Si te falta una pinza, coge una del cajón que está junto al tendedero.

Spanish often uses faltar where English uses to be missing, to be short of, or sometimes to need.

So te falta una pinza literally works like a clothespin is missing to you:

• una pinza = the thing missing
• te = to you

Natural English would be:

• if you’re missing a clothespin
• if you’re short one clothespin
• sometimes if you need a clothespin

This is a very common Spanish structure. For example:

• Me falta dinero = I’m short of money
• Nos faltan dos sillas = We’re missing two chairs

Te is the indirect object pronoun meaning to you. With faltar, Spanish normally marks the person affected by what is missing.

So:

• Me falta... = I’m missing...
• Te falta... = You’re missing...
• Le falta... = He/She is missing...

Even though English does not usually say to you, Spanish does.

Coge is the tú command form of coger. Here it means take or get.

So coge una means take one.

If you changed the person, the command would change too:

• coge = take (informal singular, tú)
• coja = take (formal singular, usted)
• coged = take (informal plural in Spain, vosotros)
• cojan = take (plural ustedes)

It is completely normal in Spain. However, in many parts of Latin America, coger can have a vulgar sexual meaning, so people often avoid it in everyday speech and use verbs like tomar, agarrar, or recoger instead.

So for Spanish from Spain, coge is perfectly natural.

Because Spanish can leave out a repeated noun when it is obvious from the context.

Here, una stands for una pinza:

• coge una del cajón = take one from the drawer

English does the same:

• Take a clothespin.
• Take one from the drawer.

So the noun is understood and does not need to be repeated.

Del is the contraction of de + el.

So:

• del cajón = from the drawer / of the drawer, depending on context

In this sentence, it means from the drawer.

Spanish always contracts de + el to del:

• de el cajón ❌
• del cajón ✅

But there is no contraction with other articles:

• de la caja
• de los cajones
• de las pinzas

Because the idea is taking one out from inside the drawer, not just saying where it is.

• coge una del cajón = take one from the drawer
• está en el cajón = it is in the drawer

So de shows origin/source, while en shows location.

It refers to el cajón, not to una pinza.

So the meaning is:

• the drawer that is next to the drying rack/clothesline

This is the most natural reading both because of word order and because it makes sense in context. The relative clause que está junto al tendedero identifies which drawer is meant.

Because Spanish uses estar for physical location.

So:

• El cajón está junto al tendedero = The drawer is next to the drying rack

Using ser here would be wrong. A basic rule is:

• ser = identity, characteristics, classification
• estar = location, states, conditions

Junto a means next to, beside, or right by.

When a is followed by el, Spanish contracts them:

• a + el = al

So:

• junto al tendedero = next to the drying rack/clothesline

A similar expression is al lado de, which also means next to:

• junto al tendedero
• al lado del tendedero

Both are natural.

In this laundry context:

• pinza means a clothespin or clothes peg
• tendedero means the place where clothes are hung to dry: a clothesline, drying rack, or airer, depending on the situation

By itself, pinza can also mean a clip, clamp, or tongs in other contexts, but here the laundry meaning is the obvious one.

A few points are especially useful here:

• pinza: in most of Spain, the z is pronounced like the th in think
• cajón and junto: the j is a strong throaty sound, not like English j
• coge: the g before e sounds like that same strong j-type sound

A rough Spain-style approximation would be:

• Si te falta una pinza, coge una del cajón que está junto al tendedero
• approximately: see teh FAL-tah OO-nah PEEN-thah, KOH-heh OO-nah del kah-HON keh es-TAH HOON-toh al ten-deh-DEH-roh

That is only an approximation, but it helps with the main sounds.