Spanish Words That Start With L (30 Essentials)
🇪🇸 Spanish · 30 cards · A2 · by Lucía Herrera
All thirty of these words start with the letter L, and they come straight from the notebook I keep of the words my students actually need in their first year or two. You get a mix: nouns (la luz, la llave, la lengua), everyday verbs (llegar, llevar, lograr) and adjectives (largo, lleno, ligero).
Two things trip people up. First, the double L: llegar, llave and llover are pronounced with a y-sound almost everywhere Spanish is spoken. Second, the false friends — librería is a bookshop, not a library, and largo means long, not large. The notes flag each one, plus the feminine forms of the adjectives. Read the examples out loud; the ll words are worth the practice.
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 | la luz Feminine. Plural: las luces. Also used for electricity: pagar la luz, se fue la luz (the power went out). | light, electricity | ¿Puedes encender la luz? Can you turn on the light? | |
| 2 | el lugar Masculine. Slightly more neutral than sitio, which sounds more colloquial. | place, spot | Conozco un lugar muy tranquilo cerca de aquí. I know a very quiet spot near here. | |
| 3 | el libro Masculine. | book | Me regalaron un libro de cocina italiana. They gave me an Italian cookbook as a present. | |
| 4 | la leche Feminine. In Spain, ¡leche(s)! is a mild informal exclamation of annoyance, and tener mala leche means to be bad-tempered. | milk | ¿Te pongo leche en el café? Shall I put milk in your coffee? | |
| 5 | leer Spelling change in the preterite and gerund: leyó, leyeron, leyendo. | to read | Leo un rato antes de dormir. I read for a while before going to sleep. | |
| 6 | llegar Llegar a casa, llegar tarde. Spelling change in yo llegué. | to arrive, to get somewhere | El tren llega a las ocho y media. The train arrives at half past eight. | |
| 7 | llamar Reflexive llamarse = to be called: ¿Cómo te llamas? Also llamar a la puerta = to knock at the door. | to call, to phone | Te llamo cuando salga del trabajo. I'll call you when I leave work. | |
| 8 | llevar Also for duration: llevo dos años aquí = I've been here two years. | to carry, to take, to wear | Llevo siempre una botella de agua en la mochila. I always carry a water bottle in my backpack. | |
| 9 | llover Used only in the third person singular: llueve, llovía, llovió. Stem change o→ue. | to rain | Parece que va a llover esta tarde. It looks like it's going to rain this afternoon. | |
| 10 | el lado Masculine. Al lado de = next to; por otro lado = on the other hand. | side | Siéntate a mi lado. Sit next to me. | |
| 11 | lejos Adverb, so it never changes form. Opposite: cerca. | far, far away | Mi casa no está lejos de aquí. My house isn't far from here. | |
| 12 | largo Adjective: larga, largos, largas. False friend: it means long, not large — large is grande. | long | El camino es más largo de lo que parece. The path is longer than it looks. | |
| 13 | lento Adjective (lenta, lentos, lentas), but often used adverbially instead of lentamente; despacio is just as common. | slow | El wifi del hotel va muy lento. The hotel wifi is really slow. | |
| 14 | limpio Adjective: limpia, limpios, limpias. Verb: limpiar. Opposite: sucio. | clean | Deja el baño limpio, por favor. Leave the bathroom clean, please. | |
| 15 | lleno Adjective: llena, llenos, llenas. Estar lleno also means to be full after eating. Opposite: vacío. | full | El metro iba lleno a esa hora. The metro was packed at that time. | |
| 16 | libre Same form for masculine and feminine. Free of charge is gratis, not libre. | free, available, vacant | ¿Está libre esta mesa? Is this table free? | |
| 17 | lavar Use lavarse for your own body or clothes: lavarse las manos. | to wash | Tengo que lavar los platos antes de salir. I have to wash the dishes before going out. | |
