Food and Shopping: The Words You Need at the Market

Shopping and eating out are some of the most common reasons to use Spanish while travelling. This lesson gives you the core words and the short phrases that make a transaction smooth. Pay attention to gender: most nouns ending in -o are masculine and most ending in -a are feminine, so el pan and la leche follow this pattern.

Food and drink
• el pan — bread
• la leche — milk
• el agua — water (feminine noun, but uses el in the singular)
• la fruta / las frutas — fruit
• la verdura / las verduras — vegetable / vegetables
• el pescado — fish (as food)
• la carne — meat

At the shop
• la tienda — the shop
• el mercado — the market
• la panadería — the bakery
• la cuenta — the bill
• el precio — the price
• la tarjeta — the card

Useful phrases

"Quisiera" (I would like) is more polite than "quiero" (I want), and it is what you will hear in most shops. To ask the price, say "¿Cuánto cuesta?" or "¿Cuánto es?". To quantify, use un kilo de (a kilo of), una botella de (a bottle of), or un vaso de (a glass of).

Phrases to use
• Quisiera un kilo de manzanas, por favor. — I would like a kilo of apples, please.
• ¿Cuánto cuesta? — How much does it cost?
• ¿Puedo pagar con tarjeta? — Can I pay by card?
• La cuenta, por favor. — The bill, please.