At the Airport in Spanish
Traveling in a Spanish-speaking country? Learn what to say at the airport in Spanish in this free audio lesson. After this you’ll know the Spanish words for useful travel vocabulary like passport, baggage claim and bus stop. We’ll even make sure you know how to speak Spanish politely to the customs officer! Listen to the basic Spanish conversation between the two native speakers, following the English translation as you go. When you’re ready, try saying these Spanish words and phrases aloud. You never know when they’ll come in handy!
Listen to the basic Spanish conversation between the two native speakers, following the English translation as you go. When you’re ready, try saying these Spanish words and phrases aloud. You never know when they’ll come in handy!
At the Airport in Spanish
Conversation Practice
Carlos and Carmona are taking a trip to Ecuador, where they hope to see the Galapagos Islands, the Amazonian rain forest, and the colonial district of Quito. In this newsletter, they’ve arrived at Quito International Airport . They need to make their way to their hotel. As the plane lands at the Aeropuerto Internacional Mariscal Sucre, or the Mariscal Sucre International Airport , Carlos and Carmona put on their backpacks and watch excitedly through the window. They file off the plane.
"Look at the sign, Carlos," says Carmona. "BIENVENIDOS A ECUADOR." That means ‘Welcome to Ecuador,’ doesn’t it?”
They follow the path marked Llegada for Arrivals and stand in line at Aduana, or Customs. After passing through customs, they follow the signs to el reclamo de equipaje, or baggage claim, to pick up their luggage.
Now, they need to find a taxi to their hotel. Carmona stops a security guard. You can play their lines by clicking on the play button.
Mauricio Evlampieff
Rocket Spanish
P.S. Here’s a grammatical side-note. You may have noticed in this section that the order of some words are reversed. For example…
Aeropuerto Internacional = International Airport
La calle Amazonas = Amazonas Street
El Hotel Windsor = the Windsor Hotel
This is because nouns and adjectives are reversed in Spanish. In other words, you don’t say “blue taxis.” You say, “taxis blue,” or taxis azules!
There is another way in which nouns and adjectives are reversed in order. Whereas in English you can say “the train fare” or “the bus stop,” in Spanish you have to say “the fare of train” (el pasaje de tren) or “the stop of buses” (la parada de buses). You also have to say, “the suitcase of Carmona” (la maleta de Carmona) rather than “Carmona’s suitcase”!
P.P.S. I almost forgot! Here are some exercises to practice what you have learned.
Exercise 1 - Pretend that you’re in Carlos and Carmona’s shoes. How would you ask the following questions?
Hint: there’s a difference between “where is” and “where are”!
Exercise 2 - Now, try asking how much things cost by translating the following questions.
