Learn how to ask if a store has something in stock
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| Let’s take a closer look at the conversation. |
| Do you remember how Sasha asks, |
| "Excuse me, do you have salt?" |
| Disculpe, ¿tiene sal? |
| First is disculpe, meaning "excuse me." Disculpe (enunciated). Disculpe. |
| Note: You may be familiar with Disculpa, the informal form of "Excuse me." In this conversation, Sasha is speaking with someone she doesn’t know, so she uses the formal form, Disculpe. |
| Next is tiene, meaning "[you] have," in the formal register. Tiene (enunciated). Tiene. |
| Tiene is the shortened form of Usted tiene. Usted, a formal word meaning “you,” is omitted as it’s understood from the conjugated form of the verb. |
| Tiene is from the verb tener meaning "to have." tener. |
| Next is sal, meaning "salt." Sal (enunciated). Sal. |
| All together we have Disculpe, ¿tiene sal?, Literally, “Excuse me, [you] have salt,” but translates as, "Excuse me, do you have salt?" in the formal register. |
| Disculpe, ¿tiene sal? |
| Let’s take a closer look at the response. |
| Do you remember how the clerk replies, |
| "Yes, it's here?" |
| Sí, aquí está. |
| First is Sí, "Yes." Sí (enunciated). Sí. |
| It answers Sasha's question, |
| Disculpe, ¿tiene sal? |
| "Excuse me, do you have salt?" |
| Next is aquí,"here." Aquí (enunciated). Aquí. |
| Finally, está, "is,” as in [it] is. Está (enunciated). Está. |
| Note, the corresponding Spanish word for [it] is omitted as it is understood from context. |
| Está is from the verb estar "to be." |
| All together, it’s Sí, aquí está, meaning literally "Yes, here it is." or more natural English, "Yes, it's here." Sí, aquí está. |
| Sí, aquí está. |
| The pattern is |
| ¿Tiene ITEM? |
| "Do you have" ITEM? |
| ¿Tiene ITEM? |
| To use this pattern, simply replace the {ITEM} placeholder with the thing you’re looking for. |
| Note: This pattern requires a noun. |
| Imagine you’re looking for milk. |
| Leche. "Milk" Leche (enunciated). Leche. |
| Say, "Do you have milk?" |
| Ready? |
| ¿Tiene leche? |
| "Do you have milk?" |
| ¿Tiene leche? |
| So far the pattern uses uncountable nouns, such as leche, “milk,” and sal, “salt.” When using this pattern with countable nouns, the pattern requires the noun to be in the plural. |
| For example, Do you have apples? ¿Tiene manzanas? |
| Manzanas is the plural form of manzana, apple. Manzana. |
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