Self-introduction at work: Asking a colleague how things work in the office

💬 Clock times take las because horas "hours" is understood: a las nueve, a las diez. One o'clock is the exception: a la una.

🇪🇸 Vale is everywhere in Spain, often said twice: vale, vale. It sounds distinctly Spanish, and Latin Americans rarely use it.

🇪🇸 In Spain, lunch is often around 2pm, the main meal of the day, and mediodía covers that whole early-afternoon stretch. Don't expect the office to empty at noon.

💬 cocina has a c before i, said like English th: (ko-THEE-na). Most of Spain does this, but Latin America uses an s sound instead.

💬 al is a + el squeezed together, and it always happens. Same with de el, which becomes del: del fondo "from the back".

💬 Despite the -s at the end, this is one microwave, and it takes el. Two would be los microondas, with the word itself unchanged.

💬 nevera is the usual word in Spain. In much of Latin America, people say refrigerador or heladera instead.

💬 The g before e or i is a breathy throat sound, like a strong h: (heh-nee-AHL).

💬 Pídeselo packs three words into one: pide "ask for" + se "him" + lo "it". When "to him" or "to her" meets lo, le always turns into se: you'd never say pídelelo.

💬 el de means "the one from" or "the one in charge of", with the person left unsaid. Swap in a department: la de recursos humanos "the woman from HR".

💬 gracias is a feminine word, so it's muchas, not muchos.

💬 dudas looks like "doubts", but here it just means questions. You'll hear ¿alguna duda? "any questions?" at the end of meetings.

💬 When you're telling someone to do something, me "me" attaches to the end of the verb. Same pattern: ayúdame "help me", llámame "call me".

💬 The ending follows the person being welcomed: bienvenido to a man, bienvenida to a woman, bienvenidos to a group.

🇪🇸 Spaniards say hasta luego as a general goodbye even if they won't see you again that day. It's the standard way to leave a room or end a chat.