6. A Very Brief Lesson in Spanish

Rush hour traffic in Guanacaste, Costa Rica

Let me begin with a general apology to my friends who really do speak Spanish for whatever mistakes I’ve made here.  Por Favor, straighten me out.

Cow is Vaca. Bull is Toro. Horse is Caballo (Cuh-Buy-Oh). The Spanish term that we are familiar with, Caballero would translate literally “horseman” but it’s meaning from centuries ago is “gentleman” coming from a time when gentlemen rode horses while the common people were on foot. A horseman could be a Vaquero or cowboy. Dog is Perro. Cat is Gato. Lizard is Lagarto. Whale is Ballena (Bah-jay-nah). Fish is Pescado, when it’s food, pesce when it’s still swimming around. Chicken is Pollo(Poh-yo). Beef is Carne. Lobster is Langosta. Shrimp is Cameron.

A hamburger will be called hamburguesa, quesoburguesa for cheese burger or maybe hamburguesa con queso. You might see Polloburguesa or Pescadoburguesa meaning chicken or fish on a bun. They will generally use that term to describe anything served on a bun. French fries are called fritas or papas fritas.

Pequeño is small. If you saw a dish on the menu called Pasta con Camerones Pequeño, that’s pasta with small (baby) shrimp. It’s probably delicious and you can most likely order it with Salsa (sauce) rojo o blanco (red or white.)

Beer is Cerveza. The local brands are Imperial and Bavaria which comes light or dark. Wine is Vino. Vino Blanco for white wine, Vino Tinto for red wine. A cup or glass is copa so a glass of water is una copa de agua. To order a second drink use either otra for “an other” or una mas for “one more.”

To ask for the check, la cuenta, por favor.” To ask for a doggie bag, use para llevar (pah-ruh yay-var) which means literally “to carry.”

In Costa Rica, instead of using De nada for “your welcome,” they say “con mucho gusto,” “with great pleasure.” That of course always follows “Gracias” the most important travel word of all.

Bathrooms are baños. Hombres for men, Damas for women. Costa Ricans use the formal pronoun usted for “you” rather than the informal su or tu. So for example, “Do you have change, please?” would be Tienes usted cambio, por favor?

A couple of driving words… No Hay Paseo is “One Way.” Derecha is “right” as in “right turn.” Izquierda is “left.” Alto is “stop.” No virar ala derecha is “no right turn.”

Breakfast is Desayuno while lunch is Almuerza. Dinner has several words. Comida will work fine or Cena. Una mesa para cinco, por favor is “A table for five, please.” Una mesa para cinco circa la fuente, por favor is “A table for five by the fountain, please.”

The term “eria” or a variation will be added to the end of a noun to describe a store that sells whatever the noun is. For example, the Spanish word for beef is “carne” so if you see a “Carneceria” that’s a butcher shop. “Pan” is bread so a “panaderia” is a bakery, and so on. Just remember that most of the time in Spanish the adjective follows the noun, the opposite of English, so where we would say “blue shoes” they would say “zapatos azul.”

That should do it. I think you’re ready to say hello to the animals, eat food, drink, and drive in Costa Rica.