Are you heading to a greengrocer’s or an open-air fruit & veg market, so popular in Latin America?
Make sure you know how to name all this delicious local produce. It doesn’t take much effort, and it will let you move from pantomiming your way around to actually having a conversation in Spanish.
Knowing how to talk about fruits and vegetables is one of the necessary language vocabulary skills and will make your stay in a Spanish speaking country easier and more enjoyable.
15 Common Fruits and Vegetables in Spanish
- 🇪🇸 una manzana – 🇬🇧 an apple
- 🇪🇸 una pera – 🇬🇧 a pear
- 🇪🇸 un limón – 🇬🇧 a lemon
- 🇪🇸 un plátano – 🇬🇧 a banana
- 🇪🇸 una fresa / una frutilla – 🇬🇧 a strawberry
- 🇪🇸 un melocotón / un durazno – 🇬🇧 a peach
- 🇪🇸 una uva – 🇬🇧 a grape
- 🇪🇸 una piña – 🇬🇧 a pinapple
- 🇪🇸 una naranja – 🇬🇧 an orange
- 🇪🇸 una cereza – 🇬🇧 a cherry
- 🇪🇸 una cebolla – 🇬🇧 an onion
- 🇪🇸 una patata / una papa – 🇬🇧 a potato
- 🇪🇸 un tomate – 🇬🇧 a tomato
- 🇪🇸 una lechuga – 🇬🇧 a lettuce
- 🇪🇸 una zanahoria – 🇬🇧 a carrot
Shopping for Fruits and Vegetables in Spanish – Essential Phrases
My mouth has got watery, just writing about all this deliciousness. The tropical fruits I have discovered here in South America have been a real treat for my Polish palate, used only to apples, pears, plums, cabbage, and hardly anything else.
If you get a chance to travel to South America or Spain, do not – by any means – miss your chance of trying the vast array of local fruit and vegetables.
Of course, you need to buy them first.
Some basic shopping vocabulary will surely come in handy. If you buy by the weight, keep in mind that all 20 Spanish-speaking countries use the metric system!
🇪🇸 ¿Dónde puedo comprar fruta y verdura fresca?
🇬🇧 Where can I buy fresh fruits and vegetables?
🇪🇸 Quiero un kilo de naranjas, por favor.
🇬🇧 I want a kilogram of oranges, please.
🇪🇸 Medio kilo de cerezas.
🇬🇧 Half a kilogram of cherries.
🇪🇸 ¿Cuánto cuesta un kilo de papas?
🇬🇧 How much does a kilogram of potatoes cost?
🇪🇸 ¿A cómo está la zanahoria?
🇬🇧 How much are carrots?
🇪🇸 ¿Los plátanos se venden por kilo o por unidad?
🇬🇧 Do you sell bananas by the kilogram or by the unit?
🇪🇸 ¿Cuánto pesa este racimo de uvas?
🇬🇧 How much does this bunch of grapes weigh?
🇪🇸 ¿Tiene lechuga?
🇬🇧 Do you have lettuce?
🇪🇸 ¿Le puedo pagar con tarjeta?
🇬🇧 Can I pay with a (credit or debit) card?
Many of these expressions can be used to buy fruits and vegetables and in general shopping situations in Spanish.
Useful adjectives to describe fruits and vegetables
When it comes to fruit and veggies, each person has their own preferences. I like crispy and slightly sour apples. I won’t eat a pear or a banana if it is overripe. I prefer raw carrots to cooked ones.
How do you like your fruits and vegetables? Here is a list of Spanish adjectives that will help you express your choices and preferences in this regard:
- 🇪🇸 dulce – 🇬🇧 sweet
- 🇪🇸 ácido/ a – 🇬🇧 sour
- 🇪🇸 blando/ a – 🇬🇧 soft
- 🇪🇸 duro/ a – 🇬🇧hard
- 🇪🇸 maduro/ a – 🇬🇧 ripe
- 🇪🇸 podrido / a – 🇬🇧 rotten
- 🇪🇸 fresco / a – 🇬🇧 fresh
- 🇪🇸viejo/ a – 🇬🇧 old
- 🇪🇸 desabrido / a – 🇬🇧 tasteless
- 🇪🇸 rico / delicioso/ a – 🇬🇧 delicious
- 🇪🇸 jugoso/ a – 🇬🇧 juicy
- 🇪🇸 grande – 🇬🇧 big
- 🇪🇸 pequeño / a – 🇬🇧 small
There are so many options! And so many possibilities to use these adjectives in a real-life context:
🇪🇸 ¡Prueba estas cerezas! Están deliciosas!
🇬🇧 Try these cherries! They are delicious!
🇪🇸 Las fresas que compré ayer están desabridas.
🇬🇧 The strawberries I bought yesterday are tasteless.
🇪🇸 ¿Me puede cambiar esta lechuga por otra? Está casi podrida.
🇬🇧 Can you change this lettuce for a different one? It’s almost rotten.
🇪🇸 Déme unos cinco tomates pequeños.
🇬🇧 Give me five small tomatoes.
🇪🇸 Este durazno está tan jugoso que se derrite en la boca.
