Menu
English
РусскийEnglishEspañol

Food and drink in Spanish

186 words in Spanish on the topic “food and drink”: el café — coffee, el té — tea, el agua — water, el pan — bread. 186 words can be played from recordings.

Updated September 1, 2026 · Lingofly

186 words on the topic

  • el café
    coffee
    Both the drink and the place that serves it. El is the masculine article — it also tells you the gender
  • el té
    tea
    El té with the accent is tea; te without it is 'you' as an object. The third pair after sí/si and tú/tu
  • el agua
    water
    The word is feminine, but it takes the article el — simply easier to say before the stressed a
  • el pan
    bread
    The root of panadería, 'bakery' — the sign everyone hunts for each morning
  • el queso
    cheese
    The qu is a plain k with a silent u: KEH-soh. The root of quesadilla, the cheese-filled flatbread
  • la carne
    meat
    Meat of any kind. The kinds are built by description: carne de vacuno is beef, carne de cerdo is pork
  • el pescado
    fish
    The fish on your plate is el pescado, literally 'the caught one'; the fish in the water is el pez. Two words where English has one
  • la fruta
    fruit
    A collective, so grammatically singular: me gusta la fruta — 'I like fruit'. A single piece is una fruta
  • la manzana
    apple
    The same word means a city block: vive a dos manzanas — 'he lives two blocks away'
  • la naranja
    orange
    Both the fruit and the color: una camiseta naranja — an orange T-shirt. As a color it never changes for gender
  • el tomate
    tomato
    Masculine despite the -e ending: el tomate. The word came to Europe from Nahuatl by way of Spanish
  • la ensalada
    salad
    There's sal — salt — inside it: the 'salted' one. In Spain it means vegetables with oil and vinegar, not the mayonnaise kind
  • la sopa
    soup
    Estar hecho una sopa means 'soaked to the skin'. A plate of it is un plato de sopa
  • la sal
    salt
    Feminine even though it ends in a consonant. The same spelling is a command form of salir: ¡sal de aquí! — 'get out of here!'
  • rico
    tasty
    Its second meaning is 'rich': un hombre rico. With food it goes through estar: está rico — tasty right now
  • comer
    to eat
    In Spain comer also means to have lunch on its own: comemos a las dos? — shall we have lunch at two?
  • beber
    to drink
    Drinking in the plain sense. Tomar is broader and politer: tomamos algo? — shall we get something?
  • el desayuno
    breakfast
    From ayuno, a fast: breakfast is what breaks the fast. The verb desayunar is to have breakfast
  • la comida
    lunch
    In Spain la comida is the midday meal, the main one, around two or three. In Latin America lunch is el almuerzo and comida is just food
  • la cena
    dinner
    Dinner, Spanish-style late: often after nine. The verb cenar is to have dinner
  • masticar
    to chew
    To chew. Masticar bien — chew well; chewing gum is not from this verb, it's el chicle
  • tragar
    to swallow
    To swallow. At the doctor's it starts here: me cuesta tragar — it hurts to swallow. Figuratively: to put up with something unpleasant
  • el apetito
    appetite
    Appetite: no tengo apetito. At the table you wish somebody buen provecho!, not buen apetito
  • el trozo
    piece
    A piece of anything: un trozo de pan. A synonym is el pedazo, and a slice of bread is la rebanada
  • el olor
    smell
    Any smell, good or bad. A nice one gets el aroma, a foul one la peste. The verb oler: huele a café — it smells of coffee
  • el aceite
    oil
    Vegetable oil, and in Spain that means olive by default. Butter is a different thing: la mantequilla
  • la patata
    potato
    Spain says la patata, Latin America la papa. Patatas fritas covers both fries and chips
  • la harina
    flour
    The h is silent: ah-REE-nah. A relative, el harnero, is a sieve
  • la miel
    honey
    Feminine even though it ends in a consonant: la miel
  • las nueces
    walnuts
    One of them is la nuez. A mix of nuts and dried fruit in the shop is frutos secos
  • la cebolla
    onion
    the ll is the y of 'yes': seh-BOH-yah
  • la zanahoria
    carrot
    A word of Arabic root — hence the unusual z at the start
  • el pimiento
    sweet pepper
    The vegetable is el pimiento; ground pepper in the mill is la pimienta. The gender is the only difference
  • las judías
    beans
    Spain says judías or alubias, Latin America los frijoles
  • las especias
    spices
    Usually in the plural. Do not confuse with especial, special
  • cocinar
    to cook
    From la cocina, kitchen. Preparar la cena also means to cook, but about a specific meal
  • lavar
    to wash
    Washing vegetables and washing laundry alike. Washing dishes in Spain is fregar
  • el cuchillo
    knife
