Breakdown of En rebajas, la dependienta ofrece un descuento buenísimo.
Questions & Answers about En rebajas, la dependienta ofrece un descuento buenísimo.
En rebajas literally means “during the sales (period)” or “when things are on sale.”
In Spain, las rebajas are the big seasonal sales (often in January and July). In time expressions, Spanish often drops the article:
- en rebajas – during the sales
- en vacaciones – on vacation
- en Navidad – at Christmas
You can say en las rebajas, but the shorter en rebajas is a very common fixed expression in Spain.
Yes, rebajas is normally used in the feminine plural:
- las rebajas de enero – the January sales
- estas rebajas – these sales
Historically, it comes from rebaja (price reduction) in plural: price reductions. Over time, las rebajas became the standard way to refer to the sales season, and the singular la rebaja is much less common with that meaning.
Yes, both are possible and correct:
- En rebajas, la dependienta ofrece…
- En las rebajas, la dependienta ofrece…
- Durante las rebajas, la dependienta ofrece…
Nuances:
- En rebajas – very common, quite colloquial and compact.
- En las rebajas – a bit more explicit; sounds like a specific sales period.
- Durante las rebajas – emphasizes the duration, “throughout the sales.”
In everyday speech in Spain, en rebajas and en las rebajas are both very normal.
La dependienta means the (female) shop assistant / sales clerk, especially in clothing stores, shoe shops, etc.
Details:
- dependienta – feminine form
- dependiente – masculine form (el dependiente)
In Spain, dependiente/dependienta is very common. In Latin America, you might hear more often:
- el vendedor / la vendedora – salesperson
- el empleado / la empleada – employee
So la dependienta is natural, everyday Spain Spanish for a female shop assistant.
Grammatically, la dependienta refers to a woman.
If you don’t want to specify gender, in Spain people might say:
- la persona que trabaja en la tienda – the person who works in the shop
- el personal de la tienda – the store staff
- sometimes just el dependiente as a “generic” masculine, though that’s less neutral
Some speakers also use dependiente (masculine form) as a kind of “neutral,” but that’s stylistically controversial and not fully settled.
Spanish uses the simple present much more than English to talk about current, habitual, or general situations.
La dependienta ofrece un descuento buenísimo.
= She offers / is offering a great discount (whenever there are sales; general habit or rule).La dependienta está ofreciendo un descuento buenísimo.
= She is (right now / at this moment / these days) offering a great discount.
In this sentence, ofrece sounds like a general habit that applies when it’s sales season, not necessarily just at one exact moment.
Both are possible, but there’s a nuance:
- ofrecer un descuento – to offer a discount, usually in a more formal or commercial sense: the store makes this discount available.
- dar un descuento – to give a discount, often focusing on the act of actually granting it.
In typical shop language in Spain, you’ll often see and hear ofrecer un descuento in advertising and more formal contexts.
In Spanish, a singular countable noun usually needs an article (or another determiner):
- ✅ ofrece un descuento – she offers a discount
- ❌ ofrece descuento – sounds wrong in standard Spanish
- ✅ ofrece descuentos – she offers discounts (plural, general idea)
So you need un here because descuento is a countable thing in the singular.
Both orders are grammatically possible:
- un descuento buenísimo – the most natural order here
- un buenísimo descuento – also correct, but more emphatic/stylistic
General rule in Spanish:
- Adjective after the noun (default): descriptive, neutral
- un descuento buenísimo – a discount that is really good
- Adjective before the noun: more subjective, emotional, or emphatic
- un buenísimo descuento – strongly highlights how good it is
So the given sentence uses the regular, neutral-sounding order.
Buenísimo is an absolute superlative of bueno, meaning:
- “really good,” “super good,” “excellent,” “fantastic.”
Formation:
- base adjective: bueno
- remove the final -o and add -ísimo → buenísimo
Other examples:
- caro → carísimo (very expensive)
- rápido → rapidísimo (very fast)
It’s roughly equivalent to muy bueno, but buenísimo usually sounds more emphatic and expressive.
Adjectives in Spanish must agree with the gender and number of the noun they modify.
- descuento is masculine singular
- so the adjective must also be masculine singular → buenísimo
Other forms:
- una oferta buenísima – a really good offer (feminine singular)
- unos descuentos buenísimos – some really good discounts (masculine plural)
- unas ofertas buenísimas – some really good offers (feminine plural)
En rebajas is an introductory time expression (“During the sales”), placed at the start of the sentence. In Spanish, it’s common (and stylistically preferred) to separate such fronted elements with a comma:
- En rebajas, la dependienta ofrece…
You could also say:
- La dependienta ofrece un descuento buenísimo en rebajas.
Both are correct. The original version puts extra focus on the time context (en rebajas) by moving it to the front and marking it off with a comma.