Science Lab
Explain an experiment, discuss data and results, and present findings — out loud, in Spanish.
Scientific Spanish is built on a compact core — la hipótesis, el experimento, los datos, la conclusión — but the fluent version lives in the verb phrases: plantear una hipótesis (to put forward a hypothesis), sacar conclusiones (to draw conclusions), preparar la solución. The process verbs do the heavy lifting: medir, calentar, filtrar, mezclar, comprobar. And regional habit shows up even in the lab: in Mexico and Argentina safety goggles are usually los lentes de seguridad rather than 'gafas' — Mexican labs happily say los goggles.
Below: the vocabulary lesson by lesson — method, data, equipment, materials, safety — the slips that muddle a scientific explanation, and a way to talk through a whole experiment out loud. No flashcards, no worksheets: you learn the terms by using them in a real exchange.
The warm-up pack
The phrases that actually get said across a lab bench — not the vocabulary-list version.
01 · Before you even start the experiment
Antes de empezar, hay que plantear una hipótesis clara.
Before we start, we need to put forward a clear hypothesis.
Plantear una hipótesis — not just 'tener' one — is the phrase that sounds like you actually do science, not just talk about it.
02 · The casual way to ask "how'd it go?"
¿Qué te dio el experimento esta vez?
What did the experiment give you this time?
This is what classmates actually ask each other — much more common than a formal 'what were your results.'
03 · Checking a hunch, lab-partner style (Argentina)
Che, ¿probaste la hipótesis con la muestra nueva?
Hey, did you test the hypothesis with the new sample? (Argentina — voseo)
Che marks this as unmistakably Argentine — the question works everywhere, but this is exactly how it gets asked in a lab in Buenos Aires.
04 · When the numbers don't add up
El análisis salió mal, así que repetimos todo.
The analysis came out wrong, so we're redoing everything.
Salió mal is how a failed analysis actually gets reported out loud — plain, no hedging required.
05 · The beaker's actual name
Necesito el vaso de precipitados para medir esto.
I need the beaker to measure this.
El vaso de precipitados beats 'la probeta' in a lot of labs — ask for it by this name and you'll get the right glassware.
06 · "Pass me that" — Argentine lab talk
Che, pasame la pipeta que está allá.
Hey, pass me the pipette over there. (Argentina — voseo)
Pasame is the fastest way to ask for equipment across a bench in Argentina — no 'por favor' required among lab partners.
07 · The step before you mix anything
Antes de mezclar, hay que preparar la solución con cuidado.
Before mixing, you need to prepare the solution carefully.
Solución here means a chemical solution, not a fix — preparar la solución is the exact phrase you'll reach for before any reaction.
08 · The technique with the fancy French name
Esto se calienta a baño María, no directo al fuego.
This gets heated in a water bath, not straight on the flame.
Baño María — literally 'Mary's bath' — is the standard term for gentle, indirect heat. No translation needed, just use it.
09 · The check before you write anything down
Antes de anotar nada, hay que comprobar que cuadre.
Before writing anything down, we need to check it adds up.
Comprobar que cuadre — check that it lines up — is what you say before you trust a result enough to record it.
10 · Non-negotiable before you walk in
No entres sin los lentes de seguridad puestos.
Don't go in without your safety goggles on.
Los lentes de seguridad, not 'gafas,' is what actually gets said in Mexican and Argentine labs.
11 · Closing out the write-up
Ya casi terminamos el reporte de lab.
We're almost done with the lab report.
El reporte de lab — half English — is genuinely how students talk about the write-up, formal 'informe' or not.
FLUENT
Finally, someone to talk to in Spanish.
Ten-minute spoken lessons. A teacher who answers back — and gently fixes what you got wrong.
First 10 lessons freeandbefluent.com/spanish/science-labRegional Spanish
Textbooks teach one word. Locals use several — pick your region's and stay consistent.
Watch out
The part no drill site can do
Olivia
Your vocabulary teacher for this pack
There's nothing to memorize in the Science Lab lessons and no flashcards to flip — you learn the words by running the science in Spanish. Olivia becomes your lab partner: you plantear una hipótesis, walk her through the experiment step by step — primero, después, finalmente — saying what you medir, calentar and filtrar along the way, then sacar conclusiones from los datos. She asks what the results showed, makes you separate observation from conclusion, and keeps you talking until the terminology stops feeling foreign.
Blank mid-sentence and nothing bad happens — she waits. That's the practice, without unnecessary judgement.
Finish the 6 lessons and Science Lab is yours — earned, not given.
First 10 lessons free · 10-minute spoken lessons · your AI coaching team remembers you
Quick answers
La hipótesis — and the natural verb is plantear una hipótesis, to put one forward. Keep it apart from the ending: la hipótesis es antes, la conclusión después — the hypothesis comes before, the conclusion after.
Los datos is the standard word. La data is an anglicism you'll increasingly hear from younger speakers across Latin America — understand it, but los datos is always safe.
Dictionaries give las gafas de protección, but in Mexican and Argentine speech los lentes de seguridad is more common — and in Mexican labs the anglicism los goggles is fully accepted.
The essentials: el microscopio (microscope), el tubo de ensayo (test tube), la probeta (graduated cylinder), la balanza (scale) and el mechero Bunsen — which the Caribbean shortens to just el mechero. In Mexico and Colombia you'll also hear el vaso de precipitados for the beaker.
Sequence it — primero, después, finalmente — and never leave a measurement vague: include units like mililitros or grados. Name the setup precisely too: la variable, la muestra (sample) and el grupo de control — which academics often clip to el grupo control.