    the ll sounds like y in 'yes': koo-CHEE-yo
  • hervir
    to boil
    To boil in water and to be boiling. In the present the e turns to ie: hierve
  • freír
    to fry
    Frying in oil. The participle is irregular: frito, fried
  • hornear
    to bake
    From el horno, oven. In speech people more often say hacer al horno
  • cortar
    to cut
    To cut, to trim hair, and to cut off service: han cortado el agua — the water is off
  • la olla
    pot
    OH-yah
  • la sartén
    frying pan
    Feminine in Spain despite the final -n: una sartén grande
  • los fogones
    stove
    The burners of the kitchen stove, usually plural. The whole cooker is la cocina — the same word as the kitchen
  • el plato
    plate
    A plate. Deep is plato hondo, flat is plato llano
  • la taza
    cup
    A cup with a handle, for coffee and tea
  • el vaso
    glass
    A glass for water. A stemmed glass is la copa. A vase is something else entirely: el jarrón
  • la cuchara
    spoon
    The table spoon. The small one is la cucharilla
  • el tenedor
    fork
    Masculine. Restaurant stars in Spain were once counted in forks
  • la botella
    bottle
    boh-TEH-yah
  • la servilleta
    napkin
    Paper or cloth alike. A relative of servir, to serve at table
  • la tetera
    teapot
    The teapot for brewing. The electric kettle for boiling water is el hervidor
  • la bandeja
    tray
    A tray in the bar and an oven tray
  • caliente
    hot
    One form for both genders: la sopa caliente. The weather is not caliente — that is hace calor
  • frío
    cold
    The adjective takes the accent: la sopa fría. The same word as a noun, el frío, is the cold
  • hambriento
    hungry
    A bookish adjective; in real life people say tengo hambre — 'I have hunger'
  • el sabor
    taste
    The taste of food. Taste as in good taste is el gusto
  • salado
    salty
    From la sal, salt. About a person, salado means witty
  • ácido
    sour
    Sour to the taste. Milk that has gone off is agrio
  • amargo
    bitter
    Bitter coffee and a bitter truth alike
  • picante
    hot (spicy)
    Hot on the tongue, from picar, to sting. A sharp knife is afilado
  • lleno
    full (after eating)
    Literally 'full': estoy lleno — I have had enough. The same word about a full glass
  • probar
    to try
    To try food and to try doing something. With -se it becomes trying on clothes
  • el menú
    menu
    Careful: el menú in Spain is usually the set lunch; the full list of dishes is la carta
  • el camarero
    waiter
    Spain says camarero, Latin America el mesero. You get attention with ¡oiga! or perdone
  • el pedido
    order
    An order in a restaurant and online alike. From pedir, to ask for
  • pedir
    to order
    Both 'to ask for' and 'to order'. In the present the e turns to i: yo pido
  • el plato principal
    main course
    El plato alone is both the plate and the dish; menus split el primer plato and el plato principal
  • la ración
    portion
    In a Spanish bar una ración is a big plate to share; half of it is media ración
  • una mesa para dos
    table for two
    Always with the indefinite article: you are asking for any free table
  • el postre
    dessert
    Masculine. De postre — for dessert
  • sin carne
    without meat
    After sin no article appears. A vegetarian is vegetariano
  • la tarta
    cake
    A round cake, often with cream. A savory filled pastry is la empanada, a plain dry sponge is el bizcocho
  • la pasta
    pasta
    A collective, in the singular: he hecho pasta. Specific kinds are los macarrones, los espaguetis. In speech la pasta also means money: no tengo pasta
  • el yogur
    yogurt
    No final t, unlike English. The plural is los yogures. Natural means no additives; desnatado — fat-free
  • la nata
    cream
    The Spanish word: in Latin America the same cream is la crema. Nata montada — whipped cream; nata para cocinar — cooking cream. The skin on boiled milk is also la nata
  • el helado
    ice cream
    From helar, to freeze. As an adjective the same word means icy: estoy helado — I am freezing. Una bola de helado — a scoop of ice cream
  • el chocolate
    chocolate
    A square of a bar is una onza. El chocolate a la taza is thick hot chocolate, drunk in Spain with churros — a dish of its own, not a drink from a sachet
  • las galletas
    cookies
    Where English uses one mass noun, Spanish counts: una galleta — one cookie, un paquete de galletas — a pack of cookies
  • la ternera
    beef
    In a Spanish butcher shop beef is split by age: la ternera is young meat, la vaca and el buey are adult. Un filete de ternera — a steak; la ternera picada — minced beef
  • el cordero
    lamb
    The lamb and its meat — one word. El cordero asado, roast lamb, is Castile's great festive dish. The meat of an adult sheep gets another name, la oveja, and in the shop it is a rarity
