How to say "I speak only a little bit of Spanish"

Question

I want to say, "I only speak a little bit of Spanish" and I have seen conflicting advice on the internet. Is the following correct? "Sé solo un poquito del Españgol."?

Gracias!

Please fill out your profile ,we need your level of Spanish and English. - ray76, Sep 8, 2015

Just figured out how to do that. Rank beginner! - Kitenut, Sep 8, 2015

You are a beginner but I doubt that you are rank. Thanks for the profile that is worth a vote from me.. - ray76, Sep 8, 2015

Answer 1

Hablo un poco español, (de optional in my opinion) Sé un poco español. (de optional in my opinion) Puedo hablar un poco español (de optional)

No conflict, just different ways of saying the same thing .. as we do in English and other languages ..

Regards Jimmy

Very good Jimmy , except you have missed out the word, 'only; :) - FELIZ77, Sep 8, 2015

According To Daniela's advice to Ray, Jimmy, the word de is not optional she asked Ray to add it :) - FELIZ77, Sep 9, 2015

Answer 2

As I am new, I am not quite sure how to thank all of you for your help, so, "Muchos gracias (everyone )", then, a follow up: tips on when to use de and when to use del? No one has said poco del español is correct.

"del "is wrong in that instance mate. - ray76, Sep 8, 2015

You are most welcome .. thats wat we are all ,, here for .. to help each other .. - Joydeep_Singh, Sep 8, 2015

and its "muchas gracias" (not mucho) .. - Joydeep_Singh, Sep 8, 2015

Well, I wouldn't say.. del espanol in this context .. because del is the contraction of "de + el = del) so if you say del espanol .. it would in essence mean .. de el espanol .. and there doesn't seem to be a need of using the definite article "el" in - Joydeep_Singh, Sep 8, 2015

LOL. You see, I am a beginner. Gracias must be feminine ;-) - Kitenut, Sep 8, 2015

this case .. it may not be grammatically incorrect but might sound weird .. like in English also we won't use the definite article "the" in this case .. we will say .. I can speak a little spanish (and not .. I can speak a little of THE spanish) - Joydeep_Singh, Sep 8, 2015

Yes it is a feminine noun ,, "las gracias" .. but don't worry .. you are doing great as a beginner .. these are small lose ends which will burl out with time .. - Joydeep_Singh, Sep 8, 2015

Welcome to SpanishDict, Kitenut. :) - rac1, Sep 8, 2015

Answer 3

Like you has post "Sé solo un poquito de español", or like ray76 has post. "Solo hablo un poco de español", both, are well

"Like you have posted " " or like Ray has posted " Thanks mate. - ray76, Sep 8, 2015

"Both are good" or "both are OK." - ray76, Sep 8, 2015

Answer 4

I want to say, "I only speak a little bit of Spanish" and I have seen conflicting advice on the internet. Is the following correct? "

The advice may not be conflicting Kitenut, and as in English, there is usually more than one way to say the same thing.

Sólo hablo un poco de español. = I only speak a little Spanish. (I've had to use this a lot in Spain.)

Your sentence says – (Sé solo un poquito del Españgol) = I know only a little bit of the Spanish.

Solo and sólo – both pronounced the same but slightly different meaning; In this case you need the accent.

Poco = a little ( a small amount ). With the suffix … ito, it tends to mean a little bit smaller , a teansy-weansy bit

Un momento por favor = One moment please.

Momentito por favor = Just a little moment please.

I hope this makes sense. ¡Buena suerte!

No estoy muy seguro pero creo que "solo" a pesar de ser una palabra llana y acabada en vocal no se acentúa, aunque por otro lado yo también tiendo a acentuarla. - 000a35ff, Sep 8, 2015

Pensé que con el acento significa only y sin significa alone. - tomasdeAlba, Sep 8, 2015

Answer 5

Please wait until a Spanish native comes by on a donkey for the definitive

answer, if you are lucky it will be Daniella she rides a mean donkey

My take is Solo hablo un poco español

¿Como dices eso? , tú sabés mucho español ,) - 000a35ff, Sep 8, 2015

Your feisty Yank Sheila from Rota, agrees with you and txelis. (Please add the "de" --un poco de español) - Daniela2041, Sep 8, 2015

And my donkey is N O T mean!! So there!! - Daniela2041, Sep 8, 2015

@ Feisty Yank Sheila , the expression actually means that you ride very well , it is one of those quirks of English , say one thing but mean another , it is after all a "Feminine " language . ;) - ray76, Sep 8, 2015

Answer 6

Hola Kitenut,

In Spanish, nationalities don't have a capital letter unless it's the first word in a sentence therefore ....español . ( I make the assumption that the additional "g" was a typo.)

Actually, I must confess that my "typo" was the French spelling. - Kitenut, Sep 8, 2015