Good morning (commonly used instead of hello) – Buenos dias (Buen-ohs dee-ahs)
Good afternoon (commonly used instead of hello) – Buenos tardes (Buen-ohs tar-days)
Good night (commonly used instead of hello/bye) – Buenos noches (Buen-ohs no-ches)
H’s are silent.
J’s sound like H’s
Try to open your mouth more when speaking and pronounce basically every vowel. Also, try not to change your inflection when speaking. Spanish is not supposed to be very sing-songy.
Generally speaking, things that end in a are “feminine” and things that end in o are “masculine.” That means that I wouldn’t call another man alta, I would use alto.
Ordering at a restaurant:
I would like to have (how you order your meal/drink) – Voy a querer (voy ah keh-rare)
Check please – La cuenta por favor (La quen-tah por fah-vor)
Without blank (if you don’t want something in your dish. For example, I think cilantro is one of God’s mistakes and often order food without it) – Sin cilantro (seen and then just substitute cilantro for whatever you don’t like)
Do you have blank? – Tienen blank? (Tea-en-en)
Everything is good (if the waiter asks how is everything) – Todo esta bien (Toe-doe eh-sta bee-en)
Things the waiter might ask/say to you
How many people? (to see what size table you need when seating you) – Cuantos personas? (quan-toes per-sone-ahs)
With ice? (they ask if you want ice in your water) – Con hielo? (cone ee-el-lo)
Cash or credit? (in Mexico they bring the credit card machine to you so when you ask for your bill, they generally ask how you are going to pay) – Efectivo o tarjeta? (Ee-feck-tivo o tar-het-ta?)
To serve you (this really means more like, “my pleasure”) – para servirle (pa-rah sir-vee-lei)
Things NOT to say:
Estoy caliente – This does NOT mean that you are “hot” in the terms of temperature. It means that you are hot AND horny. Use with caution.
Vergaza – has to do with male genitalia where as verguenza is embarrassment. Saying one, especially in front of your wife’s family, can lead to feeling the other.
Si to any “recommended drink” at the touristy bars/restaurants. This usually ends up getting you a much more expensive shot of mezcal than you wanted or needed.
