Es una ropa muy cara.
These are very expensive clothes.
Blood has ended up on his suit, and what hurts him is the price tag, so he uses cara to agree with the feminine ropa.
From El demonio vestido de azul · Spanish audio
Spanish vocabularyA1 · Beginner
How to say "expensive" in Spanish
caro
adjectivefeminine: caraplural: carosopposite: barato
"Expensive" in Spanish is caro. It agrees with what you're pricing: El móvil es muy caro, La silla es cara. Say it with one quick tap of the r, because carro, with a rolled rr, means car in much of Latin America. The opposite is barato, cheap.
Hear "caro" in real movie scenes
A ruined suit and a two-word verdict on prices. Each video starts and stops on that line.
Demasiado caros.
Too expensive.
At a counter, someone asks what she likes, and when musicals come up she dismisses the prices in two words, with caros in the plural.
From La terminal · Spanish audio
Talking about prices
What to ask and what to say once you hear the price.
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| ¿Cuánto cuesta? | How much is it? |
| ¡Qué caro! | That's so expensive! |
| demasiado caro | too expensive |
| carísimo | extremely expensive |
| bastante barato | pretty cheap |
| salir caro | to end up costing a lot |
Tip: Ask first with ¿Cuánto cuesta?, then react with ¡Qué caro! or ¡Qué barato! depending on the answer.
Grammar: caro, cara
Four points for talking about money.
It agrees with the thing
caro, cara, caros, caras: un regalo caro, una maleta cara, unos zapatos caros.After costar, it stays -o
With costar or salir, caro works as an adverb and never changes: Las entradas cuestan caro.Very, too, extremely
muy caro is very expensive, demasiado caro is too expensive, and carísimo is extremely expensive.Tap the r once
Say KAH-roh with a single tap. With a rolled rr, carro is a car in Latin America and a cart in Spain.Example sentences
Sentences from the Wordy Spanish course. Tap to listen.
El móvil es muy caro.
The phone is very expensive.
La silla es cara.
The chair is expensive.
Es un regalo muy caro.
It's a very expensive gift.
Demasiado caros.
Too expensive.
Common mistakes
Mistakes learners make with this word, and how to fix them.
✗carro (meaning expensive)
✓caro
Carro, with a trilled rr, is a car or a cart. Expensive has one quick tap.
✗La maleta es caro
✓La maleta es cara
Maleta is feminine, so caro becomes cara.
✗El precio es caro
✓El precio es alto
Careful speakers call the thing caro and its price alto.
Real conversation: is it expensive?
A short exchange with a stranger on the street. Tap to listen.
You're standing in the street holding a big map, and a passerby stops next to you.
Hola, ¿es para un regalo?
Hi, is it for a gift?
Sí. ¿Es muy caro?
Yes. Is it very expensive?
No, es bastante barato.
No, it's pretty cheap.
Your turn to answer
In the app you reply in Spanish for the last 2 lines.
Continue the conversation in WordyPractice: 3 quick exercises
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1 of 3 · Watch and choose
What do you hear in the video?
The other 31 exercises on this topic are in the app.
How to remember it
Caro starts like carat. Picture a ring with a huge diamond: the more carats it has, the more caro it gets.
Questions about "expensive" in Spanish
How do you say expensive in Spanish?
Caro: un hotel caro. It agrees with the noun, so a city is una ciudad cara and two hotels are dos hoteles caros.
How do you say "too expensive" in Spanish?
Demasiado caro, or demasiado cara for a feminine noun. As a quick reaction, ¡Qué caro! works well.
How do you say cheap in Spanish?
Barato, the opposite of caro: Es bastante barato.
What's the difference between caro and carro?
Caro, with one r, means expensive. Carro, with a rolled rr, means car in much of Latin America and cart in Spain.
