Free C1 Spanish course: advanced

C1 is advanced Spanish for work and study. It covers fine mood contrasts, register, discourse markers, and the colloquial Spanish you hear in Spain, with what Latin America says instead.

12 grammar lessons, 3 graded stories, 6 classic books, flashcards and an AI conversation partner, all free. Plan on roughly 300 hours of study for this level (900 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 extended speech even when it isn't clearly structured.
• Listening: I can follow films and series with colloquial Spain Spanish (tío, mola, vale, ni de coña).
• Reading: I can understand long, complex factual and literary texts and appreciate their style.
• Reading: I can read specialised articles and technical instructions outside my field.
• Speaking: I can express myself fluently without much obvious searching for words.
• Speaking: I can move between registers, from colloquial to formal, and choose tú or usted appropriately.
• Writing: I can write clear, well-structured texts on complex subjects, choosing a suitable style.
• Writing: I can write formal letters and emails that sound natural to a Spanish reader.

What you'll learn

Learning C1 Spanish with AI

At C1 the AI partner discusses complex topics with you, explains fine distinctions of meaning, and points out where your Spanish sounds translated. 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 12 C1 grammar lessons

Free to read here. In the app, each one is taught in short steps with audio, practised, and brought back for review.

1. Fine mood contrasts: el hecho de que, que yo sepa, digan lo que digan
2. Conditions beyond si: siempre que, en caso de que, a no ser que, de no ser por
3. Aspect in periphrases: llevar, acabar por, venir a, andar + gerund
4. Emphasis: es ahí donde, lo que más me molesta es
5. Discourse markers: o sea, es decir, de hecho, a fin de cuentas
6. Register: formal, neutral and colloquial versions of the same message
7. Leísmo, laísmo, loísmo: Spain's variation and the norm
8. Colloquial Spain Spanish (vale, mola, tío, venga) and Latin American equivalents
9. Hedging and stance: cabe señalar, al parecer, en cierto modo
10. Expressive negation: ni siquiera, en absoluto, no … sino, apenas
11. The future subjunctive in legal texts and set phrases (sea lo que fuere)
12. Refranes and how they are used

Reading at C1

• ¿Quedamos o qué?: Colloquial dialogue among three friends in Madrid planning a Saturday: informal Spain Spanish (tío, mola, ni de coña, me da palo, finde, vermú).
• ¿Demasiados turistas?: Short essay weighing the arguments for and against limiting tourism in Spanish cities, before reframing the question.
• El grupo de los vecinos: Humorous column, heavy with irony, about the WhatsApp group of a Spanish block of flats (comunidad de vecinos).
• Torquemada en la hoguera by Benito Pérez Galdós (1889): A Madrid moneylender, hated by all his debtors, tries to buy God's mercy when his gifted son falls ill.
• Pepita Jiménez by Juan Valera (1874): A young seminarian writes to his uncle about the young widow his father wants to marry, and falls in love with her himself.
• Niebla by Miguel de Unamuno (1914): Augusto Pérez falls in love, broods on life and finally goes to argue with his author, Unamuno himself. A 'nivola'.
• Tradiciones peruanas by Ricardo Palma (1872): A selection of witty, gossipy tales from the history of colonial Peru: viceroys, friars, duels and miracles.
• Sab by Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda (1841): In colonial Cuba, an enslaved man secretly loves his master's daughter. One of the first anti-slavery novels.
• Leyendas, cartas y rimas by Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer (1871): Bécquer's Romantic legends (Los ojos verdes, El monte de las ánimas, Maese Pérez el organista), his letters from a monastery, and the Rimas.

Questions