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Learn Spanish by reading Don Quixote
One chapter, one lesson. Read the story, learn the words, then practise writing, listening and pronunciation. From beginner to reading Cervantes.
Free, and it stays free
Learning a language should not depend on what you can pay for it. The ninety lessons, the glossary, the verb tables and every exercise are here in full: no account, no paywall, no advertising and no tracking.
The books are this same course as a finished book, in files or printed. They are an extra, not the real thing: nothing on this site is held back to sell them.
Somebody does pay for it, in evenings. If the course ends up being worth something to you, the hidalgo takes donations.
This is how you read
A real sentence from lesson 1. Tap it for the English.
En un pueblo de la Mancha vive un hidalgo pobre, y su nombre es Alonso Quijano.
In a village of La Mancha there lives a poor gentleman, and his name is Alonso Quijano.
Tap the sentence
Start here
Unit 0: what Don Quixote is, who Cervantes was, and how Spanish sounds. Read this before chapter 1.
What each chapter looks like
- Before you readThe new words first, with a heads-up on the structure you are about to meet.
- StoryRead the adventure in simple Spanish. Tap any sentence for the translation, or listen to it.
- Grammar you work out yourselfThree sentences from the story, one question, and only then the rule, with the contrast against English and the mistake to avoid.
- A note on 1605What an inn was, why a gentleman could be poor, what people ate on the road.
- ExercisesFour or five out of eleven kinds, never the same run twice, to check you really understood.
- Cervantes in the originalFinish on the real sentence from the 1605 book.
Chapters
Each chapter mixes story and grammar. Take them in order.
- 1. The gentleman of La Mancha A1 A quiet, poor man of fifty, with an old house and a set of dangerous books.
- 2. The gentleman’s house A1 A tour of the house: the housekeeper, the niece, the lad, the yard, and one small room full of books.
- 3. A day in the village A1 The gentleman’s day, from morning to evening: the fields, the greyhound, the cooking pot and the books.
- 4. The books of chivalry A1 The gentleman reads day and night, sells his land, argues with the priest, and reaches a very strange decision.
- 5. The great-grandfather's armour A1 The gentleman finds a hundred-year-old suit of armour in a corner, and spends four days cleaning it.
- 5.5. Review 1: lessons 1 to 5 A1 The vocabulary from the first five lessons that does not come back, the grammar of the block in one table, and two exercises.
- 6. The cardboard helmet A1 The gentleman builds himself a helmet out of cardboard, tests it with his sword, and learns not to test the second one.
- 7. The name of the horse A1 A skinny old horse receives, after four days of hard thought, the most sonorous name in the world.
- 8. Don Quixote of La Mancha A1 After eight days of hard thought, a fifty-year-old gentleman drops his old name and unveils a new one in three parts.
- 9. Dulcinea of El Toboso A1 The knight is missing a lady. He picks a farm girl who knows nothing about him, and gives her a new name.
- 10. The first ride out A1 One July day, at four in the morning, Don Quixote leaves home by the back gate. He says goodbye to nobody.
- 10.5. Review 2: lessons 6 to 10 A1 The vocabulary from lessons 6 to 10 that does not come back, the grammar of the block in one table, and two exercises.
- 11. One July morning A1 Alone on the plain of Montiel, in terrible heat, Don Quixote asks himself questions. The horse answers none of them.
- 12. The castle with four towers A1 At the end of the afternoon an inn appears on the road. It is a poor house, but Don Quixote sees four silver towers.
- 13. The night of the armour vigil A1 Don Quixote keeps watch over his armour in the inn yard, cracks two heads and comes out of it a knight.
- 14. The innkeeper's advice A1 The innkeeper gives the newly dubbed knight the most practical advice in the whole book: money and clean shirts.
- 15. The boy tied to the oak tree A1 Don Quixote rights his first wrong and rides away pleased with himself. The boy is the one who pays for it.
- 15.5. Review 3: lessons 11 to 15 A1 The vocabulary from lessons 11 to 15 that does not come back, the grammar of the block in one table, and two exercises.
- 16. The merchants from Toledo A1 Six silk traders find a lance across the road and an impossible question waiting for them.
- 17. The most beautiful woman in the world A1 Don Quixote demands an impossible confession from six merchants. This is where the imperfect begins: the tense of description and habit.
- 18. The priest and the barber open the library A1 Two friends put Don Quixote’s books on trial, one by one. This is where the present perfect and the participle arrive.
- 19. A wall where the door used to be A1 The books burn in the yard and a bricklayer walls up the library. The housekeeper invents a wizard, and Don Quixote believes her.
- 20. Sancho Panza and the windmills A1 A poor farmhand accepts an island that does not exist, and his master charges thirty giants that are windmills. The end of the A1 block.
