Spanish School Vocabulary

Anna Maria Date Published: 17 Mar 2024 Date Modified: 3 Oct 2024

School is a common topic of conversation in Spanish. Whether you’re chatting about high school memories or your current classes, conversations about school are a great way to break the ice with anyone you meet.

In this post, I’ve compiled a list of 75 essential Spanish words about school to get you started.

Basic Words
Staff and students
Verbs
Subjects
Materials
Stationery
And One More Thing…

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Basic Words

Before I start, an important grammar tip to remember is that the indefinite articles el (the) or la (the) are used before Spanish nouns. The plurals are los (the) and las (the), and they come in handy when using Spanish school words.

For example, school becomes la escuela (the school) in Spanish, although when translating it, it isn’t always necessary to add “the” into the English translation.

Spanish	English	Example sentence
*La escuela*	The school	Me gusta la escuela. (I like school.)
*La primaria*	The elementary school	Mi hermana está en la escuela primaria. (My sister is in elementary school.)
*La secundaria*	The high school	Estoy en la escuela secundaria. (I'm in high school.)
*La universidad*	The university	Mañana tengo que ir a la universidad. (Tomorrow I have to go to university.)
*La escuela de idiomas*	The language school	La escuela de idiomas está en el centro de la ciudad. (The language school is in the center of the city.)
*La escuela de arte*	The art school	Los martes voy a la escuela de arte. (On Tuesdays I go to art school.)
*El colegio internacional*	The international school	La escuela internacional enseña cuatro idiomas. (The international school teaches four languages.)
*El colegio público*	The public school	En esta ciudad hay ocho colegios públicos. (In this city there are eight public schools.)
*El colegio privado*	The private school	El colegio privado era conocido por su amplia variedad de asignaturas. (The private school was known for its wide variety of subjects.)
*El colegio bilingüe*	The bilingual school	El gobierno aprobó un nuevo fondo para apoyar a los colegios bilingües. (The government approved a new fund to support bilingual schools.)
*La clase*	The class (location), class/lesson	¿Dónde es la clase? (Where is the class?) Me gusta mucho la clase. (I like the lesson very much.)
*El comedor*	The dining hall	¿Dónde está el comedor? (Where is the dining hall?)
*La biblioteca*	The library	Me encanta estudiar en la biblioteca con mis compañeros de clase. (I love studying in the library with my classmates.)
*El gimnasio*	The gym	Suelo ir al gimnasio antes de ir a casa. (I usually go to the gym before going home.)
*El pasillo*	The corridor	Ve por ese pasillo y gira a la izquierda para encontrar la biblioteca. (Go down that corridor and turn left to find the library.)
*El semestre*	The semester	Estoy aquí por un semestre. (I'm here for a semester.)
*El curso*	The course	Me dijeron que el curso es difícil y que hay que estudiar mucho. (They told me that the course is difficult and that you have to study a lot.)
*Los exámenes*	The exams	Tengo que estudiar para mis exámenes. (I have to study for my exams.)
*Los grados*	The grades	Nosotros estamos en diferentes grados. (We're in different grades.)
*El patio*	The playground	Cuando no llueve, los niños salen al patio durante el recreo. (When it doesn't rain, the children go out to the playground during recess.)

Staff and students

Spanish	English	Example sentence
*El profesor*	The professor/teacher (masculine)	Mi profesor de español es amable. (My Spanish professor is kind.)
*La profesora*	The professor/teacher (feminine)	La profesora es una de las personas más inteligentes que conozco. (The teacher is one of the smartest people I know.)
*El director*	The principal/headteacher (masculine)	El director envió un correo electrónico a todos los profesores. (The principal sent an email to all of the teachers.)
*La directora*	The principal/headteacher (feminine)	Es directora del colegio desde hace un mes. (She's been the principal of the school for a month.)
*Los estudiantes / Los alumnos*	The students	A los estudiantes les gusta hacer proyectos con sus compañeros de clase. (The students like doing projects with their classmates.)
*El estudiante / El alumno*	The student (masculine)	El alumno camina a la escuela todos los días. (The student walks to school every day.)
*La estudiante / La alumna*	The student (feminine)	La alumna lee en la biblioteca. (The student reads in the library.)
*El compañero de estudio*	The study partner (masculine)	Mi compañero de estudio me prestó su calculadora. (My study partner lent me his calculator.)
*La compañera de estudio*	The study partner (feminine)	Su compañera de estudio habla varios idiomas. (His study partner speaks several languages.)
*El estudiante de intercambio / La estudiante de intercambio*	The exchange student (masculine/feminine)	El estudiante de intercambio es de Francia. (The exchange student is from France.)

Verbs

Spanish	English	Example sentence
*Explicar*	To explain	¿Me puedes explicar el problema de matemáticas? No lo entiendo. (Can you explain the math problem to me? I don't understand it.)
*Enseñar*	To teach	Mi hermano quiere enseñar francés cuando se gradúe de la universidad. (My brother wants to teach French when he graduates from university.)
*Aprender*	To learn	A todos nos encanta aprender otros idiomas. (We all love learning other languages.)
*Estudiar*	To study	Normalmente estudio idiomas con mis compañeros de clase para que podamos hablar el idioma juntos. (I normally study languages with my classmates so that we can speak the language together.)
*Leer*	To read	Debe aprender a leer en la escuela primaria. (He must learn to read in elementary school.)
*Escribir*	To write	Es importante que aprendamos a escribir bien en español. (It's important that we learn to write well in Spanish.)

