Translate Spanish to English

Free Spanish to English translator with a formal or informal register and names kept exactly as you wrote them.

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Type, paste or upload a document. The source language is detected automatically. Select a name or term and tap Keep to leave it untranslated.

Your translation will appear hereChoose the target language, add your text, then press Translate. Click any sentence in the translation for alternatives.

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Spanish to English translator

Spanish to English translation with the register set first

Paste Spanish and get English back with the tone of the original intact. English has no usted and tú, so the difference has to be carried by phrasing; the register selector tells the translator which way to lean, and the names and terms you mark as kept come through exactly as you wrote them.

How to translate Spanish to English

Three steps. The second is the one most translators skip.

Paste or upload the Spanish

Type, paste or drop in a document. Spanish is already selected as the source on this page; if the text turns out to be something else, the detector says so above the editor and you can change it.

Set the register and mark the names to keep

Pick Formal or Informal from the register selector beside the language names, or leave it on Match source tone to follow the Spanish original. Select any name, brand or product term and press Keep so it is passed through as written.

Translate, then check it

Read the English if you can. If you cannot, back-translate it: run the result through English to Spanish and compare the meaning, sentence by sentence, with what you started from.

What changes between Spanish and English

The differences that decide whether a translation reads as written by a person.

Script and directionSpanish is written in Latin; English in Latin.
Word orderSpanish is subject-verb-object; English is subject-verb-object. The orders match, which removes one whole class of error, but idiom and agreement still have to be handled.
How politeness is markedEnglish has no separate polite and familiar 'you'. Register lives in vocabulary and sentence shape instead: 'Could you let me know' against 'Tell me', 'purchase' against 'buy'.
Formality in SpanishSpanish separates 'tú' (familiar) from 'usted' (polite), and the verb changes with it. Spain uses 'vosotros' for a familiar group; Latin America uses 'ustedes' for any group. Argentina, Uruguay and parts of Central America use 'vos' in place of 'tú'.

Where translation into English goes wrong

Three things English readers notice at once, and a machine has to be told about.

One 'you' for every register

Every language with a polite and familiar 'you' collapses to one word in English, so the tone of the original has to be carried by phrasing or it is lost.

US or UK spelling

US and UK spelling differ (color and colour, organize and organise); a translation should stay consistent with whichever the reader expects.

Articles have to be added

Articles ('a', 'the') have to be added where the source language has none, and choosing the wrong one reads as foreign.

What has to be read correctly in the Spanish first

Errors that start on the source side, before a single English word is chosen.

Dropped subjects

Spanish drops subject pronouns because the verb carries them; English needs them put back, and 'they' against 'you (plural)' is easy to confuse.

The subjunctive

The subjunctive expresses doubt, wishes and hypotheticals that English marks with modal verbs or not at all.

Long comma-joined sentences

Long Spanish sentences joined with commas are normal; splitting them is often the right English, and a literal rendering is a run-on.

Who translates Spanish to English here

Replies to English-speaking customers and colleagues.

Coursework, applications and CVs for English-language institutions.

Reading English documentation, contracts and news.

Going the other way? Translate English to Spanish.

Spanish to English translator FAQs

Is the Spanish to English translator free?

Yes. Translate Spanish to English without an account, within the per-run word allowance shown beside the editor. Signing in raises it, and Pro removes the guest limits and the ads. The pricing page lists what each plan includes.

What happens to usted and tú when I translate into English?

English has one 'you', so the distinction between usted and tú disappears at the pronoun. The translator carries the tone through phrasing instead — a usted original comes out as English a stranger would expect, a tú one as English between people who know each other. If the result reads too stiff or too casual, change the register selector and run it again.

Will it translate names, brands and product terms?

Not unless you want it to. Select a name or a term in the editor and press Keep, and it is passed through exactly as written. This matters for Spanish to English because a brand name can look like an ordinary word and get 'translated' into one.

How accurate is machine translation from Spanish to English?

Good enough to understand a document, answer an email or draft a reply, and it improves when you set the register and mark the names as kept first. It is not a substitute for a human translator on a contract, a medical document or anything with legal weight. The reliable way to check a translation you cannot read is to back-translate it: paste the English result into a new run set to Spanish and see whether the meaning survived.

Can I translate a whole document from Spanish to English?

Yes. Drop in a .docx, .pdf or .txt file, or paste the text; the output keeps the paragraph structure and can be copied, edited in place or exported.

Can I translate English to Spanish as well?

Yes. Use the English to Spanish translator, or press the swap button between the two language names on this page. Either way the register and the kept terms come with you.

After the translation

Check the Spanish before you translate it, or shift the register of the result once it is in English. One plan covers every tool.

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Popular language translations

Each pair opens the translator with both languages already set. The register and the Keep button work the same on every one.