- 20.5. Review 4: lessons 16 to 20 A1 The vocabulary from lessons 16 to 20 that does not come back, the grammar of the block in one table, and two exercises. The end of A1.
- 21. The morning of the windmills A2 The windmill adventure, told again and in full, with the regular preterite. The A2 block begins.
- 22. The Basque squire A2 Don Quixote attacks a coach on the Toledo road and fights a Basque squire. At the end, Cervantes claims the book was written by somebody else.
- 23. The speech on the Golden Age A2 Some poor goatherds invite Don Quixote to supper, and he pays them with a speech about a world that no longer exists. The whole speech runs in the imperfect.
- 24. Antonio’s song A2 The speech ends and the real night begins: a split ear, some rosemary leaves and a lad who sings. Here the two past tenses start working together.
- 25. The student who died of love A2 Beside the fire, a goatherd tells the story of Grisóstomo and the shepherdess Marcela.
- 25.5. Review 5: lessons 21 to 25 A2 The vocabulary from lessons 21 to 25 that does not come back, the grammar of the block in one table, and two exercises.
- 26. Marcela defends herself A2 At Grisóstomo’s burial, the shepherdess appears on a rock and speaks for herself.
- 27. The Yanguesans A2 Rocinante gets too close to a herd of Galician mares, and twenty muleteers beat all three of them. Nobody is to blame: things fall by themselves.
- 28. The inn by night: Maritornes A2 Battered by the muleteers, the two of them reach an inn. In the dark, Don Quixote mistakes the serving girl for a princess in love with him.
- 29. That enchanted castle A2 The fight in the dark goes on. An officer of the law arrives, decides the knight is dead, and ends up breaking an oil lamp over his head.
- 30. The balm and the blanket A2 Everything hurts. Don Quixote boils up a miracle medicine, Sancho tries it, and out in the yard a blanket is waiting for him.
- 30.5. Review 6: lessons 26 to 30 A2 The vocabulary from lessons 26 to 30 that does not come back, the grammar of the block in one table, and two exercises.
- 31. What you pay for at an inn A2 Sancho leaves the inn battered and without his saddlebags. On the road they argue about what gets paid for in the world, and what never gets paid in books.
- 32. The two armies of sheep A2 Two clouds of dust on the road. Don Quixote sees two armies, names their captains and announces the battle. Sancho only hears bleating.
- 33. The dead body and the Knight of the Sorrowful Face A2 Twenty lights come down the road at night. Don Quixote decides that a dead knight is asking for revenge, and charges. His name comes out of that night.
- 34. The scholar who came from Baeza A2 The fight over, Don Quixote wants to know who those people were and where they were taking the body. The answer takes the adventure out of his hands.
- 35. The night of the fulling hammers A2 A dark night, a terrible noise, a knight ready to die for it. At dawn the enemy turns out to be a cloth-beating machine, and Sancho laughs at his master.
- 35.5. Review 7: lessons 31 to 35 A2 The vocabulary from lessons 31 to 35 that does not come back, the grammar of the block in one table, and two exercises.
- 36. Mambrino’s helmet A2 A barber rides across country with a brass basin on his head to keep his hat dry. Don Quixote sees gold, charges, and carries off his prize.
- 37. The king’s prisoners A2 Twelve men chained together by the neck are marched off to the galleys. Don Quixote stops them and asks each one what he has done to end up like this.
- 38. Ginés de Pasamonte and the stones A2 Don Quixote breaks the chain and sets the twelve prisoners free. He asks them for one thing in return, and they pay him for it with a rain of stones.
- 39. The suitcase in Sierra Morena A2 Don Quixote and Sancho hide in the mountains. Among the rocks they find a cushion, a broken suitcase full of gold and a notebook full of sad verses.
- 40. Cardenio’s story A2 A goatherd tells what he knows about the madman of the mountains. Then the madman starts his own story, and Don Quixote interrupts it right in the middle.
- 41. The letter to Dulcinea A2 Don Quixote stays in the Sierra Morena performing madness for love and dictates two letters in one notebook. One asks for love, the other for donkeys.
- 42. Sancho leaves and Don Quixote is left alone A2 Sancho rides down to the plain with the letter while his master leaps among the rocks. The last A2 lesson, and a review of everything since lesson 21.
- 42.5. Review 8: lessons 36 to 42 A2 The vocabulary from lessons 36 to 42 that does not come back, the grammar of the block in one table, and two exercises. The end of A2.
- 43. The Princess Micomicona B1 The priest and the barber climb into the Sierra Morena to fetch Don Quixote and run into Dorotea. She offers to pretend she is a princess, and with that the B1 block and the subjunctive both begin.
