Love-Spanish.com: Shopping For Clothes

Saturday, 10 March 2012

Shopping For Clothes

Introduction

This post deals with shopping in general, and more specifically with shopping for clothes.

SCENARIO

Imagine you walk into a clothing shop. After exchanging customary greetings, the shop assistant says to you something like: "can I help you/ how can I help you?"

In Spanish, the other person could choose to be more formal and say:
¿Qué desea (usted)?

Alternatively, he/ she could choose to be less formal and say:

¿Que deseas?

OUR TIP

The question in Spanish is an invitation for you to say what you want/ what you are after. Answering that question should be quite straightforward and depends mainly on what you are looking for.

Maybe you are looking for:

Some item of clothing (general).
A specific item of clothing;

Specific size;
Specific colour;
Specific material;
An item like one on display.

Here are some examples of how you could reply:

Quería una chaqueta (I would like a jacket).
Quería unos pantalones (I would like/ I am looking for trousers).
Quería un abrigo (I would like an overcoat).
Quería una camisa (I would like a shirt).
Quería una chaqueta marrón (I would like a brown jacket).
Quería unos pantalones negros (I would like/ I am looking for black trousers).
Quería un abrigo gris (I would like a grey overcoat).
Quería una camisa blanca (I would like a white shirt).
Quería una chaqueta talla cuarenta (I would like a size 40 jacket).
Quería unos pantalones talla cuarenta (I would like/ I am looking for size 40 trousers).
Quería un abrigo talla cuarenta (I would like a size 40 overcoat).
Quería una camisa talla cuarenta (I would like a size 40 shirt).
Quería una chaqueta de piel (I would like a leather jacket).
Quería unos pantalones de pana (I would like/ I am looking for corduroy trousers).
Quería un abrigo de lana (I would like a woolen overcoat).
Quería una camisa de algodón (I would like a cotton shirt).