Careful! It doesn't mean "got milk?" as in the ad campaign.
Nor does it mean "do you(the store) have milk? That's an American idiom.
To see if a shop with a Spanish-speaking proprietor has milk for sale, ask "Hay leche?" (aye LAY-chay?) "Hay," (pron. like long "I" in English") plus the word of which you seek, is very useful to ask: is it here? OR are they here?
If the person behind the counter is a pregnant female, asking "Tiene leche?" would mean "Do you have breast milk?" It implies that anyway if one is strictly literal.
Say "Hay leche?"
Nor does it mean "do you(the store) have milk? That's an American idiom.
To see if a shop with a Spanish-speaking proprietor has milk for sale, ask "Hay leche?" (aye LAY-chay?) "Hay," (pron. like long "I" in English") plus the word of which you seek, is very useful to ask: is it here? OR are they here?
If the person behind the counter is a pregnant female, asking "Tiene leche?" would mean "Do you have breast milk?" It implies that anyway if one is strictly literal.
Say "Hay leche?"
Customer, wanting a liter of milk: "Tiene leche?"
Clerk, a young pregnant women, blushes and says, "No se." (I don't know.)
Customer does the right thing on the rebound: "Hay leche en esta bodega" ("Is there milk to be had in this shop?")
--Proprietress: "Si, sen~or. Alli! Alli (ay-YEE)!. "Yes, sir, over there! Over there!"
note from contributor: is there a macro-less way on a keyboard to simulate upside-down exclamation marks and question marks?
Clerk, a young pregnant women, blushes and says, "No se." (I don't know.)
Customer does the right thing on the rebound: "Hay leche en esta bodega" ("Is there milk to be had in this shop?")
--Proprietress: "Si, sen~or. Alli! Alli (ay-YEE)!. "Yes, sir, over there! Over there!"
note from contributor: is there a macro-less way on a keyboard to simulate upside-down exclamation marks and question marks?
by al-in-chgo October 6, 2010