- 44. The Favour the Princess Asks B1 Dorotea kneels in front of Don Quixote and asks him for a favour without saying what it is. With that promise the knight can no longer stop along the road, and the road runs through his own village.
- 45. A Night at the Inn B1 The party reaches the very inn where Sancho was tossed in a blanket. Downstairs they read a novella aloud, and upstairs, in a room full of wineskins, Don Quixote sleeps with his eyes open.
- 46. The Giant’s Head B1 Morning comes to the inn and Don Quixote’s room is full of wine and burst wineskins. Sancho crawls about looking for the giant’s head, and nobody manages to convince him it does not exist.
- 47. The Reunion at the Inn B1 Four men and a veiled woman arrive at the inn. They are Luscinda and Don Fernando, and in the courtyard two love stories broken a year ago come undone in half an hour.
- 48. The Battle of the Wineskins B1 We go back a few hours, to that night at the inn. Don Quixote fights the giant Pandafilando in his sleep and destroys the innkeeper’s entire stock of red wine with his sword.
- 48.5. Review 9: lessons 43 to 48 B1 The vocabulary from lessons 43 to 48 that does not come back, the grammar of the block in one table, and two exercises.
- 49. Arms and Letters B1 After supper Don Quixote stands up and delivers a serious speech about which is worth more, the life of the soldier or that of the scholar. He speaks so well that nobody laughs.
- 50. The Captive of Algiers B1 A soldier who has spent twenty-two years away from Spain arrives at the inn. He tells how his father divided his money among three sons, and how he ended up a captive in Algiers.
- 51. Zoraida’s Letters B1 A cane comes down from the window of the house next door, with gold and a letter in Arabic. It is written by a woman who wants to escape from Algiers and can tell nobody.
- 52. The Escape by Sea B1 Zoraida’s gold buys a boat and hires oarsmen. On the night of the escape almost everything goes to plan, and what does not go to plan is her father.
- 53. Basin or Helmet B1 A barber claims back his basin and his packsaddle. Don Fernando and his friends decide to agree with Don Quixote, and Sancho invents a word so that everybody wins.
- 54. The Brawl at the Inn B1 The argument over the packsaddle ends in blows, with the Holy Brotherhood in the middle of it. Don Quixote imposes peace with his voice, and then an arrest warrant turns up with his name on it.
- 55. The Cage on the Ox Cart B1 The priest and the barber put Don Quixote in a wooden cage and carry him home on an ox cart. He decides he is under a spell and travels quite contentedly.
- 56. The Knight Back in Bed B1 At home they nurse him, close the shutters and will not let him touch a book. It looks as if it is all over, but he has not stopped thinking about setting out again.
- 56.5. Review 10: lessons 49 to 56 B1 The vocabulary from lessons 49 to 56 that does not come back, the grammar of the block in one table, and two exercises. Part One ends here.
- 57. Their Story Is in Print B1 A student arrives from Salamanca with strange news: Don Quixote’s story is a book, on sale in the cities. Sancho appears in it by name.
- 58. The Mistakes in the Book B1 Don Quixote and Sancho pick holes in the book that tells their adventures. One complains about the author, the other about what was done to his donkey.
- 59. Sancho and Teresa Argue B1 Sancho comes home penniless and announces he is going to be a governor. His wife answers in proverbs, which is her way of saying no.
- 60. The Third Sally B1 The graduate encourages Don Quixote to set out again, with a plan of his own. Master and squire leave by night for El Toboso.
- 61. Looking for Dulcinea’s Palace B1 Master and squire walk into El Toboso at night looking for a palace that does not exist. The only large thing they find is the church.
- 62. Three Peasant Girls on the Road B1 Sancho has to show his master a Dulcinea who does not exist, so he uses the first woman who rides by. Don Quixote sees the truth and cannot believe it.
- 62.5. Review 11: lessons 57 to 62 B1 The vocabulary from lessons 57 to 62 that does not come back, the grammar of the block in one table, and two exercises.
- 63. The Cart of the Players B1 A cart full of devils, angels and emperors appears on the road. They are actors coming back from a performance, and there is still a fight.
- 64. The Knight of the Mirrors B1 Another knight errant boasts of having beaten Don Quixote. They fight at dawn, and under the loser’s helmet there is a familiar face.
- 65. The Knight in the Green Coat B1 On the road to Zaragoza they meet Don Diego de Miranda, a quiet gentleman with no madness in him. He looks at Don Quixote and does not know what to think.
- 66. The Adventure of the Lions B1 Don Quixote orders a real lion’s cage opened and plants himself in front of it with his sword. The lion yawns and lies down again.
- 66.5. Review 12: lessons 63 to 66 B1 The vocabulary from lessons 63 to 66 that does not come back, the grammar of the block in one table, and two exercises. The end of B1.
