🛍️ Rebajas in Spain: January discounts, Spanish vocabulary & useful shopping phrases

Mónica Jiménez
5 days ago
4 min read

You are walking down a street in Madrid in January. Every shop window is full of red signs:

–30 % | –50 % | –70 %

People are coming in and out with shopping bags. This is not just shopping. This is rebajas.

The January sales in Spain, known as rebajas, are the biggest and most important discounts of the entire year. They are also a perfect real-life context to learn Spanish you can actually use when traveling, shopping, or living in Spain.

In this guide, you will learn:

what rebajas really mean in Spain
how January discounts work
Spanish sales vocabulary by level
natural and very Spanish structures
a complete survival guide for real shops

🇪🇸 What are the Rebajas in Spain?

In Spain, rebajas literally means sales, but culturally it means much more.

🛍️ rebajas = a specific sales period with real and expected discounts

For Spanish people, rebajas are:

a fixed moment in the year
linked to strong price reductions
especially important in January

💡 Cultural note: Unlike in the U.S., where discounts are constant, in Spain many people wait for January to buy clothes, shoes, or expensive items.

📅 When do the January Sales start in Spain?

Traditionally, the January sales start right after Three Kings’ Day, on January 7th.

Today, stores can start earlier, but:

January is still the main rebajas month
the biggest discounts usually appear mid to late January
many shops announce a segunda rebaja (second round of discounts)

💸 Types of discounts during the Rebajas

🔖 descuento – discount

📉 rebajado / rebajada – on sale

🏷️ precio original – original price

💶 precio rebajado – discounted price

🔥 segunda rebaja – second round of discounts

📊 tanto por ciento – percentage

🔹 Key structure (B1–B2): ‘tanto por ciento’

📊 al treinta por ciento

👉 at thirty percent

📊 un cincuenta por ciento de descuento

👉 a fifty percent discount

📊 está rebajado al setenta por ciento

👉 it is discounted by seventy percent

💡 In spoken Spanish, people often shorten it to:

👉 al cincuenta por ciento – at fifty percent off

🧠 Spanish Sales vocabulary by Level

🟢 A2 – Basic shopping survival

🛍️ la talla – size

👕 la talla S / M / L – size S / M / L

🚪 el probador – fitting room

🧾 el ticket – receipt

💳 pagar con tarjeta – to pay by card

🟡 B1 – More natural shopping Spanish

📐 me queda grande / pequeño – it is too big / too small

🔄 la devolución – return

🔁 el cambio – exchange

📦 últimas unidades – last items

🛒 oferta – special offer

🔵 B2 – Very Spanish, very real

🏷️ etiqueta – tag

🧵 temporada anterior – previous season

💸 vale – store credit

📉 precio final – final price

💡 Language note: In Spain, ticket is much more common than recibo in shops.

🎓 Want to use Spanish confidently in real life?

If situations like shopping, traveling, or daily life in Spain still feel stressful, learning real, practical Spanish makes all the difference.

This blog connects naturally with other topics we cover, like:

Spanish supermarket vocabulary
daily life in Spain
seasonal Spanish vocabulary

At Straight from Spain, we focus on exactly this kind of Spanish: useful, natural, and real from day one.

🚨 Complete Spanish Survival Guide for the Rebajas

🟢 A2 – Asking about size and availability

🛍️ ¿Tenéis la talla S?

👉 Do you have size S?

🛍️ ¿Hay más tallas?

👉 Are there other sizes?

🟡 B1 – Asking about discounts

💸 ¿Tiene descuento?

👉 Does it have a discount?

📉 ¿Está rebajado?

👉 Is it on sale?

📊 ¿A cuánto está?

👉 How much is it now?

🔵 B2 – Sound like a local

📉 ¿Esto entra en rebajas?

👉 Is this included in the sales?

📊 ¿Al cuánto por ciento está?

👉 What percentage is it discounted at?

⭐ Sound more natural in Spanish (Very Important)

Basic → natural → very Spanish 👇

❌ ¿Tiene descuento?

✅ ¿Está rebajado?

⭐ ¿Esto entra en rebajas?

This progression helps you move from correct Spanish to natural Spanish.

🔄 Returns and conditions (Very Spanish Topic)

🟡 ¿Se puede devolver?

👉 Can it be returned?

🔵 ¿Cuál es el plazo de devolución?

👉 What is the return period?

🔵 ¿Devuelven el dinero o hacen un vale?

👉 Do they refund the money or give store credit?

❌ Common mistakes foreigners make during the Rebajas

❌ assuming all sale items can be returned

❌ not asking about conditions

❌ confusing rebajas with outlets

❌ expecting U.S.-style return policies

💡 In Spain, asking before paying is normal and expected.

🇪🇸 Rebajas in Spain vs. Sales in the U.S.

🇪🇸 Spain

January is the key sales month
discounts increase progressively
returns may be limited

🇺🇸 U.S.

discounts all year
Black Friday dominates
very flexible return policies

🎯 Quick recap: How to survive the Rebajas

✔️ Rebajas = biggest discounts of the year

✔️ Vocabulary grows by level

✔️ Percentages matter

✔️ Asking questions is essential

✔️ Natural Spanish makes a difference

🧪 Test your Spanish: Shopping during the Rebajas

💬 Final Question

🛍️ Have you ever experienced the rebajas in Spain?

Would you feel confident shopping in Spanish now?

📣 Want to learn real Spanish you’ll actually use?

If you’ve enjoyed learning Spanish like this — practical, real and fun — imagine what you can learn in a class with us! 😍

🎁 Take our free level test and book a trial class to start your journey with Straight from Spain — an online Spanish academy that teaches the Spanish you’ll actually use in real life.