Camino basics
The Spanish a pilgrim actually uses, from the first albergue to the last kilometre.
Almost everything a pilgrim needs to say in a day is one of about a hundred things, and they repeat. You greet the same people at the same hours, you ask the same question about the last few kilometres, you arrive somewhere and ask the same three things about a bed. That is what this course is: the sentences that come round again every single morning, rather than the vocabulary a language class would start with.
The order is the order a walking day happens in. Greetings first, because they are used before anything else and dozens of times a day. Then the way itself, then arriving and eating, and only then the body, the weather, money and help. The last topic is emergencies, which most people never use and should still know cold. Its first topic needs no account at all.
109 words across 8 topics, each with example sentences and a map showing how the words connect.
What is in it
- Greetings and courtesy – 16 words Said dozens of times a day, starting the first morning.
- The way and directions – 17 words after Greetings and courtesy Finding it, following it, and asking how much is left.
- Staying the night – 17 words after The way and directions Arriving, getting a bed, and the stamp that proves you walked.
- Eating and drinking – 16 words after The way and directions The pilgrim menu, the bar at the edge of the village, the bill.
- The body and getting hurt – 13 words after Staying the night Blisters, tendons, and the pharmacy. Most walkers need this by week one.
- Weather and time – 12 words after The way and directions What tomorrow looks like, and when things open.
- Money and shops – 10 words after Eating and drinking Cash still matters in small villages.
- Help and emergencies – 8 words after The body and getting hurt Rarely needed, and worth knowing cold when it is.
Free to try: The Camino in sixteen words
From the yellow arrow to the stamp in your credencial: the words this walk actually asks for.
These 16 words need no account. Open the course and practise them now.
- el peregrino – the pilgrim
- la credencial – the pilgrim passport
- el sello – the stamp
- ¡Buen Camino! – have a good Camino
- la flecha amarilla – the yellow arrow
- el camino – the way, the path
- la etapa – the stage, the day's walk
- la mochila – the backpack
- la bota – the boot
- la ampolla – the blister
- la farmacia – the pharmacy
- el albergue – the pilgrim hostel
- el hospitalero – the albergue host
- la litera – the bunk bed
- ¿hay camas libres? – are there free beds?
- completo – full, no vacancies
Open Caminantes to practise this course, or see all 10 courses.