Spanish Words That Start With D
🇪🇸 Spanish · 30 cards · A2 · by Lucía Herrera
These are the D words my students actually need, pulled from the notebook I keep during lessons: everyday nouns (día, dinero, desayuno, dolor), high-frequency verbs (dar, decir, dejar, deber, dormir) and the adjectives and adverbs that get misused most (difícil, demasiado, despacio, divertido).
Three traps to watch. Día ends in -a but is masculine. Demasiado agrees with a noun (demasiada gente) but never changes before a verb or adjective (trabajas demasiado). And divertido describes the thing or person, not how you feel — for that you need divertirse. Read the notes before you drill; that's where the mistakes hide.
Flip through the cards, then switch to Quiz. Tap the play button on any row to hear it. The full table below is there to read, print or copy into your own flashcard app.
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All 30 cards
| # | Spanish | English | Example | Audio |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | día Masculine despite the -a ending: el día, los días. Buenos días = good morning. | day | Hoy ha sido un día muy largo. Today has been a very long day. | |
| 2 | dos Invariable: no masculine/feminine forms (unlike un/una). | two | Nos vemos a las dos en la plaza. See you at two in the square. | |
| 3 | dar Irregular: yo doy; preterite di, dio. Very common in set phrases: dar un paseo, dar miedo. | to give | ¿Me das un vaso de agua, por favor? Can you give me a glass of water, please? | |
| 4 | decir Irregular: digo, dije, dicho. Imperative tú = di. | to say, to tell | Dime la verdad, por favor. Tell me the truth, please. | |
| 5 | dinero Masculine and uncountable. In much of Latin America people also say plata; in Mexico, lana (informal). | money | No me queda dinero hasta el viernes. I have no money left until Friday. | |
| 6 | dónde Accented only in direct and indirect questions. The relative donde has no accent: la casa donde vivo. | where | ¿Dónde has dejado las llaves? Where have you left the keys? | |
| 7 | después Before a noun or verb it needs de: después de clase, después de comer. | after, afterwards, later | Primero comemos y después vamos al cine. First we eat and then we go to the cinema. | |
| 8 | dormir Stem change o→ue: duermo, duermes. Dormirse = to fall asleep. | to sleep | Anoche dormí fatal. I slept terribly last night. | |
| 9 | dulce Same form for both genders. As a noun, un dulce = a sweet / a piece of candy (masculine). | sweet | Este café está muy dulce. This coffee is very sweet. | |
| 10 | difícil No masculine/feminine change; plural difíciles. Opposite: fácil. | difficult, hard | El examen fue más difícil de lo que esperaba. The exam was harder than I expected. | |
| 11 | diferente Both diferente a and diferente de are correct; diferente a is more common in everyday speech. | different | Tu acento es diferente al mío. Your accent is different from mine. | |
| 12 | dedo Masculine. A toe is dedo del pie — Spanish has no separate word. | finger | Me he cortado el dedo con el cuchillo. I've cut my finger with the knife. | |
| 13 | diente Masculine: el diente. To brush your teeth = lavarse / cepillarse los dientes. | tooth | Me duele un diente desde ayer. One of my teeth has been hurting since yesterday. | |
| 14 | desayuno Masculine. The verb is desayunar: desayuno café con tostadas. | breakfast | El desayuno está incluido en el hotel. Breakfast is included at the hotel. | |
| 15 | deporte Masculine. Say hacer deporte or practicar un deporte; 'jugar deporte' is an anglicism and sounds wrong. | sport | ¿Haces algún deporte? Do you play any sport? | |
| 16 | derecha Feminine noun: a la derecha. Don't confuse it with derecho (straight ahead in much of Latin America; 'todo recto' in Spain) or el derecho (a right, law). | right (side, direction) | Gira a la derecha en el semáforo. Turn right at the traffic light. | |
| 17 | detrás Needs de before a noun: detrás de la puerta. | behind | El gato está detrás del sofá. The cat is behind the sofa. | |
