Cosas
Ask for the pen, the keys, the cup by name — politely, out loud.
Learn every object with its article as one unit — la mesa, el libro — so gender comes for free, and ask for things the polite way: ¿me prestas una pluma, por favor? Then the twist textbooks skip: the most everyday objects change names by country. A pen is la pluma in Mexico, la lapicera in Argentina, el esfero in Colombia — and your phone is el celular all over Latin America, never el móvil.
Below: the objects lesson by lesson, a table of what to call them where you're going, the article slips to avoid — and a way to ask for it all out loud in real exchanges, no flashcards, no picture-matching.
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Regional Spanish
Textbooks teach one word. Locals use several — pick your region's and stay consistent.
| English | Mexico | Argentina |
|---|---|---|
| pen | la pluma | la lapicera |
| cell phone | el celular | el celu |
| glasses | los lentes | los anteojos |
| wallet | la cartera | la billetera |
Watch out
The part no drill site can do
Olivia
Your vocabulary teacher for this pack
No flashcards, no picture cards — in the Cosas lessons the objects come up because you need them, and Olivia plays the other side: you borrow a pen in class (¿me prestas una pluma?), you help set the table at a friend's house and name what goes where — el plato, la taza, el tenedor — and you pack for a weekend trip, saying out loud what you can't forget: las llaves, el teléfono, la cartera. The articles stick because you keep saying them.
Blank mid-sentence and nothing bad happens — she waits. That's the practice, without unnecessary judgement.
Finish the 4 lessons and Cosas is yours — earned, not given.
First 10 lessons free · 10-minute spoken lessons · your AI coaching team remembers you
Quick answers
The textbook word is el bolígrafo, but locals rarely say it: it's la pluma in Mexico, la lapicera in Argentina and Uruguay, and el esfero in Colombia and Venezuela.
¿Me prestas…? plus por favor — ¿me prestas una pluma? In Argentina you'll hear the voseo form: ¿me prestás la lapicera?
In Latin America it's el celular — el móvil is Spain. Argentines clip it affectionately to el celu.
In Mexico and Central America, la bolsa is a purse and la cartera is a man's wallet. In the Southern Cone it flips: la cartera is a woman's purse and the wallet is la billetera.
Like "scissors" in English, tijeras only exists in the plural — say las tijeras, never la tijera.
