💰 Money & Prices - Dinero y precios

Aa ⏱ ≈ 13 minutes

Beginner Spanish · Money, prices, and shopping

Money and Prices in Spanish

Money vocabulary becomes much more useful when you can ask a price, understand whether something is cheap or expensive, notice a sale or discount, and talk about spending or saving money.

Your next small win: ask how much something costs, use cuesta and cuestan, describe prices, recognize discounts, and handle a few basic money situations.

Start with the essentials

Core Money Vocabulary

These words give you a foundation for talking about money without getting into the checkout process itself.

dinero
Money
precio
Price
efectivo
Cash
moneda
Coin
billete
Banknote / bill
cambio
Change

Name four money words

Say “money, price, coin, and change” in Spanish.

Ask how much things cost

Using Costar for Prices

Use cuesta with one item and cuestan with more than one item.

¿Cuánto cuesta esto?
How much does this cost?
¿Cuánto cuesta esta mochila?
How much does this backpack cost?
¿Cuánto cuestan estos recuerdos?
How much do these souvenirs cost?
Cuesta cincuenta euros.
It costs fifty euros.
Cuestan veinte euros.
They cost twenty euros.

Singular versus plural: la mochila cuesta, but los recuerdos cuestan.

Asking about a price

A
¿Cuánto cuesta esta chaqueta?
How much does this jacket cost?
B
Cuesta cincuenta euros.
It costs fifty euros.

Ask two prices

Ask the price of one backpack and several souvenirs.

Describe the price

Cheap, Expensive, Sales, and Discounts

These words help you react to prices and recognize when something costs less than usual.

barato / barata
Cheap / inexpensive
caro / cara
Expensive
oferta
Sale / special offer
descuento
Discount
Es barato.
It's inexpensive.
La chaqueta es cara.
The jacket is expensive.
Está en oferta.
It's on sale.
Hay un descuento.
There is a discount.
¿Hay algún descuento?
Is there a discount?

Agreement: price adjectives can change with the noun: un reloj barato, una chaqueta barata, un hotel caro, una entrada cara.

Finding a sale

A
¿Cuánto cuesta esta chaqueta?
How much does this jacket cost?
B
Está en oferta. Cuesta cincuenta euros.
It's on sale. It costs fifty euros.
A
Muy bien. El precio es bueno.
Great. The price is good.

React to a price

Say that the jacket is expensive, then ask whether there is a discount.

Talk about what you do with money

Spending, Saving, and Handling Money

These verbs let you talk about basic money actions beyond the moment of checkout.

comprar
To buy
gastar dinero
To spend money
ahorrar dinero
To save money
comparar precios
To compare prices
Voy a comparar los precios antes de comprar.
I'm going to compare prices before buying.
Quiero ahorrar dinero.
I want to save money.
No quiero gastar mucho dinero.
I don't want to spend a lot of money.
¿Tiene cambio?
Do you have change?

Talk about your money choices

Say that you want to compare prices and that you do not want to spend a lot of money.

ATM and currency exchange vocabulary
banco
Bank
cajero automático
ATM
sacar dinero
To withdraw money
cambiar dinero
To exchange money
tipo de cambio
Exchange rate
¿Cuál es el tipo de cambio?
What is the exchange rate?
Necesito sacar dinero del cajero automático.
I need to withdraw money from the ATM.

Your turn · 8 quick questions

Practice: Money and Prices

Choose the answer that best fits each situation. Focus on prices, discounts, expensive and inexpensive items, spending, saving, and basic money vocabulary.

Audio uses your device's Spanish text-to-speech voice. Listen to each phrase, then practice asking prices, recognizing discounts, and talking about spending or saving money.