The Ridiculously Long List of Vegetables and Fruits in Spanish

¿Te gusta comer las frutas y los vegetales? Do you like to eat fruits and vegetables?

I am grateful for the exotic flowers, tasty fruits, and blooming gardens that surround me in my daily life. One of the best things about living in Guatemala is the access to affordable, colorful, fresh fruits and vegetables. Ten years ago, I was either unaware of these foods which are now staples of my family’s diet or I rarely ate them.

Are you learning Spanish, teaching your children the language, or planning to travel or move to a Spanish-speaking country? If you’ll be shopping in any markets where Spanish is spoken, this lengthy list of veggies and fruits in Spanish is perfect for you.

Download this free PDF to access an alphabetized list of the fruits and vegetables for the activities you may choose to do.

Fruits vs Vegetables

From a botanical perspective, a fruit is a seed-bearing structure that develops from a flowering plant. A vegetable comes from other plant parts like roots, leaves, and stems. By this measure, apples, squash, and tomatoes are fruits. Roots like beets and carrots, leaves like lettuce, and stems like broccoli are vegetables.

However, the outlook is different from a culinary perspective. Chefs consider foods that are technically fruits—but have a savory rather than sweet flavor—to be vegetables. This includes botanical fruits such as eggplants, bell peppers, and tomatoes.

Nutritional Advice

You know that vegetables and fruits are an essential aspect of a healthy diet. But did you know that variety is as important as quantity? As no specific “superfood,” fruit, or vegetable can provide all the nutrients you need, be sure to eat plenty every day.

Eat a wide variety of produce to provide your body with all the vitamins and nutrients it needs. This has the added benefit of creating yummy, appealing, rainbow-colored meals.

A diet rich in vegetables and fruits offers myriad benefits including:

• lowering blood pressure
• reducing the risk of heart disease and stroke
• easing eye and digestive problems
• preventing certain cancers
• regulating blood sugar to keep the appetite in check

Ways to Increase Your Daily Intake of Fruits and Veggies

• Display fruit where you can see it in the kitchen
• Make it easy by having ready-to-eat, washed fruits in a bowl
• Store chopped fruits in a glass bowl in the refrigerator as a healthy snack
• Choose one new fruit or vegetable to try each week. (Variety and color are key to a healthy diet!)
• Eat at least one serving from each of the following categories daily:
• dark green leafy vegetables
• yellow or orange fruits and vegetables
• red fruits and vegetables
• beans and peas
• citrus fruits
• Reduce your consumption of potatoes. Opt for other vegetables and more slowly digested carbohydrates
• Try out fun new recipes that include more vegetables, such as salad, soup, and stir-fry varieties

Vocabulary: Fruits in Spanish 

Common Fruits

Tropical Fruits

Berries

Vocabulary: Vegetables in Spanish

Common Vegetables

Less Common Vegetables

Are You a Parent?

If you’re seeking a simple, effective, and free resource to teach fruits and vegetables to your kids in Spanish, sign up for a free class with Homeschool Spanish Academy. Our Spanish teachers skillfully bring the material to life for little ones. It’s fun, interactive, and a great way to make sure the information sticks. Try it out to see how live classes can help your family’s Spanish pronunciation, conversational skills, and cultural knowledge!

Fun Learning Activities

Practice makes perfect, and practicing your new vocabulary words is the best way to commit them to memory. Check out these four activities to do on your own or in a group. The first two you can do on your own as an adult learner or as a parent teaching your kids, while the latter two are ideal for small groups.

Fruit Drawings 

Write the names of 10-15 fruits on slips of paper. Pull one piece of paper from a bag and draw a picture of the fruit you selected. Draw and color both the outside and inside of the fruit (look it up on Google Images) and label it with the Spanish and English names. You can also label parts of the fruit including: 

• Las semillas – seeds 
• El tallo – stem
• La flor – flower
• Las hojas – leaves
• Las raices – roots

Taste Test

Use your five senses to learn about vegetables and fruits: 

• Describe what the fruit looks like inside and out (vista)
• Smell it (olfato) and describe its aroma
• Touch the fruit or vegetable and describe the texture (tacto)
• Bite into it and describe what you hear (oído)
• Taste the fruit and learn words such as dulce, amargo, acido, and salado to describe it. (gusto).

Mercado Simulation

Pretend to buy and sell (real or plastic) fruit at a make-believe market. Participants can take turns playing the roles of seller and buyer. Use this sample dialogue to get started.

Person 1: ¿Qué fruta te gusta comer?

Person 2: Me gusta comer  ________. ¿Y tu, qué fruta te gusta?

Person 1: A mi me gusta __________. ¿Cuanto cuesta _______? Quiero comprar ______.

This provides the opportunity to practice fruit and vegetable vocabulary. Extend the activity by asking questions and talking about colors, price, weight, and quantity.

Picnic Game

Gather in a circle and prompt each person to repeat the sentence: Voy en un picnic y tengo que llevar __________. Each child tries to think of a new fruit that hasn’t been mentioned yet. 

An alternative way to play it to have one participant come up with a secret rule, such as only sweet things. Students take turns raising their hands and asking ¿Puedo llevar _________? The person who made the rule will reply sí or no accordingly. After all students have been invited to the picnic, prompt them to guess la regla secreta.

Have fun learning vocabulary related to vegetables and fruits in Spanish!

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Michelle Margaret Fajkus

Editor & Writer at Homeschool Spanish Academy

Michelle Margaret Fajkus is a bilingual writer and longtime yoga teacher. A former advertising copywriter turned bilingual elementary school teacher, she is now a freelance writer, editor and translator. A native Texan, Michelle has Mexican roots and learned Spanish in middle and high school. She has become more fluent thanks to living as an expat in Guatemala. She lives with her family on beautiful Lake Atitlan. Learn more about Michelle and her work at yogafreedom.org.

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