Dave C.
Jan 2, 2003, 11:39 PM
Post #2 of 8
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Re: [jturpen] Christmas Spanish Lessons
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'¿Cantos quiere cambiar?'
Since the clerk probably doesn't know you, he would use the formal verb form, the third person singular 'quiere' which is used with the pronoun 'usted' if a pronoun is used. Spanish often has a courtly sound to it, as in the English sentence 'Does your honor wish me to approach the bench?' which you can see also uses the third person verb 'does' with 'your honor' to show respect. By the way, the word 'usted' came from shortening 'vuestra merced' meaning 'your mercy'.
'vuelta' literally means 'turn' or 'return', so 'a la vuelta' is telling you that you have to make a turn to get there, as it's around the corner. And when 'vuelta' means 'change', that's because the clerk is returning the part of your money which was more than what you owed him for the purchase. Another word for 'change' is 'cambio', especially when you're just changing a large bill or coin to smaller ones, since it's a matter of changing the denominations.
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