Useful Spanish Vocabulary for your Holiday
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 |
Que tal / como estás |
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My name is ..... |
Me llamo ..... |
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What's your name |
Como te llamas |
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Where is the beach |
Donde está la playa |
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Where is the hotel ....... |
Donde está el hotel ...... |
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You may realise now that donde 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 |
Donde puedo comprar pan |
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Where can I buy water |
Donde puedo comprar agua |
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Obviously donde 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. | |
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:
Most spanish words are pronounced with the emphasis on the second last syllable. In italics above. The only exceptions have an accent to denote where the emphasis should be placed: see Rice = Arróz, pronounced - 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 in Spain for many years quite successfully with only a rather limited vocabulary. The Spanish are a very tolerant people. Most, if not all, in the popular 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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