Love-Spanish.com: Shopping At The Chemist

Sunday, 25 March 2012

Shopping At The Chemist

Introduction

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

SCENARIO

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

In Spanish, the other person could choose to be less formal and say:

¿Qué deseas?

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

¿Que desea (usted)?

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:

A medicine to treat some ailment/ condition;
A type of medicine;
A form of medicine;
A first aid item;
A cream or potion

Here are some examples of how you could say what you want/ are looking for:

Quería algo para la gripe (I would like something for the flu);
Quería algo para un resfriado (I would like something for a cold);
Quería un alagésico en capsulas (I would like painkilling capsules);
Quería un antibiótico (I would like antibiotics);
Quería un jarabe para la tos (I would like a cough syrup/ bottle);
Quería unas pastillas para la tos (I would like some cough lozenges);
Quería aspirinas (I would like aspirins);
Quería paracetamol en cápsulas (I would like paracetamol capsules);
Quería unas pastillas de paracetamol (I would like some paracetamol tablets);
Quería una crema desinfectante (I would like an antiseptic cream);
Quería una crema hidratante (I would like a moisturising cream);
Quería unas “tiritas”* (I would like some plasters);
Quería un antihistamínico contra picaduras de insectos (I would like antihistamines/ anti-allergy for insect bites);