Holiday Tips - Learn some Spanish phrases

Your Basic Phrasebook

Yes

Si

No

No

Please

Por favor

Thank you

Gracias

Good morning

Buenos días

Good afternoon

Buenas tardes

Good evening / night

Buenas noches

The Spanish like to differentiate between the above three. Morning is until 12 am. Afternoon is until about 7 pm. After that it is night time.

How are you?

Qué tal? / Cómo estás? / Cómo está? (formal) 

My name is .....

Me llamo .....

What's your name?

Cómo te llamas? / Cómo se llama? (formal)

 

Where is the beach?

Dónde está la playa?

Where is the hotel .......?

Dónde está el hotel .....?

You may realise now that dónde está means 'where is'. You can now combine that with the following:

The bank

El banco

The nearest bar

El bar más cercano

The bus stop

La parada de autobús

 

Where can I buy bread?

Dónde puedo comprar pan?

Where can I buy water?

Dónde puedo comprar agua?

Obviously dónde puedo comprar means 'where can I buy'. Practise this with the following:

Cigarettes

Tabaco

Ice cream

Helados

Beer

Cerveza

Something to smoke

(you must be joking!)

See below for many more groceries.

 

Shopping for Groceries

Apple
Banana
Beef
Beer
Bread
Butter
Cheese
Chicken
Chop
Cream
Eggs
Fish
Grapes
Ham
Ice Cream
Lamb
Lettuce
Meat
Milk
Mushrooms
Oil
Olives
Omelette
Orange
Peach
Peas
Pepper
Pork
Prawns
Rice
Salt
Sandwich
Sausages
Sole
Squid
Strawberries
Sugar
Vegetable

Manzana
Plátano
Ternera
Cerveza
Pan
Mantequilla
Queso
Pollo
Chuleta
Nata
Huevos
Pescado
Uvas
Jamón
Helado
Cordero
Lechuga
Carne
Leche
Champiñones
Aceite
Aceitunas
Tortilla
Naranja
Melocotón
Guisantes
Pimiento
Cerdo
Gambas
Arróz
Sal
Bocadillo
Salchichas
Lenguado
Calamares
Fresas
Azúcar
Legumbre

man-tha-na
pla-ta-no
ter-nair-ra
ther-veh-sah
pan
man-tay-keel-ya
kay-so
poll-yo
choo-leh-ta
na-ta
weh-vos
pes-kah-do
oo-vas
ham-on
he-lah-dho
kor-deh-ro
leh-choo-ga
kar-neh
leh-cheh
sham-pin-yo-nes
a-thay-ee-tay
a-thay-ee-too-nas
tor-teel-ya
na-ran-ha
mellow-koh-ton
gee-san-tes
pi-mee-en-tas
ther-dho
gam-bas
a-roth
sal
bo-ka-dheel-yo
sal-chee-chas
len-gwa-dho
ka-la-ma-rehs
fray-sas
a-thoo-kar
leh-goom-bray

A few Basics

A few groundrules to calm those first-evening nerves whilst ordering from a spanish menu:

All spanish words, which end in a vowel, -n, -s or -z, are pronounced with the emphasis on the second last syllable - these are most spanish words. See list above, emphasized syllable in italics. All words, which end on another consonent, are pronounced with the emphasis on the last syllable (e.g. hotel - ho-tel). Exceptions have an accent to denote where the emphasis should be placed (see rice = arróz - a-roth).

The Spanish love to roll their 'R's - you can practice this at home before going...brrrrrrrr! it's cold here.

Don't be shy!! There are many residents who have been living here for many years quite successfully with only a rather limited vocabulary. The Spanish and more particularly the Ibicencos are a very tolerant people. Most if not all (especially in the resorts) speak excellent English.

But a little can go a very long way, and the warmest smiles you will receive when speaking spanish to the locals, makes that little bit of pre-holiday effort all worthwhile.


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