--- title: "¿tienes cambio?" translation: "Do you have change?" type: "word" category: "expression" url: "https://consalsa.app/words/tienes-cambio" canonical: "https://consalsa.app/words/tienes-cambio" published: "2026-08-31" updated: "2026-08-31" author: "Andrey the Nomad" site: "ConSalsa.App" license: "https://consalsa.app/about" --- # ¿tienes cambio? URL: https://consalsa.app/words/tienes-cambio Translation: Do you have change? Pronunciation: /ˈtje.nes ˈkam.bjo/ Category: expression Region: Mexico Register: everyday, and usted with anyone selling you something Variants: ¿tiene cambio?, ¿trae cambio?, ¿traes cambio?, ¿no tendrá cambio?, ¿tienes suelto?, ¿trae feria?, no hay cambio Literal meaning: Cambio is what you get back, and it is also the word for change in every other sense - the exchange rate, a shift, a switch. Only the situation tells you which one. Tone & safety: Completely safe. The only thing to get right is the form of address - with a vendor it is ¿tiene cambio?, not ¿tienes? Published: 2026-08-31 Quick answer: - ¿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. Literal meaning: - Cambio is change in every sense the English word carries - the coins you get back, the exchange rate, a switch of plan, a change of clothes. Nothing distinguishes them except the sentence they arrive in, which is why a casa de cambio and the cambio in your hand are the same word. - The reason it comes up so often has nothing to do with the language. Mexican ATMs pay out in 500-peso bills, cash still runs a large share of daily transactions, and a taquería that has been open two hours has not accumulated enough small bills to break one. The word is common because the situation is. - There is a second reason and vendors rarely say it out loud: the 500 is by far the most counterfeited note in Mexico. When somebody turns yours over, holds it to the light and rubs a corner, that is what they are doing, and a flat no is sometimes about the note rather than the float. 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. 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. 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: A: Buenas, ¿me da dos de pastor? Ah, y ¿tiene cambio de quinientos? B: De quinientos no, joven. ¿No trae más suelto? A: Nada más eso traigo. B: Vaya al OXXO de la esquina, mientras se los voy preparando. A: Va, ahorita vengo. FAQ: Q: What does tienes cambio mean? A: 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. Q: Should I say tienes cambio or tiene cambio? A: 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. Q: Why does nobody have change in Mexico? A: 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. Q: What can I do instead of hunting for change? A: 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. Q: Where can I break a 500-peso note in Mexico? A: 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. Q: What is the difference between cambio, suelto, feria and morralla? A: 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. Q: What does y feria mean? A: 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. Q: What is a marchante? A: 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. Q: What does no hay cambio mean? A: 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. Q: How do you politely ask for change in Mexican Spanish? A: ¿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. Related words: lana, mande, raite, echarse-un-taco, chela