Subjects

Spanish	English	Example sentence
*La asignatura / La materia*	Subject	Mi profesor me preguntó cuál era mi asignatura favorita. (My teacher asked me what my favorite subject was.)
*El arte*	Art	Arte es mi clase favorita. (Art is my favorite class.)
*La ciencia*	Science	Estudio mucho para los exámenes de Ciencia. (I study a lot for science exams.)
*La biología*	Biology	Luca quiere estudiar Biología en la universidad. (Luca wants to study biology at university.)
*La física*	Physics	Física es una de las asignaturas más difíciles, pero es muy interesante. (Physics is one of the most difficult subjects, but it is very interesting.)
*La química*	Chemistry	Me gusta hacer experimentos en mis clases de Química. (I like to do experiments in my chemistry classes.)
*La geografía*	Geography	La geografía es importante porque nos enseña sobre el mundo. (Geography is important because it teaches us about the world.)
*La historia*	History	A mi hermana le fascina la clase de Historia. (My sister is fascinated by history class.)
*Las matemáticas*	Mathematics	Nos cae bien nuestro profesor de Matemáticas porque es simpático y siempre explica todo muy bien. (We like our math teacher because he's friendly and always explains everything very well.)
*La música*	Music	Me encanta aprender a tocar el piano en las clases de Música. (I love learning to play the piano in music classes.)
*El español*	Spanish	Estudio español en la escuela con mis amigos. (I study Spanish at school with my friends.)
*El inglés*	English	Estudio inglés en casa. (I study English at home.)
*El francés*	French	Mi hermana va a una academia para estudiar francés. (My sister goes to an academy to study French.)
*La informática*	Computer science	Siempre aprendo algo nuevo en Informática. (I always learn something new in computer science.)
*La religión*	Religion	Religión es una asignatura obligatoria en mi escuela. (Religion is a compulsory subject at my school.)
*La filosofía*	Philosophy	Mañana en la clase de Filosofía, tendremos un debate sobre los textos que hemos leído. (Tomorrow in philosophy class, we will have a debate about the texts that we have read.)
*El teatro*	Drama	La estudiante siempre supo que quería estudiar Teatro en la universidad. (The student always knew that she wanted to study drama at university.)

Materials

Spanish	English	Example sentence
*El escritorio*	The desk	Los escritorios en mi escuela son muy grandes. (The desks at my school are very big.)
*La silla*	The chair	La escuela va a reemplazar las sillas porque son incómodas. (The school is going to replace the chairs because they are uncomfortable.)
*La mochila*	The backpack	Llevaba todos sus libros de texto en su mochila para estudiar en la biblioteca. (He carried all his textbooks in his backpack to study in the library.)
*El libro*	The book	Compré un libro nuevo en español. (I bought a new book in Spanish.)
*El libro de texto*	The textbook	El alumno dejó su libro de texto en el aula y no pudo hacer los deberes. (The student left his textbook in the classroom and couldn't do his homework.)
*El libro de apuntes*	The notebook	Escribió todo el vocabulario nuevo que había aprendido en su libro de apuntes. (She wrote all the new vocabulary she had learned in her notebook.)
*El cuaderno*	The exercise book	Al final de la clase, el profesor recogió todos los cuadernos para corregir los ejercicios. (At the end of class, the teacher collected all the notebooks to correct the exercises.)
*La carpeta*	The folder/binder	La profesora sacó su carpeta del cajón de su escritorio para encontrar una hoja de trabajo. (The teacher took her folder out of the drawer of her desk to find a worksheet.)
*El diccionario*	The dictionary	Siempre llevo un diccionario a mis clases de francés. (I always bring a dictionary to my French classes.)
*El ordenador*	The computer (Spain)	El profesor encendió su ordenador antes de empezar su clase. (The professor turned on his computer before starting his class.)
*La computadora*	The computer (Latin America)	Las computadoras en la biblioteca son nuevas. (The computers in the library are new.)

Stationery

Spanish	English	Example sentence
*El estuche*	The pencil case	La alumna no pudo encontrar su estuche en su mochila. (The student couldn't find her pencil case in her backpack.)
*El lápiz*	The pencil	La profesora siempre recomienda a sus estudiantes escribir las respuestas del crucigrama de vocabulario con lápiz. (The teacher always recommends her students to write the answers to the vocabulary crossword in pencil.)
*El bolígrafo*	The pen	Le pedí que me prestara un bolígrafo para hacer los ejercicios. (I asked him to lend me a pen to do the exercises.)
*La goma*	The eraser	El profesor dio una goma a cada grupo de estudiantes. (The teacher gave an eraser to each group of students.)
*El rotulador*	The highlighter	Me gusta usar un rotulador para el vocabulario nuevo cuando leo. (I like to use a highlighter for new vocabulary when I read.)
*La regla*	The ruler	El estudiante usó la regla para subrayar la fecha en su cuaderno. (The student used the ruler to underline the date in his exercise book.)
*El sacapuntas*	The pencil sharpener	El profesor decidió comprar un sacapuntas eléctrico para su clase. (The professor decided to buy an electric pencil sharpener for his class.)
*La grapadora*	The stapler	La profesora usó la grapadora para organizar sus apuntes para la clase. (The teacher used the stapler to organize her notes for the class.)
*La perforadora*	The hole punch	¿Dónde está la perforadora? No la encuentro en ninguna parte. (Where is the hole punch? I can't find it anywhere.)
*El pegamento*	The glue	La niña usó el pegamento para pegar la hoja de trabajo en su cuaderno. (The girl used glue to stick the worksheet in her exercise book.)
*Las tijeras*	The scissors	El profesor usó las tijeras para cortar las imágenes para la actividad. (The teacher used the scissors to cut the images for the activity.)

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)

And One More Thing…

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