← Back to the game

Spanish-speaking countries and directions

Many of the places in Vocabulario Español are Spanish-speaking countries, and the game also teaches the words you need to say which way to go. This guide puts them together.

Spanish-speaking countries in the game

These are the countries and territories that appear as flag cards:

Notice how country names are written. In Spanish they are capitalized, just as in English, but languages and nationalities are not: España is the country, while español is the language and un español is a person from Spain. Some names include an article, such as los Estados Unidos and El Salvador.

Direction words in the game

To say “to the left” or “to the right,” add a la: a la izquierda, a la derecha. To say “straight ahead,” people say todo recto in Spain and derecho in much of Latin America. The compass directions are norte, sur, este, and oeste.

Asking for and giving directions

Try these short exchanges:

Notice that estar is used to say where something is located.

Grouping the countries by region

Saying where you are from

Use ser de for where someone is from and vivir en for where they live: ¿De dónde eres? Soy de México. Vivo en Chile. The nationality changes with gender: mexicano / mexicana, argentino / argentina, chileno / chilena, colombiano / colombiana, peruano / peruana, cubano / cubana, español / española. A person from the United States is estadounidense, which has one form for everyone.

Longer directions

Once you know the basics, you can connect them: Siga derecho y gire a la izquierda means “Keep going straight and turn left.” That is the polite form you would use with a stranger. With a friend, you would say Sigue derecho y gira a la izquierda. Try writing directions from your classroom to another room using these words.

Practice ideas

The Spanish-speaking world at a glance

Spanish is the main language of about twenty countries, and it is spoken by hundreds of millions of people across Europe, North America, Central America, the Caribbean, South America, and Africa. It is also widely spoken in the United States, which is why los Estados Unidos appears among the flag cards. The language is not identical everywhere: vocabulary, pronunciation, and even some grammar vary from region to region, much like English in Britain, the United States, and Australia. A Mexican, an Argentine, and a Spaniard will understand one another easily, even if they use different words for some everyday things.

Learning geography in Spanish

The game is a good excuse to learn where these countries are. As you collect each flag, find the country on a map and say its name aloud, then say which region it belongs to and which countries are its neighbors. Describing a map in Spanish uses the direction words you already know: Chile está al oeste de Argentina, and Cuba está al norte de Colombia. Practicing with real places gives the direction words a purpose and makes both the geography and the vocabulary easier to remember.

Capital cities and people

Once you know the countries, the next step is the cities and people that go with them. Each country has a capital, such as Madrid for España, Ciudad de México for México, Bogotá for Colombia, Lima for Perú, and Buenos Aires for Argentina. Learning a capital alongside each country adds a second word for every card, and capitals often show up in news, music, and travel stories. Say a full sentence to tie everything together: La capital de Perú es Lima, y los peruanos hablan español.

Keep learning

Accents and pronunciation · Spanish verbs · Full vocabulary list · All guides

ADVERTISEMENT