April 30, 2021 by Luis F. Dominguez Spanish Vocabulary 0 comments

A Vocabulary Guide to Money and Finance in Spanish

Learning new vocabulary about money and finance in Spanish is an excellent investment of your time. You’ll surely need it at some point in the future if you continue with your Spanish learning efforts.

For that reason, in this post I’ll explain why it’s so important for you to study this basic vocabulary guide about finance in Spanish. I’ll also introduce you to essential money terms, money-related slang words, and even a couple of popular phrases about money in Spanish. You’ll also learn all the currencies from Spanish-speaking countries, plus important bank and credit card vocabulary and useful terms for investors.

Why Learn About Money and Finance in Spanish?

There are several reasons to learn vocabulary about money and finance in Spanish, starting with the fact that if you ever visit or move to a Spanish-speaking country, few things are more useful than knowing a thing or two about money.

Besides, on your path of learning Spanish, you need to cover as many different areas of life as possible, learn their vocabulary and keep growing your mastery of the language. If you start by learning about math, sports, or music, one day you’ll have amassed an impressive Spanish vocabulary that spreads across all kinds of topics.

Today, that topic is money and finance in Spanish.

Money and Finance in Spanish

Money is a world in itself, and I’ve divided this lesson into different categories to make it easier for you to absorb the information and technical terms about finance in Spanish.

Money

Let’s start with the most basic terms about money in Spanish, some money-related slang words, and a couple of popular phrases regarding money.

el dinero	money
el billete	banknote
la moneda	coin
el cambio	change
el cheque	check
el cheque de viajero	traveller check
el efectivo	cash
la lana (Mexican slang)	money
la plata (Argentinian slang)	money
la pasta (Spanish slang)	money
el pisto (Guatemalan slang)	money
el palo (Panamanian slang)	dollar
el pago	payment
el precio	price
la caja	checkout counter
la cartera, la billetera	wallet (for men)
el monedero	wallet (for women)
la bolsa, el bolso	purse

Now, a couple of popular phrases in Spanish about money which I find quite interesting and with great cultural value.

Poderoso caballero Don Dinero.
He’s a powerful gentleman that Mr. Money.

This phrase makes a reference to the power that money has.

Con dinero baila el perro.
With money the dog dances.

This one is a bit more vulgar. It’s an expression that means to say that with money everything is possible, even making a dog dance.

Currencies

This is an important subject that seems to get less attention than it deserves. If you’re traveling to a Spanish-speaking country, one of the first things you need to know is the currency of the place and the exchange rate.

The Spanish term for “currency” is divisa, but sometimes moneda is also used in that sense. “Exchange rate” is tipo de cambio, and a “currency exchange” office is la casa de cambio.

Here you have a list of Spanish-speaking countries’ currencies.

el Peso argentino (ARS)	Argentinian peso
el Boliviano (BOB)	Bolivian
el Peso chileno (CLP)	Chilean Peso
el Peso colombiano (COP)	Colombian Peso
el Guaraní (PYG)	Paraguayan Guarani
el Sol (PEN)	Peruvian Sol
el Peso uruguayo (UYU)	Uruguayan Peso
el Bolívar (VES)	Venezuelan Bolivar
el Peso mexicano (MXN)	Mexican Peso
el Quetzal (GTQ)	Guatemalan Quetzal
el Colón (CRC)	Costa Rican Colon
el Lempira (HNL)	Honduran Lempira
el Córdoba (NIO)	Nicaraguan Cordoba
el Balboa (PAB)	Panamanian Balboa
el Peso cubano (CUP)	Cuban Peso
el Peso dominicano (DOP)	Dominican Peso
el Euro (EUR) (Spain uses the Euro, the shared currency of 19 countries of the European Union)	Euro
el dólar americano (USD) (Ecuador and El Salvador use the US dollar as their currency)	American dollar

Banks and Credit Cards

When talking about money and finance in Spanish, you’ll inevitably have to deal with banks and credit cards. Let’s learn some vocabulary about them.

el banco	bank
la cuenta bancaria	bank account
el saldo	account balance
el depósito	deposit
la transferencia bancaria	bank transfer
el giro de dinero	money order
la banca electrónica	electronic banking
la transacción	transaction
el depósito en garantía	escrow
el fideicomiso	trust
el crédito	credit
la tarjeta de crédito	credit card
credit history	historial crediticio
la tarjeta de débito	debit card
la hipoteca	mortgage
el préstamo	loan
el préstamo sobre la plusvalía	home equity loan
la tasa de interés	interest rate
la tasa fija	fixed rate
el pago inicial	down payment
el seguro	insurance
el seguro de vida	life insurance
la prima del seguro	insurance premium
la cobertura del seguro	insurance coverage
la tasa, la cuota	fee
la sucursal bancaria	bank branch

For Investors

An important part of finance in Spanish are the series of specific terms that would come in handy to an investor. However, you don’t need to be a Wall Street broker to appreciate the importance of mastering some of these words:

la bolsa de valores	stock market
la acción	share
el accionista	shareholder
el bono	bond
el fondo de inversión	investment fund
el mercado	market
la oferta	supply
la demanda	demand
la quiebra, la bancarrota	bankruptcy
la garantía	collateral
las hipotecas de alto riesgo	subprime mortgages
el capital	capital
el derivado financiero	derivative
el activo	asset
el pasivo	liability
la ganancia	profit
la inflación	inflation
el inversionista	investor
el corredor de bolsa	broker

Money-related Verbs

Finally, I want to include some important verbs related to money and finance in Spanish.

pagar	to buy
comprar	to buy
vender	to sell
invertir	to invest
prestar	to lend
transferir	to transfer
depositar	to deposit
hipotecar	to mortgage
quebrar	to bankrupt
diversificar	to diversify
ganar	to earn
perder	to lose
rentar	to rent

Show Me the Money!

Now that you’ve learned this useful vocabulary about finance in Spanish, you also can say as Cuba Gooding Jr. made Tom Cruise say in the classic sports film Jerry Maguire, “Show me the money!”—¡muéstrame el dinero!

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Luis F. Dominguez

Freelance Writer at Homeschool Spanish Academy

Luis F. Domínguez is a freelance writer and independent journalist interested in travel, languages, art, books, history, philosophy, politics and sports. He has written for Fodor’s, Yahoo!, Sports Illustrated, Telemundo, and Villa Experience, among other brands of print and digital media in Europe and North America.

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