Office Vocabulary in Spanish: Essential Workplace Words and Business Phrases

Key takeaways

• Spanish business settings use specific vocabulary for furniture, roles, and departments that differs from everyday Spanish.
• Workplace verbs likedelegar(to delegate) andaprobar(to approve) are essential for professional communication.
• Meeting phrases in Spanish follow a recognizable structure: opening, proposal, agreement or disagreement, and closing.
• Email and telephone language has fixed conventions that native speakers expect, so learning the formulas pays off fast.
• Working through vocabulary lists alone will not tell you which phrases sound natural under pressure in a real meeting.

Most learners study Spanish for travel, culture, or everyday conversation. When a job opportunity or a business trip suddenly requires office Spanish, the vocabulary gap becomes obvious. The boardroom is its own world, and the words you learned for ordering coffee will not carry you through a budget review.

Working in Spanish-speaking environments takes more than grammar. You need to know how colleagues talk to each other across departments, how to handle a phone call professionally, and how to open a meeting without sounding like you are reading from a textbook.

A business Spanish tutor can give you that context through live practice.italki connects you with professional teachers who specialize in business Spanish.

Trusted by over 10 million learners with 30,000+ tutors across 150+ languages and 15+ years in operation, italki gives you access to instructors who understand workplace Spanish across Spain, Latin America, and beyond.

This guide covers six areas: office furniture and equipment, job roles and departments, workplace verbs, meeting phrases, email language, and telephone expressions, plus a mini business meeting dialogue.

Table of contents

1. Office furniture and equipment
2. Job roles and departments
3. Common workplace verbs
4. Business meeting phrases
5. Business email language
6. Telephone phrases in a business context
7. Mini business meeting dialogue
8. How to use this vocabulary effectively

Office furniture and equipment

Whether you are describing your workspace or navigating a new office, these words come up daily.

Spanish	English
El escritorio	The desk
La silla de oficina	The office chair
El ordenador / La computadora	The computer
El portátil	The laptop
La impresora	The printer
El escáner	The scanner
La fotocopiadora	The photocopier
La sala de reuniones	The meeting room
La pizarra blanca	The whiteboard
El proyector	The projector
El archivador	The filing cabinet
La papelera	The wastepaper bin
El teléfono fijo	The landline telephone
La pantalla	The screen / monitor
La sala de descanso	The break room
El ascensor	The lift / elevator
La recepción	The reception area
El despacho	The private office

Note:Ordenadoris used in Spain;computadoraorcomputadoris more common in Latin America.

Job roles and departments

Spanish	English
El director / La directora	The director
El gerente / La gerente	The manager
El jefe / La jefa	The boss / head
El empleado / La empleada	The employee
El colaborador / La colaboradora	The collaborator / team member
El asistente / La asistente	The assistant
El secretario / La secretaria	The secretary
El departamento de RRHH	The HR department
El departamento de contabilidad	The accounts department
El departamento de marketing	The marketing department
El departamento de TI / informática	The IT department
El departamento de ventas	The sales department
El departamento de atención al cliente	The customer service department
El departamento jurídico / legal	The legal department
El director ejecutivo / La directora ejecutiva	The CEO
El director financiero / La directora financiera	The CFO
El becario / La becaria	The intern
El autónomo / La autónoma	The freelancer

Common workplace verbs

Infinitive	English	Example sentence
Programar / Agendar	To schedule	Tenemos que programar una reunión.
Enviar	To send	Por favor, envíame el informe.
Aprobar	To approve	El director aprobó el presupuesto.
Delegar	To delegate	Voy a delegar esa tarea a María.
Informar	To report / to inform	Te informaré de los avances.
Presentar	To present	Presentaré los resultados el viernes.
Revisar	To review / to check	Por favor, revisa este documento.
Firmar	To sign	Necesito que firmes el contrato.
Cancelar	To cancel	Han cancelado la reunión.
Posponer	To postpone	Tuvimos que posponer la llamada.
Gestionar	To manage / to handle	Ella gestiona todas las cuentas.
Solicitar	To request	Solicité un aumento de salario.
Confirmar	To confirm	Confirma tu asistencia, por favor.
Redactar	To draft / to write up	Necesito redactar el informe hoy.
Archivar	To file / to archive	Archiva todos los documentos del proyecto.

Learning these verbs in context is faster than memorization. See the guide to Spanish verb conjugation patterns for a deeper breakdown of how workplace verbs change form across tenses and subjects.

Business meeting phrases

Opening a meeting

Spanish	English
Empecemos la reunión.	Let’s start the meeting.
Gracias a todos por venir.	Thank you all for coming.
El orden del día de hoy es…	Today’s agenda is…
Tenemos una hora para esta reunión.	We have one hour for this meeting.
¿Estamos todos?	Is everyone here?

Making proposals

Spanish	English
Propongo que…	I propose that…
Sugiero que consideremos…	I suggest we consider…
Una posibilidad sería…	One option would be…
¿Qué les parece si…?	What do you think about…?

Agreeing politely

Spanish	English
Estoy de acuerdo.	I agree.
Tiene razón.	You are right.
Es una buena idea.	That is a good idea.
Apoyo esa propuesta.	I support that proposal.

