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 lunch - as the Spanish eat late, you use Buenos días until about 14:00. Afternoon - Buenas tardes - is until it gets dark, so about 20:00 to 21.00. After that it is night time, so you say Buenas noches. | |
How are you | Que tal / como estás |
My name is ..... | Me llamo ..... |
What's your name | Como te llamas |
Where is the beach | Donde está la playa |
Where is the hotel ....... | Donde está el hotel ...... |
You may realise now that donde 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 | Donde puedo comprar pan |
Where can I buy water | Donde puedo comprar agua |
Obviously donde 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 | 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 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.