  • las gambas
    prawns
    The Spanish word: in Latin America — los camarones. Gambas al ajillo — shrimp in garlic oil, a tapas classic. The big ones are los langostinos
  • las uvas
    grapes
    Countable in Spanish: una uva — one grape. Under the New Year chimes on December 31 Spaniards eat exactly twelve of them, one per stroke
  • el pepino
    cucumber
    Eaten fresh in Spain, rarely pickled. Me importa un pepino — 'it matters to me a cucumber' — is how Spaniards say they couldn't care less
  • el repollo
    cabbage
    The headed kind, often called la col. The family branches out: la coliflor is cauliflower, las coles de Bruselas are Brussels sprouts, la lombarda the red one
  • el ajo
    garlic
    Un diente de ajo is a clove — literally a tooth of garlic — and una cabeza is the whole head. Al ajillo on a menu means cooked in garlicky oil
  • la calabaza
    pumpkin
    Crema de calabaza is pumpkin soup. Dar calabazas a alguien — to hand someone pumpkins — is the old-fashioned way to turn a suitor down
  • la berenjena
    eggplant
    the j is a throaty h: beh-ren-HEH-nah
  • el limón
    lemon
    In the plural, los limones, the accent mark disappears: the stress lands where it should without it. La lima is the lime — don't mix the two up
  • la sandía
    watermelon
    stress on the second-to-last syllable: sahn-DEE-ah
  • las fresas
    strawberries
    Countable: una fresa is a single berry. The big garden kind gets an augmentative, el fresón, and fresas con nata — strawberries and cream — is the classic dessert
  • la pera
    pear
    Ser la pera is slang for something remarkable — praise or a jab, depending on the tone. Pedir peras al olmo, to ask an elm for pears, is to demand the impossible
  • el melocotón
    peach
    Spain's own word; Latin America says el durazno. Melocotón en almíbar is canned in syrup, and el nectarino is the nectarine
  • la receta
    recipe
    One word covers the kitchen and the doctor's pad: una receta médica is a prescription. Context does the sorting. A cookbook is el recetario
  • pelar las verduras
    to peel the vegetables
    From la piel, skin: pelar means to take the skin off, not to wash. Washing produce or cleaning a fish is limpiar. A peeler is el pelador
  • poner a hervir
    to bring to a boil
    Hervir means to boil; adding poner a makes it 'put on to boil'. El agua hierve — the water is boiling; pon a hervir el agua — get it heating
  • remover
    to stir
    A false friend of the English remove: here it means to stir with a spoon. The stem vowel shifts: remuevo, remueves. Mezclar is to mix different things together
  • salar
    to salt
    In the kitchen people more often say echar sal — to throw some salt in. Está soso is under-salted, está salado over-salted; you will hear both at every table
  • calentar
    to heat up
    The stem e turns to ie: caliento, calientas. Calentar en el microondas is to heat something in the microwave; the adjective caliente is hot
  • enfriar
    to cool down
    Most often in the pair dejar enfriar — let it cool. With -se it cools on its own: deja que se enfríe. Built on frío, cold
  • batir los huevos
    to beat the eggs
    Batir means to beat and to whisk — the blender, la batidora, is named after it. Huevos batidos, beaten eggs, is what a tortilla starts from
  • añadir agua
    to add water
    the ñ is ny as in canyon: ah-nyah-DEER
  • hacer a la plancha
    to grill
    La plancha is a flat iron griddle — the same word as a clothes iron. A la parrilla is over the coals on a rack; the English 'grilled' covers both. Fried is frito
  • la fecha de caducidad
    expiration date
    The verb caducar means to lapse or run out, said of passports and contracts too. Next to it on packages stands consumo preferente, a softer 'best before'
  • estropearse
    went bad
    Serves food and appliances equally: se ha estropeado la leche, se ha estropeado la lavadora. About food people also say está en mal estado or se ha puesto malo
  • el bote
    jar
    Spanish splits the container by material: el bote has a lid and may be glass or plastic, el tarro is wide-mouthed glass, la lata is tin. The same bote is also a boat and a jump
  • el paquete
    packet
    Paquete is also a parcel. In the shop it is a packet: un paquete de galletas, un paquete de arroz. Context tells them apart
  • otra ración
    second helping
    Spanish has no single word for it. At the table you ask with a verb: ¿quieres repetir? — do you want seconds? La ración is a portion, and in a bar a big plate to share
  • para llevar
    to take away
    The question every coffee bar asks: ¿para tomar aquí o para llevar? — for here or to take away? Literally 'in order to carry'
  • sin azúcar
    sugar-free
