Eh, sí, ah, hay un restaurante adelante.
Uh, yes, ah, there's a restaurant up ahead.
On the road it helps to know where you can stop and eat, and hay un restaurante is how you point one out.
From The Office · Spanish audio
Spanish vocabularyA1 · Beginner
How to say "restaurant" in Spanish
el restaurante
nounmasculineplural: los restaurantes
"Restaurant" in Spanish is el restaurante. It's the English word with an -e on the end, and you pronounce that e. The word is masculine, so you say un restaurante and los restaurantes.
Hear "restaurante" in real movie scenes
A stop on the road and a choice of where to eat. Each video starts and stops on that line.
al mejor restaurante de la ciudad.
to the best restaurant in town.
This is the moment you pick where to go for a meal. In al mejor restaurante, the words a and el have merged into al.
From Dr. Cable - El desastre llama a la puerta · Spanish audio
Everyday phrases with restaurante
Six ways to find, choose and talk about a place to eat.
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| ¿Hay un restaurante cerca? | Is there a restaurant nearby? |
| un restaurante italiano | an Italian restaurant |
| comer en un restaurante | to eat at a restaurant |
| Vamos al restaurante. | Let's go to the restaurant. |
| reservar mesa | to book a table |
| el restaurante de la esquina | the restaurant on the corner |
Tip: The type of food goes after the noun and stays lowercase: un restaurante chino, un restaurante mexicano.
Grammar: el restaurante, los restaurantes
Four points for talking about places to eat.
Masculine, with an -e
It's el restaurante and un restaurante. The final -e gives no clue about gender, so learn the article with the noun.Plural with -s
Add an -s: los restaurantes, unos restaurantes. Adjectives follow: los restaurantes caros."At a restaurant" uses en
Where English says at, Spanish says en: Trabajo en un restaurante. Cenamos en el restaurante.Going there: al
a + el becomes al: Vamos al restaurante. With un nothing joins: Vamos a un restaurante.Example sentences
Sentences from the Wordy Spanish course. Tap to listen.
Es un gran restaurante.
It's a great restaurant.
Trabajo en un restaurante.
I work at a restaurant.
Estamos en un restaurante.
We're at a restaurant.
Como en el restaurante.
I eat at the restaurant.
Common mistakes
Mistakes learners make with this word, and how to fix them.
✗la restaurante
✓el restaurante
Words in -e can go either way. Restaurante takes el.
✗Vamos a el restaurante
✓Vamos al restaurante
In writing and in speech, a and el always merge into al.
✗Trabajo a un restaurante
✓Trabajo en un restaurante
For the place where you are or work, use en, even when English says at.
Real conversation: where is the waiter?
A short dialog at a restaurant table.
You and Alba are sitting in a restaurant, and nobody has come to take your order for a long time.
¡Ay! El camarero no está.
Ugh! The waiter isn't here.
Es muy lento hoy.
He's very slow today.
Pero el otro restaurante es más lento.
But the other restaurant is even slower.
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 27 exercises on this topic are in the app.
How to remember it
Take the English word and order one more letter: restaurant + e = restaurante. Say that last e like a happy "eh" after a good meal.
Questions about "restaurant" in Spanish
How do you say restaurant in Spanish?
El restaurante, pronounced res-tow-RAHN-teh. The plural is los restaurantes.
Is restaurante masculine or feminine?
Masculine: el restaurante, un restaurante. Adjectives agree with it: un restaurante caro.
How do you say "let's go to the restaurant" in Spanish?
Vamos al restaurante. The preposition a and the article el join into al.
How do you say "to eat out" in Spanish?
Salir a comer, or comer fuera in Spain: Hoy comemos fuera.
