mercancía
/meɾkanθia/from spelling rules
The Spanish word for merchandise is mercancía.
mercancía is used to describe goods offered for sale. It is a common term in logistics, shipping and retail contexts to describe stock or cargo.
Meaning: goods offered for sale (noun)
Which one should you use?
In English, merchandise is an uncountable noun. In Spanish, you can use the singular mercancía as a collective noun or the plural mercancías to refer to different types or batches of goods.
How does it change in a sentence?
The noun mercancía is feminine and requires the feminine article la. The plural form is mercancías.
How do you pronounce it?
/meɾkanθia/
Did you know?
- In some Spanish-speaking regions, the word mercancía is used colloquially to refer to illegal drugs.
- The word mercancía shares a linguistic root with the English word 'mercenary', as both derive from the Latin merces meaning 'price' or 'reward'.
- If you are talking about very specific, small-scale merchandise like a collection of trinkets, a Spaniard might refer to them as cachivaches rather than using the formal mercancías.
Examples in context
- Vi a alguien robar la mercancía.I saw somebody steal the merchandise.This sentence shows how to use mercancía when talking about theft.Tatoeba #1425011 by peibolvig, translation #259366 by CK
- No toque la mercancía, por favor.Please do not touch the merchandise.This sentence uses mercancía in a polite request regarding physical contact.Tatoeba #1855345 by marcelostockle, translation #682205 by Source_VOA
- Muchos clientes se quejan de que toda la mercancía de esta tienda está defectuosa.Many clients are complaining about how all the store's merchandise is defective.This sentence demonstrates how mercancía is used when discussing defective store stock.Tatoeba #1610683 by Shishir, translation #10040015 by espamatics
- La mercancía en la tienda es de alta calidadThe merchandise in the store is of high quality
- Estos son los materiales necesarios para fabricar nuestra mercancíaThese are the materials required to manufacture our merchandise
- ¿Dónde puedo encontrar los artículos de esta marca?Where can I find the merchandise for this brand?
- Quiero ver las cosas nuevas que tienes en tu tiendaI want to see the new merchandise you have in your store
- ¡Qué genial ver las cosas nuevas que tienes en tu tienda!How cool to see the new merchandise you have in your store!
- Nuestra empresa ofrece productos de alta calidad a precios competitivos.Our company offers high-quality merchandise at competitive prices.
- Necesitamos más materiales para completar la producción de nuestra mercancía.We need more materials to complete the production of our merchandise.
- 1 more sentence on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Daniel and Elena are checking the inventory in a warehouse.
- DanielTenemos que organizar toda la mercancía nueva.We have to organize all the new merchandise.
- ElenaEstá bien, ¿dónde ponemos las cajas?All right, where do we put the boxes?
- DanielPon la mercancía en el estante de arriba.Put the merchandise on the top shelf.
- ElenaEntendido, yo me encargo de eso, Daniel.Understood, I'll take care of that, Daniel.
Sources
- IPA marked “from spelling rules” is derived from standard Spanish spelling, where Wiktionary gives none.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
