Can I take the DGT theory test in English?

Yes, you can take the DGT theory test in English. The November 2026 version of the DGT's application form lists English for the Class B license (permiso B), next to Spanish, French, German and Spain's co-official languages.¹ The words on Spanish road signs stay in Spanish either way, and that is the part to plan for.

The Class B exam runs in eight languages, and English is one of them

The DGT's application form sets the list.¹ For classes A1, A2, B and RPV, you can take the theory exam in:

• Spanish (castellano)
• English (inglés)
• French (francés)
• German (alemán)
• Catalan (catalán), in Cataluña and the Balearic Islands
• Basque (euskera), in the Basque Country and Navarra
• Galician (gallego), in Galicia
• Valencian (valenciano), in the Valencian Community

The form also lists Lectura fácil, an easy-read version, for A1, A2 and B. Two adaptations appear on it as well: headphones and extended time.

German is the first language to drop out. For truck and bus licenses (C1, C, D1, D and their E variants), the form keeps English and French but has no German.¹ On other permits, such as AM and BE, the form keeps only Spanish and the co-official languages.¹ If you plan to drive professionally later and German is your first choice, that gap will matter. For Class B it changes nothing.

An English exam does not change Spanish road signs

Choosing English changes the language of the questions. The photos in the exam still show Spanish signs and supplementary plaques, and the words on them stay in Spanish. You meet the same words on every drive once you have your license.

Some of those words give you no trouble. STOP R-2 reads the same in English, so a photo of that sign needs no translation at all. SALIDA is different. It means exit, and nothing about the word suggests that to an English speaker. PROHIBIDO (forbidden) looks closer to English, but you still have to recognize it when it appears on a sign in an exam photo.

Yield is the odd case. Its Spanish name is CEDA EL PASO R-1, yet the sign itself is a blank inverted triangle with a red border. You read that one by shape, and the Spanish name only matters when someone says it to you or writes it down.

That split is worth learning early, because shape and color tell you the kind of sign before any word does. Our guide on how to read Spanish traffic signs walks through the families one at a time. When you come across a sign you cannot place, look it up in the English sign directory.

If your Spanish is weak, start with sign words, not full questions

An English exam spares you long questions in Spanish, but the sign in the exam photo stays as it is. So spend your first study sessions on the words you will see on sign faces, before you touch full practice questions.

After SALIDA and PROHIBIDO, add these: PELIGRO means danger, EXCEPTO means except, OBRAS means roadwork, and DESVÍO means detour. Learn each one with the sign family it tends to appear on, and you start reading a sign instead of translating it.

Then move to full questions. The practice questions and screens in ruta are in Spanish. Once you have an account, you can tap a word in a question to see its English meaning when the glossary covers it, and the glossary does not cover every word yet. There is no English practice exam. Your English help is the guides and the sign directory, and you work through the Spanish text at your own speed.

To see the format in English, try the DGT's own free test tool. You do not need to sign up, and it has the same format as the real exam and a similar question count. It holds only "dos o tres cuestionarios por tipo de permiso" (two or three question sets per license type), and the DGT is plain about its purpose: "No es una herramienta para que te prepares la prueba" (it is not a tool for preparing for the test).²

Before you apply, learn the rules of the sitting. The Class B exam has 30 questions with three answer options and gives you one minute per question, so 30 minutes in total. You pass with three mistakes at most.³⁴ One application gives you two sittings, at most six months apart. Fail both and you need a new application and a new fee.³²

The regulation has allowed a video before a question for years, and the time extends in proportion to the video; the consolidated text has not changed since December 2023.³ In October 2025 the DGT announced one mandatory hazard-perception video question, planned for the last quarter of 2025, with the total staying at 30.⁴ No start date has been published since, so treat it as an announcement until the DGT says otherwise.

For more on the format and the video question, read our Spanish guide, Examen teórico DGT.

What to take away

• You can take the Class B theory exam in English, and the DGT's November 2026 application form lists it.
• You choose the language on the application form, so decide before you apply.
• Exam photos show Spanish signs whatever language you pick, and the road does too.
• Weak Spanish calls for sign words first and full questions second.
• The DGT announced a hazard-perception video question, but no start date has been published.

Footnotes

1. DGT application form, MOD. 04/2026-11-ES, version 2026-11, retrieved November 2, 2026. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

2. DGT, Requisitos page, updated July 9, 2026, retrieved November 2, 2026. ↩ ↩² ↩³

3. BOE, RD 818/2009, anexo VI and article 51, consolidated text, retrieved November 2, 2026. ↩ ↩² ↩³

4. DGT news release of October 15, 2025, retrieved November 2, 2026. ↩ ↩²