🇬🇧 This peach is so juicy it melts in your mouth.
🇪🇸 Test Your Spanish Knowledge 🇪🇸
TIP: Whenever you use adjectives in Spanish, you must remember to adjust their form to the gender and the number of the noun they describe. Check out my guide to Spanish adjectives for more information.
40 more Fruits and Vegetables in Spanish to expand your possibilities
Feel like eating a mango? Or an avocado salad? Or perhaps you want to try local cherimoya or dragon fruit? What are these exotic fruit called in Spanish? Check out the list below:
| FRUIT |
| 🇪🇸 una sandía – 🇬🇧 a watermelon 🇪🇸 un damasco – 🇬🇧 an apricot 🇪🇸 un mango – 🇬🇧 a mango 🇪🇸 una papaya – 🇬🇧 a papaya 🇪🇸 una granada – 🇬🇧 a pomegranate 🇪🇸 un higo – 🇬🇧 a fig 🇪🇸 una guayaba – 🇬🇧a guava 🇪🇸 una chirimoya – 🇬🇧 a cherimoya 🇪🇸 una maracuyá – 🇬🇧 a passion fruit 🇪🇸 una tuna – 🇬🇧 a prickly pear 🇪🇸 un pepino dulce – 🇬🇧 a sweet cucumber 🇪🇸 arándanos – 🇬🇧 blueberries 🇪🇸 frambuesas – 🇬🇧 raspberries 🇪🇸 moras – 🇬🇧 blackberries 🇪🇸 un coco – 🇬🇧 a coconut 🇪🇸 un melón – 🇬🇧 a melon 🇪🇸 un pomelo – 🇬🇧 a grapefruit 🇪🇸 una mandarina – 🇬🇧 a mandarine 🇪🇸 una lima – 🇬🇧 a lime 🇪🇸 una pitahaya – 🇬🇧 dragon fruit |
| VEGETABLES |
| 🇪🇸 un aguacate / una palta – 🇬🇧 an avocado 🇪🇸 un racimo de cibulette – 🇬🇧 a bunch of scallion 🇪🇸 un paquete de cilantro – 🇬🇧 a pack of coriander 🇪🇸 un repollo – 🇬🇧 a cabage 🇪🇸 un brócoli – 🇬🇧 a broccoli 🇪🇸 una coliflor – 🇬🇧 a cauliflower 🇪🇸 guisantes / arvejas – 🇬🇧 green peas 🇪🇸 frijoles / porotos – 🇬🇧 a beans 🇪🇸 un pepino – 🇬🇧 a cucumber 🇪🇸 un rábano – 🇬🇧 a radish 🇪🇸 un zapallo / una calabaza – 🇬🇧 a pumpkin, squash 🇪🇸 un calabacín / un zapallito italiano – 🇬🇧 a zucchini 🇪🇸 una berenjena – 🇬🇧 an eggplant / aubergine 🇪🇸 una remolacha / una betarraga – 🇬🇧 a beet 🇪🇸 espinaca – 🇬🇧 spinach 🇪🇸 rúcula – 🇬🇧arugula / rocket 🇪🇸 apio – 🇬🇧 celery 🇪🇸 un pimentón verde / rojo – 🇬🇧 green / red pepper 🇪🇸 un champiñon – 🇬🇧 a mushroom 🇪🇸 una seta / una callampa – 🇬🇧 a wild mushroom |
Ugh, so many words!
I know. But take it easy. You don’t have to learn all of them in one day. Slowly and steady is a better way to learn a foreign language, especially if you study Spanish on your own.
Would you like to see some sample sentences with the vocabulary from the table? Here you go:
🇪🇸 Siempre como un puñado de arándanos de desayuno. Son muy saludables.
🇬🇧 I always have a handful of blueberries for breakfast. They are very healthy.
🇪🇸 Me encanta la mermelada de damasco.
🇬🇧 I love apricot jam.
🇪🇸 ¿Quieres un sandwich de aguacate?
🇬🇧 Do you want an avocado sandwich?
🇪🇸 Estoy haciendo una ensalada de repollo, espinaca y rúcula.
🇬🇧 I’m making a cabbage and spinach salad.
🇪🇸 Mango es mi fruta preferida.
🇬🇧 Mango is my favorite fruit.
🇪🇸 Me carga el apio.
🇬🇧 I hate celery.
🇪🇸 ¿Prefieres brócoli crudo o cocido?
🇬🇧 Do you prefer raw or cooked broccoli?
🇪🇸 Pica un poco de cilantro fresco para la sopa.
🇬🇧 Chop a little fresh coriander for the soup.
🇪🇸 ¿Alguna vez has comido una chirimoya?
🇬🇧 Have you ever eaten a cherimoya?
🇪🇸 ¿Cómo sabe maracuyá?
🇬🇧 What does passion fruit taste like?
🇪🇸 De postre quiero un trozo del cheesecake de frambuesa.
🇬🇧 I’ll have a slice of raspberry cheesecake for dessert.
This last sentence shows you how to order food in a restaurant and will surely come in handy.
That’s all for today, folks. Peach season has just begun here in Chile, so I’m going to get myself some of this yummy fruit.
