Shopping (match)

Shopping in Spanish is one of the most useful skills you can build, and the right vocabulary will make you feel confident the moment you walk into a store.

1. In the Store

Keep in mind: caja literally means box, but in a store it refers to the cash register or checkout counter. In Latin America you hear ir a la caja to mean heading to the checkout, even in large supermarkets with many registers.Note that carrito is the diminutive of carro, which in Latin American Spanish means car. Context makes the difference: carrito de supermercado always refers to a shopping cart, never a small car.

15 questions

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2. Money & Payment

Watch out: efectivo is a false friend. It looks like the English word effective, but in a shopping context it means cash. Saying pago en efectivo means paying with paper money or coins, not paying in an effective way.Note that recibo has a double life: it is the noun for receipt, and it is also the first-person present tense of recibir (to receive). When shopping, el recibo with the article always refers to the paper receipt.

15 questions

3. Clothing

Heads up: ropa is always used as a singular noun in Spanish. Unlike the English word clothes, which is always plural, ropa never takes a plural form when referring to clothing in general. You say la ropa está sucia, not las ropas.Worth knowing: sombrero comes from sombra, meaning shade or shadow. The word originally described any head covering that provides shade, not just the wide-brimmed style associated with Mexico.

15 questions

4. Shopping Verbs 🔒

Pro tip: probar covers two different situations: trying on clothing and tasting food. Voy a probar la chaqueta means trying it on, while voy a probar la sopa means tasting the soup. The fitting room is called a probador because of this verb.Also, devolver does not only mean to return a purchase. It is also the standard everyday verb for vomiting in Latin American Spanish. Context makes the meaning clear, but it is worth knowing so you are not caught off guard.

15 questions

5. Bags & Accessories 🔒

Did you know that etiqueta has two unrelated meanings: price tag or label in a store, and etiquette or formal dress code in a social context. Una cena de etiqueta means a black-tie dinner, while la etiqueta del precio means the price tag.Note that bolsa goes well beyond shopping bag. It also means stock exchange (la bolsa de valores) and, in many countries, purse or handbag. La bolsa by itself in financial news always refers to the stock market.

15 questions

6. More Shopping 🔒

Worth knowing: vitrina is the standard word in Latin America for a store window or glass display case. If you hear mirar vitrinas in Latin America, it means window shopping with no intention to buy.Keep in mind that rebajas refers to a store-wide markdown event, like an end-of-season sale. It is not interchangeable with descuento, which is a reduction on a single item, or oferta, which is a specific promotion.

15 questions

In this set, you'll learn dozens of Spanish shopping words, covering everything from prices and payment methods like efectivo (cash) and tarjeta de crédito (credit card), to clothing and accessories like chaqueta (jacket), jeans, and sombrero (hat). You'll also pick up words like descuento (discount), tienda (store), rebajas (sale), and bolsa de compras (shopping bag), so you're ready for anything from browsing a clothing store to picking up a few things at a local market.

The quizzes work as word and sentence matching exercises, so you get practice with both reading and listening while seeing each word used in context. Sessions run about 5 minutes, and you can repeat any quiz as many times as you want, whenever it suits you.

By the end, you'll be able to hear a word like precio or descuento, understand it right away, and use it yourself with confidence when you need it.