Quick Answer
¿Tienes cambio? means do you have change in Mexican Spanish. It comes up constantly because small change is genuinely scarce and ATMs dispense 500-peso bills that street vendors cannot break. With a vendor the polite form is ¿tiene cambio?, and suelto, sencillo, feria and morralla all name small money.
- ¿Tienes cambio? means do you have change - asked when you need a big note broken or when you are checking whether you can pay.
- The form you will actually say is ¿tiene cambio? or ¿trae cambio? - usted, with any vendor or driver. The tú version is for friends.
- Small change is scarce in Mexico. Ask before you order, and break big bills at an OXXO or a supermarket.
What it means
You are asking whether somebody can break what you are holding. It is the question a customer asks a vendor, a vendor asks a customer, and one friend asks another before splitting a bill in cash.
The full version names the note: ¿tiene cambio de quinientos? That is the useful one, because the answer to a bare ¿tiene cambio? depends entirely on how big the problem is.
At the stall, before you order
YouBuenas, ¿tiene cambio de quinientos?
Hi, do you have change for a five hundred?Ask before they start cooking. This is the whole trick.
ThemUy, no joven. ¿No trae más suelto?
Oof, no. Don't you have anything smaller?Joven is what a vendor calls a man regardless of his age - friendly, not a comment. A woman gets señorita, seño or güerita.
YouNada más eso traigo. Voy al OXXO y ahorita vuelvo.
That's all I've got. I'll go to the OXXO and be right back.Buying something small to break a note is standard. Nobody thinks it is strange.
ThemSale, aquí se los voy preparando.
Sure, I'll start making them in the meantime.Which is a small act of trust, so come back.
How Mexicans use it
The most useful habit is asking first. ¿Tiene cambio de quinientos? before you order, not after the tacos are on the plate, and vendors appreciate it because it saves them the same conversation they have twenty times a day. Traer beats tener for money you are carrying, so ¿trae cambio? is if anything the more common shape.
Learn what people call each other across a counter. A vendor calls a man joven regardless of his age, and a woman señorita, seño or güerita. In a market both sides use marchante or marchanta for the other person - it works in either direction and it is the friendliest word in the transaction.
Expect the counter-question. ¿No trae más suelto? or ¿no trae feria? means do you have anything smaller, and the honest answer is usually no, which is where the OXXO comes in - buying something small to break a note is standard practice and nobody finds it odd.
On a pesero or a micro, hand over coins or small bills. Drivers make change from a stack of coins beside the wheel, and a two hundred will get a flat no before you have finished lifting it. The 20-peso note is being retired in favor of a coin, so the smallest bill in normal circulation is now the 50 and everybody is carrying more metal than they used to.
Expect to be asked to complete. ¿No tiene los diez para darle cien?, ¿no trae con qué completar?, ¿no trae veinte para no darle puro cambio? - the vendor is asking for coins so the change comes out round, and handing them over is normal rather than a favor.
Before you go hunting for an OXXO, ask about transferencia. Card terminals are still patchy at street level but bank transfer is not, and plenty of puestos will show you a QR or a phone number. It is the fastest way out of the 500-peso problem and the page nobody tells you about.
The softest way to ask is the future of probability: ¿no tendrá cambio? It reads as I doubt it, but just in case, and it is very Mexican. Use it when you already suspect the answer is no.
Examples
- ¿Tiene cambio de quinientos?Do you have change for a five hundred?
- Uy, no traigo cambio, ¿no tiene más suelto?Oof, I don't have change, don't you have anything smaller?
- Voy al OXXO a hacer cambio, ahorita vuelvo.I'm going to the OXXO to break this, back in a second.
- Nada más traigo morralla.All I've got is coins.
Mini dialogue
Common mistake
Using tú with a vendor. ¿Tienes cambio? is fine with a friend and slightly off with a stranger who is selling you something - the default with vendors, drivers and anybody behind a counter is usted. ¿Tiene cambio? costs you one letter and reads as respect.
Assuming no hay cambio is a brush-off. It is almost always literally true. Arguing about it does not produce coins, and the working answer is either to buy something else, go break the note, or come back.
Don't sound gringo
the atm hands you 500-peso bills and almost nobody at street level can break one. ask before they start making your food.
¿Tiene cambio de quinientos? takes two seconds and saves the whole transaction.
Learn the neighboring words while you are here. Suelto is small money and overlaps with cambio almost entirely; morralla is coins specifically; feria is small change and also money in general; varo is just money if you are under thirty-five.
