Read Don Quixote in English — and understand every line.
Read “Don Quixote” by Miguel de Cervantes in English. Tap any word for its meaning, hear how it sounds, and save it to a memory-driven review schedule.
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DICTIONARY
TRANSLATION
apreciar, atesorar
to feel warm affection for; to hold something dear.
Tap a word for its translation and part of speech — then save it to your list.
The opening
How “Don Quixote” begins
In a village of La Mancha, the name of which I have no desire to call to mind, there lived not long since one of those gentlemen that keep a lance in the lance-rack, an old buckler, a lean hack, and a greyhound for coursing.
An olla of rather more beef than mutton, a salad on most nights, scraps on Saturdays, lentils on Fridays, and a pigeon or so extra on Sundays, made away with three-quarters of his income.
The rest of it went in a doublet of fine cloth and velvet breeches and shoes to match for holidays, while on week-days he made a brave figure in his best homespun.
Public domain — the whole book is yours to read in the app.
Vocabulary
Words to know before you start
The 30 words you will meet most often in “Don Quixote” at level B2 and above, with how many times each one appears.
- master
- worship
- heaven
- governor
- bear
- perceive
- observe
- castle
- fortune
- devil
- sword
- mount
- tear
- seek
- worthy
- exclaim
- soul
- misfortune
- beg
- bid
- thus
- virtue
- bind
- swear
- utter
- desire
- landlord
- countenance
- grant
- lance
The meanings here are the everyday ones. In the reader, tap a word to see the sense this sentence uses.
Grammar
Grammar you will meet in “Don Quixote”
How much of each kind of grammar “Don Quixote” uses, counted in the sentences the Reader marks: per 10,000 words, compared with the other books in the library.
- Relative clauses
- Passive voice
- Perfect tenses
- Phrasal verbs
- -ing forms and to-infinitives
- Reported speech
- Modal verbs
- Conditionals
Constructions to look for
- Past participle clause You’re not from Miguelturra, but some knave sent here from hell to tempt me.
- Verb + object + to-infinitive I called out, telling you not to let out more rope until I bade you, but you cannot have heard me.
- Be to + infinitive (passive) “But what is to be done about the signature?
Counted the way the Reader shows it: one card per construction in a sentence. Open the book in the Reader and tap a highlighted phrase to see the rule.
Library
What you get while you read
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Tap to translate
Tap any word to see what it means in this exact sentence — with pronunciation and a clear example.
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Save what matters
Add a word and it comes back on a spaced-repetition schedule timed to how memory actually works.
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Grammar in context
Notable structures light up in the text, with a short explanation tied to the sentence you're reading.
About the book
Why Don Quixote is a great book to read in English
The ageing gentleman who reads too many chivalric romances, renames himself Don Quixote, and rides out to fix the world — tilting at windmills with the loyal, literal-minded Sancho Panza at his side. Cervantes's 1605 novel is long, but it is built from self-contained episodes, so you can read it adventure by adventure.
On LangOrbit you read “Don Quixote” with a safety net: the translation is one tap away when a sentence runs long, every word opens its meaning in context and can be saved for spaced-repetition review, and the grammar behind the trickier lines is explained right where you meet it.
Keep reading
More books to read in English
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Don Quixote
Read “Don Quixote” by Miguel de Cervantes in English. Tap any word for its meaning, hear how it sounds, and save it to a memory-driven review schedule.
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