Free Spanish reading, level B1-B2
Learn Spanish with Platero y yo, a gentle donkey's-eye view of Andalusia
Short lyrical chapters about a small grey donkey, gentle Spanish with a big emotional payoff.
Learn Spanish with this book for freePlatero y yo tells its story in short, lyrical chapters about a small grey donkey, gentler prose than most classics on this site but no less rewarding. Lira keeps the original text unabridged, but every unfamiliar word is one tap away from a translation, and every word you look up gets scheduled for review so the vocabulary actually sticks.
Key vocabulary from Platero y yo
A preview of the words you'll run into early on, with pronunciation. Every one of them, and every other word you tap while reading, gets saved to your review deck automatically.
pequeño
small
suave
soft, gentle
el hueso
bone
llevar
to carry, wear
fuera
outside
decir
to say
What actually happens while you read
One tap to translate
Click any unfamiliar word for its contextual translation, right inside the page. No dictionary tab, no losing your place in the story.
Every word saved with its sentence
The word you looked up keeps the exact sentence you found it in, not an isolated flashcard, so the meaning stays anchored to real context.
FSRS brings it back before you forget
Spaced repetition schedules each word's next review right before you'd naturally lose it, so vocabulary from this book actually stays with you.
PLATERO es pequeño, , suave; tan por fuera, que se diría todo de , que no lleva huesos.
TRANSLATION
soft
CONTEXT
PLATERO es pequeño, peludo, suave; tan blando por fuera, que se diría todo de algodón, que no lleva huesos.
Start reading free →The science
Recognizing a word isn't the same as remembering it
According to Stephen Krashen's comprehensible input hypothesis, a language is acquired durably through exposure to content you mostly already understand, not through isolated word lists. Reading a real book supplies exactly that kind of exposure. Spaced repetition on top of it is what turns a word you translated once into one you actually remember weeks later.
Learning approach
Retention with Lira
Start learning Spanish with Platero y yo today
Free, no credit card. Every word you tap gets saved and reviewed automatically so it actually sticks.
Learn Spanish free