Money Talk — Pay, Split and Save Like a Native
From splitting the bill to opening a bank account — the money vocabulary Spaniards really use, including how to say you are broke.
Key phrases
¿Se puede pagar con tarjeta o solo aceptáis efectivo?
Can I pay by card, or do you only take cash?
Cuando puedas nos traes la cuenta, que pagamos a medias.
Bring us the bill when you get a chance — we're splitting it.
Hoy invito yo, que acabo de cobrar.
Today it's on me — I just got paid.
No llevo suelto, ¿te hago un Bizum y ya está?
I don't have any change on me — shall I just Bizum you?
Son doce pavos por cabeza, tampoco es para tanto.
It's twelve bucks a head — hardly a big deal.
Este mes voy muy pillado, no llego a fin de mes.
I'm really strapped this month — I can't make it to the end of the month.
Estoy sin blanca hasta que me ingresen la nómina.
I'm flat broke until my salary goes in.
Su prima está forrada; se ha comprado un ático en el centro.
His cousin is loaded — she's bought a penthouse in the centre.
Me costó un ojo de la cara arreglar la caldera.
Fixing the boiler cost me an arm and a leg.
¿Qué necesito para abrir una cuenta corriente sin comisiones?
What do I need to open a current account with no fees?
Saqué cincuenta euros del cajero antes de venir.
I took out fifty euros from the ATM before coming.
Tengo la luz y el agua domiciliadas, así no me olvido de pagar.
My electricity and water are on direct debit, so I never forget to pay.
Money by Many Names
Nobody in Spain says dinero all the time. Among friends it’s pasta — no me queda pasta (I’ve got no money left) — and euros become pavos, the way English speakers say bucks or quid. In Latin America you’ll hear plata instead. When something is outrageously expensive it costs un pastón, un dineral, or — more anatomically — un ojo de la cara (an eye from your face). A bargain, meanwhile, is una ganga or un chollo.
Paying and Splitting the Bill
Ask for la cuenta (the bill), then decide who pays. Invitar is the key verb for treating someone: invito yo means “it’s on me.” To split evenly, pagar a medias; to state a per-person amount, use por cabeza. Cash is efectivo, and el cambio is your change — quédate con el cambio (keep the change) if you’re feeling generous. Suelto is loose change, the coins rattling in your pocket.
Banking Basics
The essentials for surviving a Spanish bank:
- la cuenta corriente — current account (savings account: cuenta de ahorro)
- las comisiones — bank fees; hunt for sin comisiones
- el cajero — ATM; you sacar dinero (withdraw) and ingresar dinero (deposit)
- la nómina — your salary payment; banks love you if you domiciliar la nómina (have it paid in directly)
- la transferencia — bank transfer; la domiciliación — direct debit
And remember: your electricity bill is la factura de la luz — luz (light) is how Spaniards refer to electricity at home.
Broke or Loaded?
Spanish is gloriously rich in poverty vocabulary. If you’re temporarily short, you’re pillado or apurado; if it’s serious, you’re sin blanca, pelado, or you don’t have ni un duro (not even an old five-peseta coin). At the other extreme, someone wealthy is forrado (lined — with banknotes, presumably) or adinerado. And the friend who never pays a round? That’s a tacaño or, more bitingly, a rata.
Pro Tip
Learn the word Bizum before you land. It’s Spain’s instant phone-to-phone payment system, and it has completely replaced “I’ll get you back later” among friends — dinner debts are settled at the table with te hago un Bizum. Yes, it conjugates as a verb. No, you can’t escape it.
Consider this your starter budget — the full money chapter, from taxes to haggling at the market, lives in Daily Life and Culture, part of our Speak Spanish Like a Native book series.