Questions & Answers about La clienta guarda la factura en su cartera y hace cola para pagar.
Why is it la clienta and not el cliente or la cliente?
In Spanish, cliente has a feminine form clienta.
- el cliente = the (male or generic) customer
- la clienta = the female customer
In many contexts, el cliente can be used generically (when you don’t care about the gender), but if the speaker wants to make it clear the customer is a woman, la clienta is natural and common in Spain.
la cliente is generally considered incorrect or at least non‑standard; the usual feminine form is clienta.
What does guardar mean here? Is it like English “to guard”?
Guardar is a classic false friend.
Here it means to put away / to keep / to store, not “to guard” in the sense of “to protect” (though that meaning exists in some contexts).
So La clienta guarda la factura en su cartera =
“The customer puts the invoice/receipt away in her wallet/purse.”
Common uses of guardar:
- guardar la factura – keep/keep hold of the receipt
- guardar la ropa – put the clothes away
- guardar un secreto – keep a secret
- guardar sitio – save a seat/spot
Why is it la factura and not something like el recibo?