Day 4
La cinco
Number five. Marta meets Yolanda, pays for a wash and is introduced to machine number five.
Read the whole lesson
The conversation: La cinco (Number five)
Marta meets Yolanda, pays for a wash and is introduced to machine number five.
- Yolanda
- Hola. Soy Yolanda. ¿Tú eres Marta?Hi. I’m Yolanda. Are you Marta?
- Marta
- Sí, la de Teruel. Quiero lavar la ropa.Yes, the one from Teruel. I want to wash my clothes.
- Yolanda
- La cinco está libre.Number five is available.
- Marta
- ¿Cuánto es?How much is it?
- Yolanda
- Cuatro euros.Four euros.
- Marta
- Tengo diez. ¿Tienes cambio?I have ten. Do you have change?
- Yolanda
- Sí. Aquí tienes: seis euros.Yes. Here you go: six euros.
- Marta
- Gracias.Thank you.
- Yolanda
- De nada, Marta.You’re welcome, Marta.
Notes
1. Quiero lavar la ropa
Put an infinitive after quiero to say what you want to do; Spanish treats la ropa (“clothes”) as a singular collective noun.
2. La cinco está libre
La stands for the understood feminine noun máquina. Compare the familiar es with the new está:
- *Es mi abuela Fina* — identifies who she is.
- *La cinco está libre* — describes the machine’s current state.
3. ¿Cuánto es?
Use ¿Cuánto es? to ask the amount to pay; the answer can simply be cuatro euros (“four euros”).
4. Numbers one to ten
The numbers from one to ten are:
- *uno · dos · tres · cuatro · cinco*
- *seis · siete · ocho · nueve · diez*
Here *cinco* names a machine, while *cuatro*, *seis* and *diez* handle the money.
5. Tengo and tienes
Compare the person forms:
- *Yo tengo* — “I have”
- *Tú tienes* — “You have”
As with *hablas*, the form for *tú* ends in *-s*. In *¿Tienes cambio?*, *cambio* is the money returned after paying more than the price.
6. Aquí tienes
Use aquí tienes when handing something to another person.
7. De nada
Use de nada as the standard reply to gracias; word for word, it says “of nothing.”
Dinero, cambio y pasta · Money, change and cash
Dinero is the neutral word for money. In casual conversation in Spain, pasta can also mean money.
Cambio can mean smaller coins or notes, or the money returned after a payment. Spanish prices use a comma: 4,50 €.