Disagreeing politely

Spanish	English
Entiendo su punto, pero…	I understand your point, but…
No estoy del todo convencido/a.	I am not entirely convinced.
Me preocupa que…	I am concerned that…
Preferiría explorar otras opciones.	I would prefer to explore other options.

Closing a meeting

Spanish	English
Para resumir…	To summarize…
Hemos acordado que…	We have agreed that…
El siguiente paso es…	The next step is…
Gracias a todos. Quedamos así.	Thank you all. That is settled.
Les enviaré el acta de la reunión.	I will send you the meeting minutes.

Ready to practice meeting language? Working with a business Spanish tutor means you can test these phrases in real conversation before your next important meeting. Book a trial lesson with italki’s business specialists to get immediate feedback on your pronunciation and natural use of these expressions.

Business email language

Salutations

Spanish	English
Estimado Sr. López:	Dear Mr. López:
Estimada Dra. García:	Dear Dr. García:
A quien corresponda:	To whom it may concern:
Buenos días, equipo:	Good morning, team:

Opening lines

Spanish	English
Me pongo en contacto con usted para…	I am writing to you regarding…
En respuesta a su correo del…	In response to your email of…
Adjunto encontrará…	Please find attached…
Le escribo para confirmar…	I am writing to confirm…

Signing off

Spanish	English
Atentamente,	Sincerely / Kind regards,
Un cordial saludo,	Warm regards,
Quedo a su disposición,	I remain at your disposal,
En espera de su respuesta,	Looking forward to your reply,

The more you practice these email structures, the faster they become automatic. Email writing often benefits from personalized feedback. A Spanish teacher can review your drafts and show you how to adapt formality based on your recipient. Many italki business Spanish tutors offer specific email writing sessions tailored to your industry.

Telephone phrases in a business context

Situation	Spanish	English
Answering	¿Dígame? / ¿Sí?	Hello? / Yes?
Introducing yourself	Le llamo de parte de…	I am calling on behalf of…
Asking for someone	¿Podría hablar con…?	Could I speak with…?
They are unavailable	En este momento no está disponible.	They are not available right now.
Leaving a message	¿Podría dejarle un mensaje?	Could I leave a message?
Asking to hold	Un momento, por favor.	One moment, please.
Asking someone to speak slowly	¿Podría hablar más despacio, por favor?	Could you speak more slowly, please?
Confirming understanding	Entendido. Lo apunto.	Understood. I will note that down.
Ending the call	Muchas gracias. Hasta luego.	Thank you very much. Goodbye.

Telephone Spanish often feels harder than written Spanish because there is no time to think. Practice real-time response with a business Spanish tutor who can simulate calls and give you immediate coaching on speed and clarity. Real conversation with a native speaker builds confidence faster than any list.

Mini business meeting dialogue

Carlos: Buenas tardes a todos. Empecemos la reunión. El orden del día de hoy es la propuesta de campaña para el tercer trimestre. (Good afternoon everyone. Let’s start the meeting. Today’s agenda is the third-quarter campaign proposal.) Ana: Gracias, Carlos. Propongo que aumentemos el presupuesto de redes sociales en un 20% este trimestre. (Thank you, Carlos. I propose that we increase the social media budget by 20% this quarter.) Carlos: Entiendo su punto, pero me preocupa que no tengamos los datos suficientes para justificar ese aumento. (I understand your point, but I am concerned that we do not have enough data to justify that increase.) Ana: Tiene razón. Podría presentar los resultados del trimestre pasado para respaldar la propuesta. (You are right. I could present last quarter’s results to support the proposal.) Carlos: De acuerdo. Para resumir, revisaremos los datos esta semana y confirmaremos la decisión el viernes. Les enviaré el acta de la reunión esta tarde. (Agreed. To summarize, we will review the data this week and confirm the decision on Friday. I will send you the meeting minutes this afternoon.)

How to use this vocabulary effectively

Reading a list is a starting point, not an endpoint. For office vocabulary, the most useful practice is context: using these words and phrases in the situations where they actually appear. Write an email using the sign-off formulas. Describe your own office using the furniture vocabulary. Try the meeting phrase tables out loud, taking both sides of a disagreement. The guide to Spanish jobs vocabulary covers professional roles and career language that pairs well with the office vocabulary in this article. For communication in specific business settings like negotiations or presentations, explore italki’s conversation-focused lessons tailored to your industry.

FAQ

Can I use the same email sign-off in Spain and Latin America? Atentamenteworks across all Spanish-speaking regions and is the safest choice.Un cordial saludois also widely understood. Some Latin American countries use slightly warmer sign-offs in professional emails, so if you work frequently with a specific country, ask a teacher from that region about the local preference. How formal should I be when speaking to a colleague versus a manager? Spanish has two forms of “you”:tú(informal) andusted(formal). With managers and clients you do not know well,ustedis safer. With colleagues you work with daily,túis standard in most companies. If in doubt, useustedand wait for the other person to invite informality. What is the difference betweenreuniónandjunta ? Both mean “meeting,” but usage varies by country.Reuniónis the most common and widely understood term across Spain and Latin America.Juntais used in some Latin American countries for formal board-level meetings, and in Spainjuntaoften refers specifically to a shareholders’ or board meeting. In everyday office contexts,reuniónis the safe choice.