Excuse me.
Use perdona to get a friend’s attention or apologise. With a stranger, perdone is more formal.
FREE BEGINNER LESSON 4 · SPANISH
Spanish: A little politeness
Learn to use a little politeness in a practical conversation and understand a natural reply.
Neutral · everyday courtesy. Learn the meaning, listen to the pronunciation, then practise in the interactive lesson.
Practise this lessonOpening vocabulary referenceUseful Spanish phrases and their meanings
Please.
Por favor usually accompanies the request rather than replacing it.
You are welcome.
This is a very common reply to gracias. Literally, it means of nothing.
No problem.
Use this to reassure someone about a small mistake. Literally, nothing is happening.
How the sentence works
Por favor softens a request. Perdona addresses one person informally; perdone is the more formal alternative. De nada replies to thanks. No pasa nada reassures someone after a minor mistake or apology.
A short conversation in Spanish
Excuse me.
No problem.
Thank you.
You are welcome.
Words to recognise
sorry / pardon
please
nothing
problem
Listen to the whole phrase before focusing on each word. You can replay as often as you like, and the interactive lesson uses pictures and a short exchange to put the meaning in context.
Open the interactive lessonThe opening six teaching lessons are free, including the mini-tests after lessons three and six. A test accepts any answer and shows the score and corrections at the end. No typing or speaking aloud is required.
Keep learning Spanish
Free five-minute audio lesson and MP3 · Language learning games
The pronunciation uses prepared synthetic voices. Credits and licences explain the free voice models. Independent native-speaker certification is not claimed.