Spanish language

Spanish, also called español or Castilian (castellano), is a major language that belongs to the Indo-European language family. It grew from the Vulgar Latin spoken on the Iberian Peninsula in Europe and began in the Kingdom of Castile, a historic kingdom in north-central Spain. Today, Spanish is spoken by over 519 million people as their first language, mostly in the Americas and Spain, and by around 636 million people in total when including those who speak it as a second language.

Spanish is the official language of 20 countries and one of the six official languages of the United Nations. It is the world’s second-most spoken native language after Mandarin Chinese, and the fourth-most spoken language overall, after English, Mandarin Chinese, and Hindustani (which includes Hindi and Urdu). The country with the most native Spanish speakers is Mexico.

As a Romance language, Spanish comes from Latin, and about 75% of its words have Latin roots. It is one of the most widely studied languages in schools around the world, along with English and French. Spanish is also very common on the internet and is used by many important international groups, such as the United Nations, the European Union, and the Organization of American States.

Name of the language and etymology

Main article: Names given to the Spanish language

In Spain and many Spanish-speaking countries, the language is called español or castellano. Castellano comes from the Kingdom of Castile, a region in Spain. This name helps to distinguish it from other languages spoken in Spain, such as Galician, Basque, Asturian, Catalan/Valencian, Aragonese, and Occitan.

The word español likely comes from the Occitan word espaignol, which traces back to the Vulgar Latin word hispaniolus, meaning "of Hispania." Hispania was the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula.

History

Main article: History of the Spanish language

The Spanish language developed from Vulgar Latin, which the Romans brought to the Iberian Peninsula in 210 BC. Before the Romans, many different languages were spoken there. The first signs of what we now call Spanish appeared in writing in the 9th century.

Over time, Spanish borrowed many words from other languages nearby, such as Arabic, French, and Italian. It also gained words directly from Latin through writing and the Church. By the 13th century, Spanish began to take its own shape, especially in the city of Toledo.

During the 15th and 16th centuries, Spanish spread to parts of America as explorers and settlers brought it with them. Today, Spanish is spoken by millions of people around the world.

Geographical distribution

See also: Hispanophone

Spanish is the primary language in 20 countries worldwide. As of 2025, it is estimated that about 519 million people speak Spanish as a native language, making it the second most spoken language by number of native speakers. An additional 117 million speak Spanish as a second or foreign language, making it the fourth most spoken language in the world overall after English, Mandarin Chinese, and Hindi with a total number of 636 million speakers. Spanish is also the third most used language on the Internet, after English and Chinese.

Europe

Main article: Peninsular Spanish

Spanish is the official language of Spain. Over time, the language became closely linked with the power of the Castilian Crown. Today, Spanish is also widely spoken in Gibraltar and Andorra, as well as by immigrant communities in other European countries like the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Germany. It is the most widely studied Romance language in Europe and an official language of the European Union.

Americas

Hispanic America

Most Spanish speakers live in Hispanic America. Spanish is the official language in many countries including Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

United States

See also: Spanish language in California, New Mexican Spanish, and Isleño Spanish

Spanish has a long history in the United States, especially since the 1848 Guadalupe Hidalgo Treaty. Today, over 41 million people in the U.S. speak Spanish at home. Spanish is widely used in public services and is an official language in Puerto Rico along with English. It is also used in states like New Mexico and in many large cities due to immigration.

Rest of the Americas

Spanish is not official in Belize, but many people there can speak it. In Trinidad and Tobago, Spanish is being taught in schools. On the Dutch Caribbean islands of Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao, many people speak Spanish. In Brazil, Spanish is taught in schools, especially near the borders with Spanish-speaking countries.

Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa

See also: Equatoguinean Spanish

Equatorial Guinea is the only Spanish-speaking country in Africa. Spanish is one of its official languages and is used in schools and government. Some people in Angola and South Sudan also speak Spanish due to historical ties with Cuba.

