Learn Irish for Free, Starting from Spanish (Spain)
Practice Irish with natives in Dublin-trained small classes or 1:1 exchanges: half Irish, half Spanish. See what trips up Spanish speakers and what clicks fast.
Create your free accountNo card needed. Exchanges between members are always free.
The five Irish vowels (a, e, i, o, u) are pure sounds, just like in Spanish, so your mouth already knows what to do with them. What it doesn't know is the broad/slender consonant split: the same letter b, c or m changes shape depending on the vowel next to it (bó, 'cow', versus beo, 'alive'), and Spanish has nothing like it. The Irish ch, on the other hand, is basically your jota (loch, Nollaig), so that one you get for free.
The real wall is grammar, not pronunciation. Irish mutates the start of words depending on what comes before (an mháthair, 'the mother', from máthair), and Spanish speakers tend to skip these mutations entirely because there's no instinct to reach for. Word order doesn't help either: Irish is VSO (Tá mé tuirseach, literally 'am I tired') where Spanish wants SVO (Estoy cansado), so direct translation habits from Spanish backfire constantly here.
What moves fast: numbers share deep roots with Spanish (trí/tres, ocht/ocho), so counting clicks almost immediately. Loanwords like leon (león) or cat (gato, both from Latin cattus) give instant vocabulary wins. And since Irish, like Spanish, marks grammatical gender on nouns, that concept isn't new, you're just relearning which nouns go where.
Words you will actually hear
| Here | Elsewhere | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| cara | cara | In Irish it means 'friend'; in Spanish it means 'face'. Classic trap in the first week. |
| Dia | día | Irish for 'God' (as in Dia dhuit, 'hello'), not 'day' as in Spanish. |
| sí | sí | In Irish, sí means 'she'; in Spanish, sí means 'yes'. Easy to mix up mid-sentence. |
| más | más | Irish más is part of conditional phrases ('if it is'); Spanish más means 'more'. Different jobs entirely. |
| trí | tres | Both mean 'three' and come from the same ancient root, so this one just works. |
| ocht | ocho | Both mean 'eight', shared origin, easy to remember together. |
| cat | gato | Both trace back to Latin cattus. Not identical, but close enough to help, not confuse. |
| leon | león | Same word, same animal, borrowed from the same source. Free vocabulary. |
| tae | té | Both mean 'tea' and both were borrowed from the same trade routes, so the sound similarity is real, not coincidence. |
| mí | mes | Both mean 'month' and share a distant root, which makes the word easier to retain even though the spelling differs. |
How it works here
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Sign up and say your level
Two minutes. If you do not know your level, we place you in the first class.
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Pick a class or an exchange
Classes are led by a native teacher. An exchange is with another member: half the time in their language, half in yours.
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Join by video, nothing to install
From your phone or your computer. If you cannot make it, cancel and get your place back.
Questions about this
How long does it take a Spanish speaker to hold a basic conversation in Irish?
It depends on how often you show up, but the mutations and VSO order are what slow people down, not vocabulary. Most people need a few months of steady weekly practice before ordering a coffee or introducing themselves feels automatic. Consistency matters more than intensity here.
Is the 1:1 exchange actually free?
Yes. You spend half an hour helping someone with their Spanish and half an hour they help you with Irish. Nobody pays, because both sides are giving something back in the same session.
What level do I need to join a class or start exchanges?
For the small group classes with a native teacher, beginners are welcome from day one. For 1:1 exchanges, having a handful of basic phrases helps the conversation flow, but you can start earlier if your partner is patient and you're upfront about it.
How exactly is the half hour and half hour split during an exchange?
You agree with your partner beforehand: thirty minutes in Irish, thirty in Spanish, with a clear switch in between. Most pairs use a timer so neither language eats into the other's time.
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