A handful of phrases can resolve most situations a traveler encounters. To find a place, ask ¿Dónde está...? as in ¿Dónde está el hotel? or ¿Dónde está el baño? In some regions you may also hear el servicio or los aseos for restroom. To ask the price of something, use ¿Cuánto cuesta? for a single item and ¿Cuánto cuestan? for several, as in ¿Cuánto cuesta esta camisa? At a restaurant, request the bill with La cuenta, por favor, and reserve a table with Una mesa para dos, por favor. If you have booked ahead, you can say Tengo una reservación in Latin America or Tengo una reserva in Spain. To make a polite request, use Me gustaría or Quisiera, as in Me gustaría un café ("I would like a coffee"). When communication breaks down, No entiendo ("I don't understand") or No comprendo works, and you can ask someone to repeat with ¿Puede repetir, por favor? If you need assistance, say Necesito ayuda, or simply shout ¡Ayuda! in an emergency. Asking ¿Habla usted inglés? (formal) or ¿Hablas inglés? (informal) is a useful fallback in any Spanish-speaking country.
Spanish handles weather with the verb hacer rather than a "to be" construction. To describe the temperature, say Hace calor ("It's hot") and Hace frío ("It's cold"). To describe a personal sensation of temperature, however, Spanish switches to tener: Tengo calor ("I'm hot") and Tengo frío ("I'm cold"). For precipitation, the regular verb llover (to rain) is used, giving Está lloviendo ("It is raining") or simply Llueve ("It rains"). The double ll is pronounced like a "y" in most dialects.
Directions use just three key terms. Izquierda means "left," as in Gire a la izquierda ("Turn left"), derecha means "right," as in Gire a la derecha ("Turn right"), and "straight ahead" is rendered as todo recto or simply derecho, the latter being more common in Latin America, as in Siga todo recto ("Continue straight ahead"). Together with the question word Dónde, these phrases allow you to find your way through most Spanish-speaking cities.