Collins Dictionaries - Easy Learning Spanish Conversation

• The most economical hotels and guesthouses in Spain are pensionesand hostales, which offer no-frills accommodation. Unlike British B&Bs, they do not normally include breakfast so you may have to go elsewhere to get some.

• At the other end of the scale are the paradores nacionales de turismo, hotels which are located in places of interest and which are often historic buildings such as castles or monasteries.

• Accommodation in casas ruraleshas become very popular in Spain. These are country houses and cottages that have been converted for holiday lets or that have been turned into guesthouses.

• If you’re a man, you’re likely to hear receptionists and waiting staff call you caballero(literally gentleman ). If you’re a woman, you’ll hear señora(literally lady ) used in the same way. If the staff are young, you can call them túrather than usted, even when they call you ustedback.

• If you want to rent a flat to live in in Spain, you’ll probably have to sign a contrato de alquileror de arrendamiento( lease ) and leave a fianza( deposit ) of one or two months’ rent with the dueñoor propietario( landlord ).

If you’re going out for a meal in Spain, the phrases in this unit will give you the confidence to talk to the waiter and chat with your Spanish friends in easy, natural Spanish. We’ll also give you some tips on getting advice about what to order, and a few key phrases the waiters are likely to use.

If you’re going out for a meal with Spanish-speaking friends or colleagues and you want to make arrangements such as where and when to meet, you can use the verb quedar(meaning to meet or to arrange to meet ).

When making arrangements to eat, you’ll want to check what suits other people. Use ¿No te importa que…?followed by the subjunctive or ¿No te importa si…?followed by the ordinary present to ask Is it ok with you if…? Of course you should only use tewith someone you call tú. Change it to leif you call them usted. For more information on the subjunctive, see here.

To say what would suit you better, you can use me vendría mejor( it would suit me better ). vendríacomes from venir( to come ).

One of the pieces of information you may need to find out is where things are. Remember that when you ask where something is, estaris the verb you generally use.

Before you decide where to eat or what to eat, you may want to find out what the restaurant or the food is like. Don’t forget that Spanish has two verbs for to be : serand estar. For more on these verbs, see here.

To ask more specifically about the menu, you can use ¿Qué…?( What…? ).

If you want to ask the price of something, you can use ¿Cuánto vale…?( How much is…? ).