¿Algo a declarar? What the customs officer is really asking.

Two words, one question.

¿Algo a declarar? means anything to declare? Word by word: algo is something, a is to, declarar is to declare. Said quickly it runs together into one sound, which is why it can blur past even when you know every word in it.

What counts as something to declare depends on the country you are entering, and the limits are local and change. Check the official customs page for Mexico rather than trusting a phrase list, including this one. The long form, ¿Tiene algo que declarar?, takes exactly the same answers, so learn the short one first.

Four replies you can say without thinking.

Pick one and rehearse it until it is boring. Boring is the goal: a reply that arrives before you have time to be nervous.

No, nada is a complete answer, and short is not rude at a customs desk. Nada que declarar is the version printed on the forms. The third line answers the question behind the question — are you bringing goods to sell? The fourth is for the day the honest answer is yes: say Sí, tengo esto, hand it over, then add ¿Tengo que pagar algo? (do I have to pay anything?) if you want to know what happens next.

¿Cuánto dinero trae? The verb that looks wrong.

Next question, same desk: ¿Cuánto dinero trae? — how much money are you bringing? Trae comes from traer, to bring, and it looks like a third-person form because that is what it is. The officer is using usted, the polite singular.

The Real Academia Española’s Diccionario panhispánico de dudas explains why that changes the verb: usted always refers to the person being spoken to, but it is grammatically a third-person pronoun (it comes from vuestra merced), so the verb goes in the third person. The same entry calls usted the standard formal form in Spain and Latin America, carrying a degree of distance, courtesy and formality. So the verb is not a mistake and you are not being accused of anything. Answer with traigo, the form for I:

Cash limits differ by country and change, so check the official figure for Mexico and give a true, simple amount. If arithmetic in a second language is one thing too many, note the number on your phone before you land.

The amounts here are illustrative examples, not advice about what you may carry.

Ask for a form, or ask them to slow down.

Two things go wrong at this desk. Sometimes you are handed a form you cannot read; sometimes the question arrives faster than your ear. Both have a short line that fixes them.

Formulario is understood everywhere. Llenar is the usual verb in Latin America for filling in a form; in Spain you will hear rellenar, and both are understood.

Notice the register in the last three lines: puede, not puedes. That is usted, right for an official you have never met. If they switch to English — it happens, usually because it is quicker — you can stay in Spanish with ¿Puede decirlo en español, por favor? The switch is about speed, not a verdict on you. There is a fuller set of these lines in the repeat-and-slow-down guide.

Rehearse the whole thing out loud.

Here is the full exchange, greeting to reason for the trip. It is an illustrative practice dialogue written for this page — not a recording, not a transcript — so the officer you meet will use their own words.

Now the drill. Ten minutes, nothing but your voice.

The IES What Works Clearinghouse practice guide Organizing Instruction and Study to Improve Student Learning recommends spacing learning over time and using quizzing with active retrieval — answering from memory rather than rereading. It is written for teachers, but both habits transfer to a kitchen table.

Cover the tables and answer these four out loud. Check only after you have tried all four.

• I can answer ¿Algo a declarar? with one short phrase.
• I can say why I am here without switching to English.
• I can ask someone to repeat or slow down.

Why would this be different from the app?

Fair question. An app rewards you for tapping the right tile, which is a different skill from opening your mouth at a desk with a queue behind you, and no streak tells you whether the second skill is there. Here there is no account and no microphone to read this page, nothing to install, and nobody scores the drill above — you find out whether you can answer by answering. That is practice, not a fluency test.

The free material is not a teaser that stops at page two. The 7 Day Spanish Starter Plan is five pages, and the whole thing is also on the web page, so you can read Day 1 and Day 2 in the browser first; Day 2 is the clarification set this page borrows at customs. There is a paid side to this site and the honest thing is to say so once: it is optional and separate, the pricing page shows what is planned and what is not open yet, and nothing here sits behind it.

One next step.

Not five tabs. Tonight, say the traveller lines from the dialogue out loud with the page closed, until No, nada and Vengo a trabajar come out without checking. Then rehearse the immigration questions, so the two stops feel like one scene.

Rehearse the immigration questions

Also useful, one link each: Day 2 of the free 7 Day Spanish Starter Plan for the clarification phrases, and the Conversation Rescue Card for ¿Puede escribirlo? and the rest on one printable page.

Common questions.