| 18 | levantarse Reflexive. Without the pronoun, levantar means to lift or raise something. | to get up, to stand up | Me levanto a las seis todos los días. I get up at six every day. | |
| 19 | luego ¡Hasta luego! is the everyday way to say see you later. In Mexico, luego luego means right away. | later, then | Ahora no puedo, luego te cuento. I can't right now, I'll tell you later. | |
| 20 | el lunes Masculine, lowercase in Spanish. El lunes = on Monday; los lunes = on Mondays (same form in the plural). | Monday | El lunes empiezo un curso nuevo. On Monday I'm starting a new course. | |
| 21 | la lengua Feminine. For a foreign language, idioma (masculine) is more common: hablo tres idiomas. | tongue, language | Me quemé la lengua con la sopa. I burned my tongue on the soup. | |
| 22 | la letra Feminine. A letter you post is una carta; lyrics are la letra (singular) of a song. | letter (of the alphabet), handwriting, lyrics | No entiendo tu letra. I can't read your handwriting. | |
| 23 | la librería Classic false friend: a library is una biblioteca. | bookshop, bookstore | Compré el diccionario en una librería del centro. I bought the dictionary at a bookshop downtown. | |
| 24 | listo Estar listo = ready; ser listo = smart. Agrees with the person: lista, listos, listas. | ready; clever | ¿Estás listo? Nos vamos ya. Are you ready? We're leaving now. | |
| 25 | el lápiz Masculine. Plural: los lápices. | pencil | Escríbelo con lápiz, por si acaso. Write it in pencil, just in case. | |
| 26 | ligero Adjective: ligera, ligeros, ligeras. Also figurative: un ligero retraso. Light in colour or brightness is claro. Opposite: pesado. | light (in weight), slight | Esta noche cenamos algo ligero. Tonight we'll have something light for dinner. | |
| 27 | lograr Lograr + infinitive (lograr hacer algo), or lograr que + subjunctive. | to achieve, to manage to | Al final logré terminar el informe. In the end I managed to finish the report. | |
| 28 | luchar Luchar por (a cause), luchar contra (something you oppose). For a physical fight, pelear is more common. | to fight, to struggle | Hay que luchar por lo que quieres. You have to fight for what you want. | |
| 29 | la llave Feminine; usually plural in everyday speech (las llaves). Cerrar con llave = to lock. | key | Se me olvidaron las llaves en casa. I left my keys at home. | |
| 30 | la lástima Feminine. Qué lástima que + subjunctive is the usual pattern; dar lástima = to make someone feel sorry. | pity, shame | ¡Qué lástima que no puedas venir! What a shame you can't come! |
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
- How do you pronounce the ll in llegar, llave and llover?
- In almost all of the Spanish-speaking world ll sounds like the English y in "yes": llegar is roughly "ye-GAR", llave "YA-be". That merger of ll and y is called yeísmo. In much of Argentina and Uruguay it sounds like the "sh" in "shoe", and parts of northern Spain, the Andes and Paraguay still keep a distinct "ly" sound. Any of these will be understood everywhere.
- Does librería mean library?
- No. Una librería is a bookshop, where you buy books; a library, where you borrow them, is una biblioteca. The other L trap in this deck is largo, which means long, not large — large is grande. Both are among the most frequent mistakes my English-speaking students make.
- What is the difference between ser listo and estar listo?
- Estar listo means ready: ¿Estás lista para salir? Ser listo means clever or quick-witted: es muy listo, aprende rapidísimo. With ser it can also be a dig, suggesting someone is a bit too cunning (un listillo in Spain). The adjective agrees with the person: lista, listos, listas.
- Why are days of the week like lunes written in lowercase?
- Spanish does not capitalise days, months, languages or nationalities unless they open a sentence: el lunes, en marzo, hablo español, soy mexicana. Lunes also has the same form in the plural: el lunes means on Monday, los lunes means on Mondays.
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