| 18 | despacio Already an adverb, so it never changes form. Lentamente exists but despacio is what people actually say. | slowly | ¿Puedes hablar más despacio? Can you speak more slowly? | |
| 19 | demasiado Agrees with the noun it describes (demasiada gente, demasiados coches) but stays invariable with verbs and adjectives: trabajas demasiado, es demasiado caro. | too, too much, too many | Hay demasiada gente en la playa. There are too many people on the beach. | |
| 20 | durante Preposition; never add de. With time spans it means 'for': durante dos años. | during, for | Llovió durante toda la noche. It rained all night long. | |
| 21 | desde Marks a starting point in time or space. With a length of time: desde hace tres meses. | since, from | Vivo aquí desde 2015. I've been living here since 2015. | |
| 22 | deber deber + infinitive = obligation; deber de + infinitive suggests probability. Also 'to owe': me debes diez euros. | to have to, should; to owe | Deberías llamar a tu madre. You should call your mother. | |
| 23 | dejar For leaving a place use salir/irse. Dejar de + infinitive = to stop doing something. | to leave (something), to let | Deja las bolsas en la cocina. Leave the bags in the kitchen. | |
| 24 | decidir Regular -ir verb. Decidirse a + infinitive = to make up your mind to do something. | to decide | Todavía no hemos decidido nada. We haven't decided anything yet. | |
| 25 | descansar Regular. The noun is el descanso (break, rest, half-time). | to rest | Necesito descansar cinco minutos. I need to rest for five minutes. | |
| 26 | despertarse Reflexive, stem change e→ie: me despierto. Non-reflexive despertar = to wake someone else up. | to wake up | Me despierto a las siete todos los días. I wake up at seven every day. | |
| 27 | disfrutar Usually disfrutar de algo; in Latin America disfrutar algo (without de) is also common. | to enjoy | Disfruta del viaje y descansa. Enjoy the trip and get some rest. | |
| 28 | durar Used for how long events or things go on: el concierto duró poco. For people holding out, use aguantar. | to last | La película dura tres horas. The film is three hours long. | |
| 29 | dolor Masculine: el dolor. Pattern: dolor de cabeza / de espalda / de muelas. | pain, ache | Tengo dolor de cabeza desde esta mañana. I've had a headache since this morning. | |
| 30 | divertido Describes the thing or person, not your own feeling. 'I'm having fun' = me estoy divirtiendo, not estoy divertido. | fun, funny, entertaining | La fiesta estuvo muy divertida. The party was a lot of fun. |
Native Spanish speaker from Valencia, now in Mexico City. I tutor Spanish online and keep a notebook of the words my students trip over. Every deck here comes from that notebook.
Questions about this deck
- Why is it "el día" and not "la día"?
- Día is masculine even though it ends in -a, because it comes from Latin dies, a masculine noun. So you say el día, un buen día, los días largos. Other masculine nouns in -a you will meet soon: el mapa, el problema, el idioma, el tema.
- What is the difference between demasiado, demasiada and demasiados?
- When demasiado describes a noun it works like an adjective and agrees with it: demasiada sal, demasiados turistas, demasiadas preguntas. When it modifies a verb or an adjective it is an adverb and never changes: hablas demasiado, es demasiado tarde, está demasiado caro.
- Does "divertido" mean fun or funny?
- Both, depending on context: una película divertida is an entertaining, amusing film, and un chico divertido is a fun, funny guy. What it does not mean is 'having fun' — for that Spanish uses divertirse: me divertí mucho anoche. Saying estoy divertido about yourself sounds odd to a native ear.
- How do desde, durante and después differ?
- Desde marks a starting point (desde el lunes = since Monday), durante covers a whole stretch of time (durante el verano = during the summer), and después means afterwards; it needs de before a noun or verb (después de la cena = after dinner).
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