    Azúcar takes both el and la — the norm allows either. The same labels line the shelf: sin cafeína and descafeinado for decaf, sin gluten for gluten-free
  • soy vegetariano
    I'm a vegetarian
    A woman says soy vegetariana. Vegano is the stricter vegan, no animal products at all. The simplest thing to tell the bar: no como carne — I don't eat meat
  • soy alérgico a los frutos secos
    I'm allergic to nuts
    Los frutos secos is one shelf for nuts and dried fruit; walnuts on their own are las nueces. The allergy always hooks onto a: alérgico a algo
  • ¡que aproveche!
    enjoy your meal
    The phrase Spain uses; buen provecho sounds Latin American. The reply is gracias, igualmente — thanks, same to you. Waiters say it as they set the plate down
  • la comida grasienta
    fatty food
    La grasa is fat; grasiento — fatty to the touch and the eye. Also said as la comida grasa
  • el caramelo
    candy
    A hard candy and caramel in one. A chocolate bonbon is el bombón; de caramelo — caramel-flavored
  • el plato típico
    traditional dish
    Literally 'a typical dish' — that's exactly how people talk about local food. Nacional sounds official, for the national team and national holidays
  • la comida callejera
    street food
    ll is a y sound: ka-mee-da ka-ye-HE-ra
  • recién hecho
    freshly baked
    Literally 'just made'. Fresco works for bread too, but recién hecho nails it
  • duro (pan)
    stale
    The same duro as hard — Spanish has no word of its own for gone-stale bread
  • la carne de cerdo
    pork
    El cerdo is first of all the living pig; to avoid confusion at the butcher's you ask for carne de cerdo
  • el pollo
    chicken (meat)
    The meat and the bird at the shop. A live hen in the yard is la gallina, and the two don't swap
  • el pato
    duck (meat)
    The same word as the bird on the pond: Spanish doesn't split the meat from the animal. To be clear you can say carne de pato
  • la carne picada
    ground meat
    Literally 'chopped meat'. In Mexico and Argentina the same thing is la carne molida
  • el jamón
    ham
    In Spain el jamón with no qualifier means dry-cured leg; the cooked, sliced deli kind is el jamón de York
  • la salchicha
    sausage
    The boiled frankfurter from the counter. The cured stick is el salchichón, and the smoked paprika one is el chorizo
  • el atún
    tuna
    Both the fish in the sea and the can on the shelf: atún en lata. Stress on the last syllable
  • el salmón
    salmon
    Smoked is salmón ahumado. The color is also salmón — what English calls salmon pink
  • la gamba
    shrimp
    In Spain it's la gamba, in Latin America el camarón. The big king-size one is el langostino
  • los mariscos
    seafood
    Always plural, and fish is not included: that's el pescado, a separate section of the menu
  • la ciruela
    plum
    A prune is la ciruela pasa — literally a plum dried in the sun
  • la frambuesa
    raspberry
    Price tags often file it not under its own name but in the shared basket of frutos rojos — red berries
  • el melón
    melon
    A false friend for English eyes: watermelon is not melón but la sandía. Melon with ham is the classic Spanish appetizer
  • la granada
    pomegranate
    The same word as the city Granada and a hand grenade; only context tells them apart
  • la piña
    pineapple
    Literally 'pinecone': a pinecone is also la piña. In Argentina the pineapple is el ananá
  • la mandarina
    mandarin
    The fruit is feminine. The language and the official are el mandarín, stressed on the end
  • el kiwi
    kiwi (fruit)
    Said KEE-wee, with a w glide in the middle. The same word names the bird and the New Zealander
  • el aguacate
    avocado
    A Nahuatl word. Spain and Mexico say el aguacate; Chile and Peru say la palta
  • las pasas
    raisins
    Always plural. Pasa means 'dried': hence also ciruela pasa, a prune
  • el higo
    fig
    Fresh is el higo, dried is el higo seco. The tree has a name of its own: la higuera
  • el pimiento
    bell pepper
    The vegetable you slice into a salad. Ground black pepper is another word and another gender: la pimienta
  • el calabacín
    zucchini
    A diminutive of the pumpkin, la calabaza. In Mexico the same vegetable is la calabacita
  • la remolacha
    beet
    In Spain it's sold pre-boiled, vacuum-packed. In Mexico the same vegetable is el betabel
  • el rábano
    radish
    Stress on the first syllable. Me importa un rábano — 'I couldn't care less'
  • las hierbas frescas
    fresh herbs
    Spanish counts the herbs by name — parsley, dill, cilantro — and keeps the general label plural
  • el eneldo
    dill
    Rare in Spanish cooking: look for it among the spices, not at the fresh herb counter
  • el perejil
    parsley
