Don Quixote (Don Quijote de la Mancha) for Spanish learners: level, words and how to read it

What the book is about

Alonso Quijano, a country gentleman from La Mancha, reads so many books of chivalry that he loses his mind. He becomes the knight Don Quijote, rides out on his skinny horse Rocinante to right the wrongs of the world, and chooses a peasant girl as his lady, Dulcinea del Toboso. A simple farmer, Sancho Panza, follows him as his squire, riding his grey donkey, because Don Quijote has promised him an island to govern.

Their adventures are famous: the windmills he takes for giants, the inns he takes for castles, the flocks of sheep he takes for armies. In the second part, people have already read the first one and play tricks on them, and Sancho finally gets his “island”.

Themes

• Fantasy and reality. Don Quijote sees the world as his books describe it, and the world keeps hitting back.
• Friendship. The dialogues between the idealist knight and the practical squire are the heart of the book.
• Books about books. Cervantes parodies chivalry novels and plays with the idea of a story being read and rewritten.
• Humour and sadness. It is one of the funniest classics, and its ending is surprisingly moving.

How hard is Don Quixote to read in Spanish?

We measured how much of the book is covered by the most frequent Spanish words (character names excluded). If you know the 2,000 most common words, you will recognise about 84.7% of the words in the book, which leaves roughly 15 unknown words in every hundred. With 5,000 words it is about 10 in a hundred, and with 10,000 words about 8.

For comfortable reading without help, researchers aim for about 98% known words (more in our guide). By vocabulary alone this is a C1–C2 book; with tap-to-translate for the words you do not know, it is readable from B2–C1. It is slightly harder than Cuentos de amor and slightly easier than Lazarillo de Tormes.

What is hard: 17th-century Spanish with old forms (desta for “de esta”, mesmo for mismo, vuestra merced for “you”), pronouns attached to verbs (díjole), chivalry vocabulary (adarga, yelmo, escudero) and very long sentences, about 40 words on average. Sancho also speaks in strings of proverbs. What helps: each chapter is a small adventure with a title that tells you what happens, the dialogues are lively, and many scenes are already familiar.

Our take: B2–C1 with tap-to-translate (C1–C2 by vocabulary). Not a first book in Spanish, but a realistic goal if you take it chapter by chapter.

Words to know before you start

These words appear often in the book but are much rarer in everyday modern Spanish. Learning them in advance makes the first chapters noticeably easier.

How to read it in the original

1. Read the chapter titles. Cervantes summarises every chapter in its title; reading it first makes the long sentences much easier.
2. Learn the old forms once. Desta, deste, dello = de esta, de este, de ello; mesmo = mismo; agora = ahora. They come back on every page.
3. Start with chapters 1 to 8. They take you to the windmills and are a complete first taste.
4. Plan for months. At two chapters a day, the whole book takes about two months.

The first line

En un lugar de la Mancha, de cuyo nombre no quiero acordarme, no ha mucho tiempo que vivía un hidalgo de los de lanza en astillero, adarga antigua, rocín flaco y galgo corredor.

Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quijote de la Mancha

lugarvillage, place

noun

Tap a highlighted word

“In a village of La Mancha, whose name I do not care to remember, not long ago there lived a gentleman of the kind with a lance in the rack, an old shield, a skinny nag and a fast greyhound.” One of the most famous opening lines in any language. Note the old structure no ha mucho tiempo (“not long ago”, today no hace mucho) and the list of objects that already makes fun of this poor “knight”.

Frequently asked questions