Cat Mechanic
Name the parts, explain the problem, and plan the road trip — out loud.
Car vocabulary is where Spanish splits hardest by country. The hood is el capó in most places but el cofre in Mexico; the trunk is el maletero in textbooks, la cajuela in Mexico and el baúl in Argentina. When something's wrong, locals rarely announce a formal avería — a Mexican says se descompuso, someone in the Cono Sur says se rompió, and everyone starts with hace un ruido raro. &Be teaches these words with no flashcards and no drills: you learn each part by talking about it in a live conversation.
Below: the parts each lesson puts in your mouth, a country-by-country table for the words that change, and a way to rehearse explaining a car problem out loud.
Say this
Regional Spanish
Textbooks teach one word. Locals use several — pick your region's and stay consistent.
| English | Mexico | Argentina |
|---|---|---|
| hood | el cofre | el capó |
| trunk | la cajuela | el baúl |
| bumper | el parachoques | el paragolpes |
| service / checkup | el servicio o la afinación | el service |
Watch out
The part no drill site can do
Olivia
Your vocabulary teacher for this pack
There's nothing to memorize in the Cat Mechanic lessons — you learn the words by needing them. Olivia gets you talking about a car the way drivers actually do: she asks about its features and what it's like on fuel (¿rinde mucho?), then a warning light comes into the story — se prendió un testigo — and you have to explain what needs looking at, from el cambio de aceite to los frenos desgastados. Then she asks about your road trip plan, and you talk it through out loud, part by part.
Blank mid-sentence and nothing bad happens — she waits. That's the practice, without unnecessary judgement.
Finish the 6 lessons and Cat Mechanic is yours — earned, not given.
First 10 lessons free · 10-minute spoken lessons · your AI coaching team remembers you
Quick answers
The general word is el pinchazo; in Mexico and Central America it's la ponchadura. Good to know alongside it: la llanta de repuesto (spare tire) and inflar las llantas — or as people actually say it, ponerle aire a las llantas.
El cambio de aceite — in Mexico usually bundled as el cambio de aceite y filtro. The general checkup is la revisión, but Mexico says el servicio or la afinación, and Argentina borrows English: el service.
Depends on the country: el maletero is the textbook word, Mexico and Central America say la cajuela, and the River Plate countries say el baúl. Same story under the front: el capó becomes el cofre in Mexico.
Start the way locals do: hace un ruido raro (it's making a strange noise). For a breakdown, Mexico says se descompuso and the Cono Sur says se rompió; an oil leak is la fuga de aceite, or in the Caribbean and Andes, está botando aceite.
Fuel consumption is el consumo de combustible, but Mexico flips it positive: el rendimiento de gasolina. A frugal car rinde mucho or es ahorrador, and horsepower is los caballos de fuerza rather than the textbook la potencia.