    In recipes it goes without an article: con perejil. Cilantro is el cilantro, and mixing the two up stings
  • el jengibre
    ginger
    Both g's are the soft 'h' sound: hen-HEE-breh. Ginger cookies are galletas de jengibre
  • el maíz
    corn
    Spelled with an accent on the i and said in two syllables. An ear of corn is la mazorca, el elote in Mexico
  • las espinacas
    spinach
    Spanish keeps spinach plural: las espinacas están buenas, not está buena
  • el bollo
    bun
    A soft, slightly sweet roll to go with coffee. The plain bread roll at lunch is el panecillo
  • el pastel
    pie
    In Spain el pastel is a pie and the birthday cake with candles is la tarta. In Mexico it's the other way round: el pastel is the cake
  • el pastelito
    pastry
    A diminutive of pastel — the single-serving sweets you pick up one by one at the shop; they're also called los dulces
  • la rosquilla
    doughnut
    The homemade kind, fried in a ring. The factory-glazed one is el dónut, la dona in Mexico
  • la bollería
    pastries
    A collective: buns, croissants, and puff-pastries all at once. It labels the aisle in the supermarket
  • la mermelada
    jam
    Spanish draws no line between jam and preserves. The orange kind is la mermelada de naranja
  • el sirope
    syrup
    The syrup for pancakes and coffee. The medicinal kind is another word: el jarabe
  • las palomitas
    popcorn
    Literally 'little doves', in full palomitas de maíz. In Argentina they say los pochoclos
  • las patatas fritas de bolsa
    potato chips
    Without de bolsa the same words mean french fries. In Latin America it's las papas fritas
  • el chicle
    chewing gum
    From the Nahuatl chictli, 'sap'. To chew gum is mascar chicle
  • la limonada
    lemonade
    Homemade water with lemon and sugar. The sweet bottled soda is el refresco
  • el agua mineral
    mineral water
    Agua is feminine, but the article is masculine el — a shield against the stressed a. The adjective stays feminine all the same: fría
  • el agua con gas
    sparkling water
    At the bar they ask it short: ¿con gas o sin gas? — and a two-word answer is enough
  • el cóctel
    cocktail
    Stress on the first syllable; the plural is los cócteles. A milkshake is el batido
  • el cacao
    cocoa
    The powder and the drink made from it. The thick hot chocolate in a cup is el chocolate caliente — something else
  • el café soluble
    instant coffee
    Spain says soluble; Latin America says instantáneo. Around the house people often just say Nescafé
  • la bolsita de té
    tea bag
    La bolsita is a diminutive of la bolsa, 'bag'. Loose-leaf tea is el té a granel
  • el agua hirviendo
    boiling water
    Literally 'boiling water'. Cooled, once-boiled water is agua hervida — and that's no longer on the boil
  • el alcohol
    alcohol
    The h in the middle is silent: al-co-OL. The same word covers the spirit in the medicine cabinet
  • la bebida
    drink
    From the verb beber, 'to drink'. On menus the section is headed exactly that: Bebidas
  • el zumo
    juice
    In Spain the z is a soft th as in think; in Latin America a plain s: SOO-moh
  • el vino
    wine
    Spelled exactly like vino, 'he came', from venir — only the sense of the sentence tells the two apart
  • tapa
    tapa
    The word means 'lid': legend has it a slice of bread covered the glass to keep flies out
  • pincho
    skewer snack
    From pinchar, 'to skewer'. In Basque they're pintxo, spelled with tx
  • caña
    small draft beer
    Bigger sizes are doble or jarra; in Madrid the tiniest one is simply corto
  • vermut
    vermouth
    On tap from the barrel it's vermut de grifo, prized above the bottled kind
  • menú del día
    set lunch menu
    Asked in one word: ¿tienen menú? — and that means precisely the lunch of the day
  • tortilla de patatas
    potato omelette
    The Mexican tortilla is a different thing altogether: over there it's a corn flatbread
  • gazpacho
    gazpacho
    The thick Cordoba cousin is salmorejo, served topped with egg and ham
  • jamón ibérico
    Iberian ham
    The carver is a cortador and trains for years: machine slicing wrecks the flavor
  • churros
    churros
    The thick ones are porras; the chocolate served with them should be thick enough to stand a spoon in
  • sidra
    cider
    The pourer is an escanciador, and the pouring itself is escanciar
  • turrón
    nougat
    A strict split: duro is with whole nuts, blando is ground
  • roscón de Reyes
    Three Kings cake
    In Spain the gift-bringers are the Magi on January 6, not Santa on Christmas Day
  • cava
    sparkling wine
    Cava means cellar: the name comes from where it is aged, chosen to avoid quarrels over words
  • horchata
    tiger nut drink
    The Mexican horchata is made from rice — same name, different raw material

