Here’s a very simple formula you can use to order tacos in Spanish:
3 de pastor con todo (number of tacos you want + meat of your choice + extra ingredients)
Let’s go through each of these categories!
Number of Tacos You Want
I am not sure why I included numbers 1, 2, and 3 in this list, for ordering 3 or less than 3 tacos really does not make sense, does it?
- uno
- dos
- tres
- cuatro
- cinco
- seis
- siete
- ocho
- nueve
- diez
To learn more about numbers in Spanish, check out the post called The Spanish Numbers from 1 to 1000!
Meat of Your Choice
Here are the most common meat options taco restaurants, trucks or stands usually offer!
• carne asada (grilled steak)
• pastor (marinated pork [off the spit])
• pollo (chicken)
• lengua (beef tongue)
• chorizo (pork sausage)
• suadero (fried flank steak)
• camarones (shrimp)
• cochinita pibil (slow-roasted pork)
• birria (beef stew)
• carnitas (braised pork)
• tripa (beef tripe)
For more food vocabulary related to food check out the post called Spanish Words for Food (+ Free PDF).
Extra Ingredients
I would like to clarify that some taco places allow you to add the extra ingredients by yourself.
If not, here are some phrases you can use to let your taco guy know what extra ingredients you want or want don’t in your taco.
• Con todo (this option includes onion, cilantro and sauce, which is always spicy)
• Sin cebolla (without onion)
• Sin cilantro (without cilantro)
• Sin salsa (without sauce)
Throw in a por favor (please) at the end, and you are all set.
Time to Pay?
Did you get your tacos in a restaurant? Then you can tell the waiter or waitress the following.
• La cuenta, por favor. (The bill, please.)
Are you planning to get your tacos from a taco truck or stand? Then say…
• ¿Cuánto es? (How much is it?)
Here’s a chart that can help you remember what we went through today!
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