- 67. Camacho’s Wedding Feast B2 A rich farmer pays for the biggest wedding La Mancha has ever seen. Sancho eats, Don Quixote watches, and the whole village knows the bride wanted somebody else.
- 68. Basilio’s Trick B2 Basilio turns up at Quiteria’s wedding, runs a sword through himself in front of everyone and asks to be married before he dies. The blood is real and the wound is not.
- 69. Down into Montesinos’ Cave B2 Don Quixote has himself lowered into a cave in La Mancha on a rope. Half an hour later they haul him up asleep, and he says they have ruined the finest life in the world.
- 70. Dulcinea Asks for Six Reales B2 Don Quixote tells what he saw in the cave: a crystal palace, a talking corpse, and an enchanted Dulcinea asking him for a small loan.
- 71. Master Pedro’s Puppet Show B2 A puppeteer arrives at the inn with a fortune-telling ape and a puppet theatre. Nobody recognises the man behind the green patch, although Don Quixote has met him before.
- 72. Paying for the Broken Puppets B2 Don Quixote charges into the puppet theatre with his sword to save two wooden figures. Afterwards he pays for the damage piece by piece, with haggling.
- 73. The Enchanted Boat on the Ebro B2 Don Quixote and Sancho find an ownerless boat on the Ebro and climb into it. One of them believes they are heading for an adventure and the other that they are going to get wet.
- 73.5. Review 13: lessons 67 to 73 B2 The vocabulary from lessons 67 to 73 that does not come back, the grammar of the block in one table, and two exercises. The last free roads.
- 74. Arrival at the Duke’s Castle B2 A duke and duchess who have read the book receive Don Quixote as a real knight. Everything is perfect courtesy and everything has been arranged in advance.
- 75. The Duchess and Sancho B2 Two different kinds of Spanish are spoken at dinner in the castle. The duke and duchess say false things in perfect words, and Sancho says true things badly.
- 76. The Countess Trifaldi’s Beard B2 A duenna with a man’s beard comes into the castle garden, and she speaks the Spanish of two hundred years earlier.
- 77. The Flight of Clavileño B2 Master and squire ride blindfolded on a wooden horse that never leaves the garden, and each comes back with his own account of the journey.
- 78. Sancho Governs Barataria B2 A farmhand who cannot read is handed the keys of a town, hears lawsuits and dictates a set of ordinances that are still remembered.
- 79. The Judgements of Sancho B2 Three lawsuits in one morning, and a judge who cannot read settles all three by watching what people do with their hands.
- 79.5. Review 14: lessons 74 to 79 B2 The vocabulary from lessons 74 to 79 that does not come back, the grammar of the block in one table, and two exercises. The castle and the island.
- 80. The Governor Goes Hungry B2 They set the richest table on the island in front of him, and a doctor with a rod who takes every dish away.
- 81. Sancho Gives Up the Governorship B2 They wake him at night shouting that the island is under attack, lash him between two boards, and by morning he leaves without a penny.
- 82. Ricote, the Exiled Neighbour B2 Sancho meets some foreign pilgrims on the road, and one of them turns out to be the shopkeeper from his own village.
- 83. Doña Rodríguez and the Duel B2 A duenna comes into Don Quixote’s room at night to ask for justice, and the duel that follows ends in a wedding.
- 84. Arriving in Barcelona B2 Don Quixote and Sancho see the sea for the first time, and in a house in the city a bronze head speaks to them.
- 84.5. Review 15: lessons 80 to 84 B2 The vocabulary from lessons 80 to 84 that does not come back, the grammar of the block in one table, and two exercises. From the government to the sea.
- 85. The Visit to the Printing House B2 Don Quixote walks into a printing house in Barcelona and argues about translation with a man who is translating a book. At the next table a book about him is being printed.
- 86. Roque Guinart the Bandit B2 On the road to Barcelona forty bandits take them. Their captain shares out the haul with perfect fairness and explains how he ended up living this way.
- 87. Defeat on the Beach B2 An unknown knight brings Don Quixote down on the beach at Barcelona and makes him promise to go home. Flat on the sand he could save himself with a lie, and does not.
- 88. The Plan to Become Shepherds B2 On the road home, forbidden to take up arms for a year, Don Quixote decides to become a shepherd. The first thing he hands out is the names.
- 89. The Will of Alonso Quijano B2 Don Quixote reaches his village, falls ill with a fever and wakes up sane. He takes back his real name, makes his will and dies in his bed.
- 90. The End of the Story B2 The whole novel on one page, from the village in La Mancha to the pen hanging on a wire. And with it the course closes.
- 90.5. Review 16: lessons 85 to 90 B2 The vocabulary from lessons 85 to 90 that does not come back, the whole of B2 in two tables, and two exercises. The last unit of the course.
