |
| Lo malo es que… | The bad thing is… |
| Depende de… | It depends on… |
For example: Lo bueno de vivir en el campo es que hay mucha tranquilidad. Lo malo es que tienes que coger el coche para todo. (The good thing about living in the countryside is that it's really peaceful. The bad thing is that you have to take the car everywhere.)
This builds the Spanish you need for real opinions, and there's more on that in giving your opinion in Spanish.
Retell it in one minute
After you watch an episode of a Spanish TV series or a short YouTube video, set a timer for one minute and tell yourself what happened. Out loud, claro.
You don't need every detail. You need the main story, in your own words.
Use these to hold your story together: Va de… (It's about…), Al principio… (At the start…), Resulta que… (It turns out that…), Al final… (In the end…). For example: Va de una chica que se muda a Madrid. Al principio no conoce a nadie, pero resulta que su vecino es de su pueblo.
Retelling makes you use the past tenses in a real way, and you'll notice straight away which words you're missing. Look them up, then retell it again.
If you like doing all this, you'll probably enjoy talking to yourself in Spanish during the day too.
Then take it to real people
Here's the honest bit. On your own you can get your words ready and your mouth used to saying them. What you can't get is the third thing from the table at the top: a real person who reacts, asks something you didn't expect, or speaks faster than you'd like.
Solo practice feels safe, and that's exactly why it's easy to stay there forever. Once a topic from your jar feels easy, use it with a real person, even for five minutes.
The good news is that those first real conversations go much better when you've already said most of it at your kitchen table. If you're not sure where to find people, have a look at where to practise speaking Spanish when you don't live in Spain. And if your week is full, here's a Spanish routine for busy people to fit this in.
Recap ✨
- A partner gives you a topic, questions and reactions. You can get the first two on your own.
- Fill a question jar and answer one random question for a minute.
- Explain routes you know well, using the present tense, like Sales de la estación.
- Argue both sides of a question with por un lado… por otro lado…
- Retell something you watched in one minute, then take your practice to real people.
When you're ready for that third thing, come and find us in the Aventureros Club. Real aventureros, real reactions, and nobody minds if your answers still sound a bit rehearsed at first 🎉
Now tell me 👀 What's the first question going in your jar? Cuéntame in the comments!
¡Un abrazo!
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 🎉