Top 50 phrases to get by Spain (Advanced): Getting around and shopping

💬 The accent mark on autobús shows where the stress falls: (ow-toh-BOOS). Drop it in the plural, autobuses, because the stress no longer needs marking.

🇪🇸 In bars and restaurants you'll also see aseos or servicios on signs. Asking for el baño is fine anywhere.

🇪🇸 In Spain, todo recto is a very common way to give directions: keep going straight on. You may hear it more often than a fuller textbook phrase.

💬 To say near something, add de: cerca de la estación "near the station". The c here sounds like th in Spain: (THER-kah).

💬 The j is a throaty sound, like clearing your throat softly: (LEH-hos). To say far from something, add de: lejos del centro "far from the centre".

💬 Gire is the polite form for telling a stranger to turn. A friend would hear gira instead.

💬 Swap the ending to get straight on: siga todo recto "go straight ahead". You'll hear it in the same breath as left and right.

💬 Billete is the Spain word for a travel ticket. In Latin America it usually means a banknote, and a ticket is boleto.

💬 Swap in a destination to make it complete: un billete para Sevilla, por favor "a ticket to Seville, please".

💬 Spanish keeps the a "at" at the front of the question, where English usually drops it. Answers mirror it: a las tres "at three".

💬 The verb comes before the train here, as is normal in Spanish questions. Swap the verb for arrivals: ¿A qué hora llega el tren? "What time does the train arrive?"

💬 Al is a "to" plus el "the" squeezed together, which always happens. With feminine words they stay apart: a la estación "to the station".

🇪🇸 This is all you need to say to a taxi driver in Spain; a greeting first, like buenas, makes it land warmly.

💬 A woman says perdida, with the ending matching the speaker. Same with cansado/cansada "tired".

💬 The c here sounds like th in Spain: (PREH-thee-oh).

💬 The ending matches the thing: el bolso es caro but la camisa es cara "the shirt is expensive".

💬 The ending matches the thing: el vino es barato "the wine is cheap" but la fruta es barata "the fruit is cheap".

🇪🇸 Fine at a flea market like the Rastro, where some haggling happens. In regular shops prices are fixed, so it reads as a polite no rather than an opening offer.

💬 Follow it with a thing or an action: quisiera un café "I'd like a coffee", quisiera pagar "I'd like to pay".

🇪🇸 Comes across as courteous; in everyday Spain people often just say me pone un café "I'll have a coffee", which is perfectly polite there.

💬 Estoy plus an -ando/-iendo word describes what you're doing right now. Swap the verb: solo estoy esperando "I'm just waiting".

💬 Talla is for clothes; for shoes you ask about el número "the size number".

💬 Probármelo packs in three parts: probar + me + lo, literally try it on for myself. That stack of little words is very common in Spanish: ¿Puede dármelo? = Can you give it to me?

💬 No una before otra: Spanish says just otra talla. Same with otro color "another colour".

💬 You'll hear it in the question ¿en efectivo o con tarjeta? "cash or card?". Answer with just the half you want.

💬 Spanish uses con "with" here. For cash it's en efectivo "in cash".

💬 In Spanish, con covers both "with" and "by" here, so pagar con tarjeta is the normal pattern. You can swap the payment method: pagar con efectivo.

🇪🇸 Shops in Spain charge a few cents for bags, so you'll be asked this at the till. Locals often bring their own.

💬 In Spain ticket commonly means a shop receipt, not only a travel ticket. You'll also hear el recibo "the receipt".