Download the word set (CSV) · Open the printable sheet

The CSV contains spelling, reading guides, translations and links to word pages. Use the browser menu to save the printable sheet as a PDF.

How it sounds in a sentence

A word list is a blank. Conversation is made of sentences, and these are the ones the words fit into most often.

What is worth knowing about these words

el café — coffee. Both the drink and the place that serves it. El is the masculine article — it also tells you the gender.

el té — tea. El té with the accent is tea; te without it is 'you' as an object. The third pair after sí/si and tú/tu.

el agua — water. The word is feminine, but it takes the article el — simply easier to say before the stressed a.

el pan — bread. The root of panadería, 'bakery' — the sign everyone hunts for each morning.

Test yourself

First by ear — the way you will meet the word in conversation. Click the speaker and pick the translation.

  1. What is this word?

  2. What is this word?

  3. What is this word?

  4. What is this word?

  5. What is this word?

Now the other way around: recall the spelling from the meaning. That is harder, and therefore more useful.

  1. How do you say “coffee” in Spanish?

  2. How do you say “fruit” in Spanish?

  3. How do you say “tasty” in Spanish?

  4. How do you say “to swallow” in Spanish?

  5. How do you say “honey” in Spanish?

How to learn the set instead of just reading it

A menu, a market, a shop sign, the question “what is this?”. Food is the most frequent subject of the first weeks and the safest excuse to start talking.

A list is read in a minute and forgotten in a day. What works: hide the translation, try to recall, get it wrong — and come back to the same words tomorrow.

Frequently asked

How do you say “coffee” in Spanish?

«el café». Both the drink and the place that serves it. El is the masculine article — it also tells you the gender. It is one of 186 words in the set “food and drink” — the rest are in the table above.

How many food words do you need to start?

The whole set on this page is 186 words, but there is no need to start with all of it: the words you will need in the next few days are enough. Take them a few at a time — five to seven new ones per session.

Is there audio?

Yes, 186 words on this page can be played — click the speaker next to the word. The sound works on any phone, and nothing needs to be installed.

Next

Open the materialOpen the material