Use usted and use traer - ¿trae cambio? is what a vendor is most likely to say back to you.
And before you walk to an OXXO, ask about transferencia. A lot of stalls take it now.
Where you'll hear it
- the tacos are already on the comal and you realize the only note in your wallet is a five hundred
- buying a two-peso chicle at an OXXO for no reason except to break a big bill
- a pesero driver looking at your two hundred and shaking his head before you finish holding it up
- digging for coins for the franelero because a note is far too much and nothing is the wrong answer
Spice level
works with anyone, anywhere.
FAQ
What does tienes cambio mean?
Do you have change. It is asked when you need a large note broken, or when you are checking whether somebody can give you change before you pay.
Should I say tienes cambio or tiene cambio?
With a vendor, a driver, or anybody behind a counter, use ¿tiene cambio? - the usted form. ¿Tienes cambio? is for friends. It is one letter and it reads as respect.
Why does nobody have change in Mexico?
Two reasons. ATMs pay out in 500-peso bills and a small vendor has not taken enough small ones to break them. And the 500 is the most counterfeited note in the country, so some of the head shaking is about the note rather than the float.
What can I do instead of hunting for change?
Ask about transferencia. Card terminals are patchy at street level but bank transfer is common, and a lot of stalls will show you a QR or a phone number.
Where can I break a 500-peso note in Mexico?
An OXXO or another convenience chain, a supermarket, a pharmacy, or a bank. Buying something small at an OXXO purely to break a note is completely normal and nobody comments on it.
What is the difference between cambio, suelto, feria and morralla?
Cambio and suelto overlap almost completely - the dictionary glosses one with the other. Sencillo means the same and turns up mostly around transport. Morralla is coins specifically, with a hint of too many. Feria is small change, money in general, and separately a fair.
What does y feria mean?
And change, or -odd. Seis pesos y feria is six pesos and a bit. It is one of the most useful small phrases in Mexican Spanish and almost nobody teaches it.
What is a marchante?
The other person in a market transaction, and it works both ways - the vendor calls you marchante and you call them marchante right back. It is the warmest word available at a stall.
What does no hay cambio mean?
There's no change. It is normally literal rather than a refusal, so the useful response is to buy something else, break the note somewhere nearby, or come back.
How do you politely ask for change in Mexican Spanish?
¿No tendrá cambio? is the softest version - the future tense turns it into I doubt it, but just in case. ¿Me cambia un billete de quinientos, por favor? also works.
Don't confuse with
- cambio (exchange rate)El tipo de cambio is the exchange rate, and casa de cambio is a currency exchange. Same word, and only the sentence around it separates them.
- sueltoSuelto is small money, and Mexicans use it interchangeably with cambio - the dictionary glosses one as the other. What changes is direction, not the word: you ask a vendor ¿tiene cambio? meaning break this for me, and the vendor asks you ¿no trae suelto? meaning add coins so I do not have to.
- sencilloSame meaning, different habitat. In CDMX you hear sencillo mostly around transport - a driver asking for it, a sign saying no hay cambio de billetes grandes. In a market it is suelto, morralla or feria.
- varoNot change at all - varo is money, and it is what anybody under about thirty-five says. No traigo varo is the current plain way to say you are broke, where an older speaker reaches for lana.
- morrallaMorralla is coins specifically, and it carries a faint note of being a nuisance. Traigo pura morralla means all I have is shrapnel.
- feriaFeria is small change in one sentence and money in general in the next - no traigo feria can mean either I have no coins or I am broke. It is also a fair, and it is the Mexican way of saying odd: seis pesos y feria is six pesos and change.
Related words
Test yourself
tap an answer.
You're at a taco stand with only a 500-peso note. When do you ask about change?
A vendor says 'no traigo cambio, ¿no trae feria?' What are they asking for?
The one thing
asking whether somebody can break your note. change is genuinely scarce, the 500 is also the most faked note in the country, so ask before you order - or ask about transferencia.
Sources
- ContextBrevísimo diccionario de mexicanismos económicosRankia MéxicoCambio, suelto, morralla and feria as a set, with the overlaps marked.
- ResearchLana, feria y varoFlores de Nieve, CEPE-UNAMUNAM's own gloss of the small-money vocabulary, written for foreigners.
- PressLos nombres del dineroZona FrancaOn morralla and where the word came from - small fish, useless things.
- Context¿Por qué le decimos lana al dinero?El BableBackground on the general money words the small-change ones sit inside.
Share
From the blog