North Africa and Macaronesia

See also: Canarian Spanish and Saharan Spanish

Spanish is spoken in the Canary Islands, which belong to Spain. It is also spoken in Ceuta and Melilla, two Spanish cities in North Africa. In Western Sahara, Spanish was once the official language and is still taught in some places.

Asia

See also: Chavacano, Philippine Spanish, and Spanish language in the Philippines

Spanish was an official language in the Philippines for many years. Though it is not as widely spoken today, there is a growing interest in learning Spanish there. A mix of Spanish and local languages called Chavacano is also spoken by some people.

Oceania

Spanish is the official language on Easter Island, which is part of Chile. Some Spanish words can also be found in languages spoken in places like Guam and Micronesia. There are also Spanish-speaking communities in Australia and New Zealand.

Spanish speakers by country

Main article: List of countries by Spanish-speaking population

20 countries and one United States territory have Spanish as an official language.

Grammar

Main article: Spanish grammar

Spanish grammar shares many features with other Romance languages. It is a fusional language, meaning words change form to show different meanings. Nouns and adjectives have two genders—masculine and feminine—and can be singular or plural.

Verbs in Spanish have many forms to show time, mood, and the person speaking. They also change depending on whether the speaker is being formal or informal. Spanish sentences usually follow a subject-verb-object order, but the order can change to emphasize certain parts of the sentence. The language often drops the subject pronoun when it is clear from context.

Phonology

Main article: Spanish phonology

Spanish sounds have changed from the Latin language it came from. Like other languages from Latin, Spanish shares some sound changes with them, but it also has some unique ones. For example, Spanish lost a sound that started words, turning farina into harina.

Spanish has five vowel sounds and between 17 and 19 consonant sounds, depending on the region. The way these sounds are made can change a little depending on what sounds come before or after them. Spanish words have a steady beat, with each part of a word lasting about the same length. How a sentence sounds can show if it is a statement or a question.

Speaker population

Spanish is the official or national language in 18 countries and one territory in the Americas, Spain, and Equatorial Guinea. Most Spanish speakers live in Hispanophone America, with Mexico having the largest number. In the European Union, 8% of people speak Spanish as their first language, and 7% use it as a second language.

Spanish is also very common in the United States. In 2015, around 50 million people spoke Spanish there, with about 41 million being native speakers. As more people from Spanish-speaking countries move to the U.S. and the language becomes more used in schools and media, the number of Spanish speakers in America is expected to grow.

Dialectal variation

Main article: Spanish dialects and varieties

Spanish has many variations in how it is spoken across different regions. While all these versions can be understood by each other, they differ in sounds, grammar, and words used.

The most common version of Spanish is Mexican Spanish, spoken by over 20% of all Spanish speakers around the world. One special feature of Mexican Spanish is how some unstressed vowels are reduced or not fully pronounced.

In Spain, people in the north often think their way of speaking is closer to the standard, but southern dialects are now more accepted. The way people in Madrid speak is used in TV and radio, and it has had a big influence on how Spanish is written.

Phonology

See also: Phonetic change "f → h" in Spanish

Spanish sounds change in four main ways:

• The sound /θ/ (like the "th" in "thing") is used by most people in Spain, but in many parts of southern Spain, the Canary Islands, and most of the Americas, this sound is not used and the /s/ sound is used instead.
• In southern Spain and parts of Latin America, the final /s/ sound can become more like the "h" sound.
• In northern and central Spain, the /s/ sound is pronounced with a special "hushing" quality, but in Andalusia, the Canary Islands, and most of Latin America, it is pronounced more like the English /s/.
• The sound /ʎ/ (like the "lli" in "million") is kept in some northern parts of Spain and in some highland areas of South America, but in most places, it is pronounced more like the English "y".

Morphology

Spanish dialects differ mainly in how they use pronouns, especially "you". Most dialects have two ways to say "you": a formal way (usted) and a familiar way, which can be either tú or vos. Using vos is called voseo, and it is common in many parts of Latin America but not in Spain.

Vocabulary

Some words change meaning or are different in different Spanish-speaking countries. For example, the word for "butter" is mantequilla in Spain but manteca in parts of Latin America.

