Free A2 Spanish course: pre-intermediate
A2 is where you start talking about the past. You'll learn the preterite, the imperfect and the present perfect, all the object pronouns, tú commands, and a first look at por and para.
30 grammar lessons, 6 graded stories, flashcards and an AI conversation partner, all free. Plan on roughly 100 hours of study for this level (180 in total from zero, by an approximate CEFR estimate that isn't specific to Spanish).
What you'll be able to do
- Listening: I can understand the main point of short, clear announcements at a station or airport.
- Listening: I can follow everyday conversations about familiar topics if people speak clearly.
- Reading: I can find specific information in adverts, timetables and short articles.
- Reading: I can understand short personal emails and letters.
- Speaking: I can say what I did today, last week or as a child (he comido, comí, comía).
- Speaking: I can handle simple exchanges at the doctor's, in a hotel and in shops.
- Writing: I can write a short email about what I did at the weekend.
- Writing: I can write simple notes and messages about everyday needs.
What you'll learn
Three past tenses
Hablé (it happened), hablaba (it used to happen, or was happening), he hablado (today, this week, ever), and how Spain uses each.
Preterite or imperfect
Events move the story on; the imperfect sets the scene: llovía cuando salí.
Pronouns
Direct and indirect objects, me lo and se lo, and where they go: lo quiero ver or quiero verlo.
Commands and comparisons
Tú commands (habla, ven, dime), mejor and peor, the superlative and -ísimo.
Learning A2 Spanish with AI
At A2 the AI partner asks about your weekend or your last trip, so you practise the past tenses in real answers, with corrections only when you ask. The AI also explains any wrong answer in a lesson, in plain English. It's included free, with a daily allowance; like any AI it can make mistakes, so the lessons remain the reference. More about learning Spanish with AI.
All 30 A2 grammar lessons
Free to read here. In the app, each one is taught in short steps with audio, practised, and brought back for review.
- Preterite of regular verbs
- Irregular preterites: ser/ir, tener, estar, hacer, poder, poner, venir
- Preterite stem and spelling changes: pidió, durmió, busqué, leyó
- The imperfect: forms and uses
- Preterite or imperfect (first contrast)
- The present perfect (he hablado) and when Spain uses it
- Irregular participles: hecho, dicho, visto, escrito, puesto
- Verbs like gustar: encantar, interesar, doler, molestar, parecer
- Reflexive or not: ir/irse, dormir/dormirse, llamar/llamarse
- acabar de, volver a, soler, empezar a + infinitive
- How long: hace … que, desde hace, llevar + gerund
- Affirmative commands with tú
- Adjectives that change meaning with ser and estar
- Direct object pronouns in full
- Indirect object pronouns and redundant le
- Two pronouns together: me lo, se lo
- Where pronouns go: before the verb, or attached
- Possessive pronouns: el mío, la tuya, los suyos
- Relative que and donde
- Something and nothing: algo, alguien, algún and their negatives
- Por and para: the first uses
- a, en, de, desde, hasta with movement and transport
- Superlatives and -ísimo
- mejor, peor, mayor, menor
- Adverbs in -mente
- Impersonal se: se habla español, se dice
- Ordinal numbers: primero, segundo…
- pedir or preguntar; other tricky pairs (llevar/traer)
- ¡Qué …!, ¡Cuánto …!, ¡Vaya!
- Sequencing a story: primero, luego, después, al final
Reading at A2
- El proyeccionista: Irene finds an old cinema ticket on the stairs, and the baker remembers a shy young man who worked at the Cine Estrella.
- Los veranos en la aldea: A man remembers childhood summers at his grandparents' village in Galicia, and one stormy night he never forgot.
- El secreto de la maleta: Irene knocks on don Tomás's door with the ticket, and he tells her what the suitcase carries.
- Tres días en Buenos Aires: An engineer from Bilbao spends three free days in Buenos Aires. Argentine Spanish in the story: vos instead of tú (vos sos, tomá), acá (here), che (hey, mate), colectivo (bus), subte (underground), lindo (lovely), departamento (flat).
- El móvil perdido: Teresa loses her phone, with the Alhambra tickets on it, after a night of free tapas in Granada.
- El examen de conducir: A young man in Zaragoza fails his first driving test on a day of strong cierzo wind, and his grandmother has some advice.
Questions
What is A2 level in Spanish?
Pre-intermediate. You can talk about what you did with the preterite and imperfect, make plans, and get through shopping, travel and simple appointments in Spanish.
How long from A1 to A2?
In total, around 180 hours from zero by an approximate CEFR guided-hours estimate (not specific to Spanish); that's about 100 hours on top of A1.
Preterite or imperfect: how do I choose?
The preterite tells what happened; the imperfect describes and sets the scene. The free A2 lessons explain the contrast with many examples, and B1 puts all the past tenses together.
Start A2 Spanish now
No payment details, and no account needed to start: your progress is kept on your device, and you can save it to a free account whenever you like. AI chat gives three guest prompts, then needs a free account.
Start A2 free