Holiday Tips - Learn some Spanish phrases
Your Basic Phrasebook
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Yes |
Si |
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No |
No |
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Please |
Por favor |
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Thank you |
Gracias |
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Good morning |
Buenos días |
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Good afternoon |
Buenas tardes |
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Good evening / night |
Buenas noches |
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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. |
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How are you? |
Qué tal? / Cómo estás? / Cómo está? (formal) |
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My name is ..... |
Me llamo ..... |
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What's your name? |
Cómo te llamas? / Cómo se llama? (formal) |
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Where is the beach? |
Dónde está la playa? |
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Where is the hotel .......? |
Dónde está el hotel .....? |
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You may realise now that dónde está means 'where is'. You can now combine that with the following: |
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The bank |
El banco |
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The nearest bar |
El bar más cercano |
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The bus stop |
La parada de autobús |
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Where can I buy bread? |
Dónde puedo comprar pan? |
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Where can I buy water? |
Dónde puedo comprar agua? |
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Obviously dónde puedo comprar means 'where can I buy'. Practise this with the following: |
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Cigarettes |
Tabaco |
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Ice cream |
Helados |
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Beer |
Cerveza |
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Something to smoke |
(you must be joking!) |
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See below for many more groceries. |
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Shopping for Groceries
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Apple |
Manzana |
man-tha-na |
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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