Asking and buying
🎯 Ask for something, understand the price, and be polite doing it.
🗣️ Say these out loud
- Quiero un café, por favor. 🔊 KYEH-ro oon ka-FEH, por fa-VOR I want a coffee, please. Softer: quisiera (kee-SYEH-ra) — I would like.
- ¿Cuánto cuesta? 🔊 KWAN-to KWES-ta How much does it cost? For several things: ¿Cuánto cuestan?
- Gracias. — De nada. 🔊 GRA-syas — deh NA-da Thank you. — It's nothing. Muchas gracias for warmth.
- ¿Tiene agua? 🔊 TYEH-neh AH-gwa Do you have water? Tener is 'to have' and appears constantly.
- Es muy caro. 🔊 es mwee KA-ro It is very expensive. Barato is cheap.
- La cuenta, por favor. 🔊 la KWEN-ta, por fa-VOR The bill, please. In Spain you must ask; nobody brings it until you do.
Read every line aloud twice before moving on. The mouth learns a language, not the eye.
🔍 Two words for 'is', and they mean different things
Ser is for what a thing permanently is. Estar is for how it is right now, and for where it is. Confusing them is the classic beginner's slip — and the fastest way to sound fluent is to get it right.
- Es caro = it is expensive (that is its nature)
- Está frío = it is cold (right now — the soup has gone cold)
- Soy india = I am Indian · Estoy cansada = I am tired
- ¿Dónde está el baño? — location always takes estar.
🌍 Among the people
Across Latin America the same object has different names: a bus is camión in Mexico, guagua in Cuba, colectivo in Argentina. None is wrong.
🔁 Practise today
- Ask the price of ten things in your house out loud.
- Sort these into ser or estar: tall, happy, Indian, in the kitchen, a student, tired.
- Order a whole meal for two people, aloud, using quiero and por favor.