Vocabulary

Spanish vocabulary has been shaped by many different languages. Like other European languages, it includes many words from Classical Greek, especially in areas like art, science, and politics. During the time of Al-Andalus in the Iberian Peninsula, about 8% of Spanish words came from Arabic. It also has influences from Basque, Celtiberian, Visigothic, and other nearby languages.

Spanish has borrowed words from many other languages too, including French, Portuguese, Galician, Catalan, and languages from the Americas like Quechua and Nahuatl. In the 18th century, many French words entered Spanish, especially in fashion and cooking. In the 19th century, Spanish added words from English, German, and Italian. In the 20th century, English had an even bigger influence, especially in technology and sports.

Today, Hispanic America often uses English loanwords, like mouse for the computer device, while in Spain the word ratón is used. This difference is largely because of closer ties with the United States. Spain sometimes uses words from France, such as ordenador for computer, unlike the English-based words used in many American countries.

Relation to other languages

Further information: Comparison of Portuguese and Spanish

Spanish shares close ties with other languages from the same family, especially the West Iberian Romance languages like Asturian, Aragonese, Galician, Ladino, Leonese, Mirandese, and Portuguese. While Spanish and Portuguese can often understand each other when reading written text, they sound quite different when spoken. Spanish also has some similarities to Italian, French, and Romanian, but these are weaker.

The table below shows how some common words compare across several Romance languages.

Judaeo-Spanish

Further information: Judaeo-Spanish

Judaeo-Spanish, also called Ladino, is a special form of Spanish that kept many old features from medieval times. It is spoken by descendants of Sephardi Jews who left Spain in the 15th century. This language includes words from Hebrew, French, Greek, and Turkish, and it does not have the Native American words found in modern Spanish. Today, Judaeo-Spanish is at risk of disappearing, as most speakers are older people who have not passed the language on to younger generations. However, there is a small revival of interest in the language, especially in music.

Writing system

Main article: Spanish orthography

Spanish uses the Latin script with an extra letter: ñ (called eñe), which is an n with a small tilde (~) on top. This letter makes a special sound different from n. In the past, two letter pairs, ch and ll, were also treated as single letters, but today they are just pairs of letters.

The Spanish alphabet has 27 letters:
A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, Ñ, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z.

Letters k and w are only used in words borrowed from other languages, like kilo or whisky. Most Spanish words can be pronounced by looking at how they are spelled. Accents (like é) are used to show where the stress is in a word or to tell apart words that sound alike. Questions and exclamations start with special upside-down marks (¿ and ¡) before the regular ones.

Organizations

Royal Spanish Academy

Main article: Royal Spanish Academy

The Royal Spanish Academy, founded in 1713, helps keep the Spanish language consistent. It creates dictionaries and grammar guides that are used in schools, books, and news reports.

Association of Spanish Language Academies

Main article: Association of Spanish Language Academies

The Association of Spanish Language Academies regulates the Spanish language. It was created in Mexico in 1951 and includes academies from 23 countries. These countries are Spain, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, El Salvador, Venezuela, Chile, Peru, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Philippines, Panama, Cuba, Paraguay, Dominican Republic, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Argentina, Uruguay, Honduras, Puerto Rico, United States and Equatorial Guinea.

Cervantes Institute

Main article: Instituto Cervantes

The Cervantes Institute, started by the Spanish government in 1991, promotes the study of Spanish worldwide. It has centers in many countries, aiming to help people learn Spanish and understand Spanish-speaking cultures.

Official use by international organizations

For a more comprehensive list, see List of countries where Spanish is an official language § International organizations.

Spanish is an official language in many important groups around the world, including the United Nations, the European Union, the World Trade Organization, and the Organization of American States.

Sample text

Here is the first article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights written in Spanish:

Todos los seres humanos nacen libres e iguales en dignidad y derechos y, dotados como están de razón y conciencia, deben comportarse fraternalmente los unos con los otros.

And here it is in English:

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Main article: Universal Declaration of Human Rights