Learn how to ask if a store has a specific item
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| Welcome to Can-Do Spanish by SpanishPod101.com. |
| In this lesson, you’ll learn how to ask if a store has something in Spanish. |
| For example, "Is there any salt?" is |
| ¿Tiene sal? |
| Lucas Hurtado is at a small grocery store and wants to buy some salt. |
| He gets the clerk's attention and asks if the store has some salt. |
| Before you hear the conversation, let's preview some of its key components. |
| sal |
| "salt" |
| sal |
| sal |
| aquí |
| "here" |
| aquí |
| aquí |
| Disculpe, ¿tiene sal? |
| Sí, aquí está. |
| Once more with the English translation. |
| Disculpe, ¿tiene sal? |
| "Excuse me, do you have salt?" |
| Sí, aquí está. |
| "Yes, it's here." |
| Let's break down the conversation. |
| Do you remember how Lucas asks, |
| "Excuse me, do you have salt?" |
| Disculpe, ¿tiene sal? |
| First is disculpe, meaning "excuse me." Disculpe. Disculpe. |
| Note: You may be familiar with Disculpa, the informal form of "Excuse me." In this conversation, Lucas is speaking with someone he doesn’t know, so he uses the formal form, Disculpe. |
| Next is tiene, meaning " have," in the formal register. Tiene. 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. Sal. |
| All together we have Disculpe, ¿tiene sal?, Literally, “Excuse me, have salt,” but translating 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. Sí. |
| It answers Lucas 's question, |
| disculpe, ¿tiene sal? |
| "Excuse me, do you have salt?" |
| Next is aquí,"here." Aquí. Aquí. |
| Finally, está, "is,” as in is. Está. Está. |
| Note, the corresponding Spanish word for 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. 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. |
| Again, the key pattern is |
| ¿Tiene ITEM? |
| "Do you have" ITEM? |
| ¿Tiene ITEM ? |
| Let’s look at some more examples. |
| Listen and repeat or speak along with the native speakers. |
| ¿Tiene sal? |
| "Do you have salt?" |
| ¿Tiene sal? |
| ¿Tiene leche? |
| "Do you have milk?" |
| ¿Tiene leche? |
| ¿Tiene manzanas? |
| "Do you have apples?" |
| ¿Tiene manzanas? |
| ¿Tiene pimienta? |
| "Do you have pepper?" |
| ¿Tiene pimienta? |
| ¿Vende azúcar? |
| "Do you sell sugar?" |
| ¿Vende azúcar? |
| Did you notice how the native speaker used a different pattern? |
| ¿Vende azúcar? |
| "Do you sell sugar?" |
| First is vende, meaning " sell." Vende. Vende. |
| Note: the “you” is understood through context. |
| Vende is the shortened form of Usted vende. Usted, a formal word meaning “you,” is omitted as it’s understood from the conjugated form of the verb. |
| Vende is from the verb vender "to sell." vender. |
| In this context, and with the right question intonation, it can translate as "Do you sell…?" This is another common way to ask if the store has something. |
| Last is azúcar, "sugar." Azúcar. Azúcar. |
| All together, the question is: ¿Vende azúcar?, which literally means, " sell sugar?" In more natural English, it translates as, "Do you sell sugar?" |
| ¿Vende azúcar? |
| This pattern is: |
| ¿Vende ITEM? |
| "Do you sell" ITEM? |
| You should be aware of this pattern, but for this lesson, we'll use the sentence pattern: |
| ¿Tiene ITEM? |
| Do you have ITEM? |
| Let’s review the key vocabulary. |
| Leche. |
| "Milk." |
| Leche. Leche. |
| Manzana. |
| “Apple.” |
| Manzana. Manzana. |
| Manzanas. |
| "Apples." |
| Manzanas. Manzanas |
| Pimienta. |
| "Pepper." |
| Pimienta. Pimienta. |
| Azúcar. |
| "Sugar." |
| Azúcar. Azúcar. |
| Let's review. |
| Respond to the prompts by speaking aloud. Then repeat after the native speaker, focusing on pronunciation. Ready? |
| Do you remember how to say "salt?" |
| Sal. |
| Sal. |
| Do you remember how to ask, |
| "Do you have salt?" |
| ¿Tiene sal? |
| ¿Tiene sal? |
| Do you remember how to say, "Yes?" |
| Sí. |
| Sí. |
| And do you remember how to say "here?" |
| Aquí. |
| Aquí. |
| Do you remember how the supermarket clerk says, |
| "Yes, it's here." |
| Sí, aquí está. |
| Sí, aquí está. |
| Do you remember how to say "milk?" |
| leche. |
| leche. |
| And how to say "apples?" |
| Manzanas. |
| Manzanas. |
| Do you remember how to say "sugar?" |
| Azúcar. |
| Azúcar. |
| Let's practice. |
| Imagine you’re Lucas Hurtado , and you’re at the grocery store. Get the shopkeeper’s attention and ask if they have milk, or leche. |
| Ready? |
| Disculpe, ¿tiene leche? |
| Sí, aquí está. |
| Listen again and repeat. |
| Disculpe, ¿tiene leche? |
| Disculpe, ¿tiene leche? |
| Imagine you’re Valeria Varela , and you’re at the grocery store to buy sugar, or azúcar. |
| Ready? |
| Disculpe, ¿tiene azúcar? |
| Sí, aquí está. |
| Listen again and repeat. |
| Disculpe, ¿tiene azúcar? |
| Disculpe, ¿tiene azúcar? |
| Let's try one more. |
| Imagine you are Lucas Hurtado, and you’re at the grocery store to buy apples, or manzanas. |
| Ready? |
| Disculpe, ¿tiene manzanas? |
| Sí, aquí está. |
| Listen again and repeat. |
| Disculpe, ¿tiene manzanas? |
| Disculpe, ¿tiene manzanas? |
| In this lesson, you learned how to ask if a store has something. This plays an essential role in the larger skill of shopping at a grocery store. Let’s review. |
| Do you remember how to say "please?" |
| Por favor. |
| Por favor. |
| Do you remember how to say, |
| "This, please." |
| Esto, por favor. |
| Esto, por favor. |
| Imagine you're Jack Jones , and you're at a grocery store, and you'd like to buy something located close to the clerk. |
| Do you remember how to say "that" in Spanish? |
| eso |
| eso |
| Ask the clerk for "that." |
| Eso, por favor. |
| Aquí tiene. |
| Listen again and repeat. |
| Eso, por favor. |
| Eso, por favor. |
| You remembered that you also wanted to buy milk |
| Do you remember how to say "milk" in Spanish? |
| leche |
| leche |
| Now ask the clerk if the store has milk. |
| Ready? |
| ¿Tiene leche? |
| Sí, aquí está. |
| Listen again and repeat. |
| ¿Tiene leche? |
| ¿Tiene leche? |
| Well done! This is the end of this lesson. |
| In this lesson, you learned how to ask if a store has something, an essential skill for shopping at a grocery store. |
| Remember, these Can Do lessons are about learning practical language skills. |
| What's next? |
| Show us what you can do. |
| When you're ready, take your assessment. |
| You can take it again and again, so try anytime you like. |
| Our teachers will assess it, and give you your results. |
| Keep practicing — and move on to the next lesson! |
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