Day 14 of 46 · 33 days to departure (July 1)
Today's phrases
English ES — Spanish CA — Catalan PT — Portuguese
How much does it cost? ¿Cuánto cuesta? Quant costa? Quanto custa?
Can I pay by card? ¿Puedo pagar con tarjeta? Puc pagar amb targeta? Posso pagar com cartão?
Do you accept cash? ¿Aceptan efectivo? Accepten efectiu? Aceitam dinheiro?
The bill, please. La cuenta, por favor. El compte, si us plau. A conta, por favor.
Is service included? ¿Está incluido el servicio? Està inclòs el servei? O serviço está incluído?
Keep the change. Quédese con el cambio. Quedi's el canvi. Fique com o troco.
Key vocabulary from today
the cash
ESel efectivo
CAl'efectiu
PTo dinheiro
the card
ESla tarjeta
CAla targeta
PTo cartão
the bill / check
ESla cuenta
CAel compte
PTa conta
the tip
ESla propina
CAla propina
PTa gorjeta
the change (coins back)
ESel cambio
CAel canvi
PTo troco
the ATM
ESel cajero
CAel caixer
PTo multibanco
Tipping & cash, country by country

Spain (ES): tipping is modest and genuinely optional — at a sit-down meal, rounding up or leaving 5–10% in coins reads as generous; at a bar, locals often leave nothing. Quédese con el cambio covers most cafés.

Catalonia / Barcelona (CA): the same Spanish norm, but in tourist zones a service charge sometimes appears on the ticket — glance for servei inclòs before adding anything. Catalans tip even lighter than the Spanish average.

Portugal / Lisbon (PT): also light — 5–10% for good service. The multibanco (ATM) is on every corner, but many small cafés and markets still prefer dinheiro; carry euros even though card is universal in the city.

Rule for the trip: keep a small stash of euro coins, round up rather than calculating a percentage, and always check for servicio / servei / serviço incluído before you tip twice.

Why the money words split three ways

propina vs gorjeta. ES propina and CA propina are cognates from Latin propinare (to drink a toast, to give a drink) — a tip was once 'money for a drink.' Portuguese broke off with gorjeta, from gorja ('throat') — literally 'a little something for the throat.' Same idea, different metaphor, which is why PT is the odd one out.

cuánto / quant / quanto. All three descend from Latin quantum. ES and PT preserve the final vowel (cuánto, quanto), but Catalan chops it: quant. That loss of final unstressed vowels (apocope) is Catalan's signature sound-shift versus the vowel-keeping Spanish and Portuguese.

costar / costa / custar. From Latin constare ('to stand firm,' hence 'to cost'). ES and CA keep the o (costa), while PT raised it to u (custar) — the same Portuguese habit of lifting an unstressed o toward u that colours much of its vocabulary.

tarjeta / targeta / cartão. All from Latin charta ('paper'). ES and CA took a diminutive routed through French carte, with a consonant swap (car- → tar-, a metathesis), giving tarjeta. Portuguese instead built an augmentative on the same root — cartão, 'a big card.' Identical origin, opposite morphology.

Mark what's sticky vs. slippery

Tap to mark. State persists to localStorage. (Server-side persistence and SRS resurfacing will land via the C3 SRS skill in Sprint 4.)

¿Cuánto cuesta?
asking the price
con tarjeta
paying by card
La cuenta, por favor
asking for the bill
¿servicio incluido?
checking the tip
Quédese con el cambio
keep the change