equivalent of ground/first floor in Spanish

Question

What's the equivalent word/phrase in Spanish for what we call the 'ground or first floor' here in the US? I've heard that '...el primer piso' actually refers to the 2nd floor, or the one above the ground floor.

Sorry If my question makes no sense. Thanks.

Very well written/constructed sentence and like Marianne says it makes perfect sense let's hope others follow your Excellent example :) - FELIZ77, Sep 4, 2010

Answer 1

The ground floor is la planta baja o el (piso) bajo (if you are already talking about buildings, you can just say el bajo)

Then, the floor inmediately upstairs is el primer piso or la primera planta, and then it's the segundo piso or segunda planta and so on.

Perfecto! - --Mariana--, Sep 4, 2010

so what letter appears on the dial thing for the ground floor? Instead of G there is... P? - rabbitwho, Sep 4, 2010

Answer 2

Hi, John. Welcome to the forum.

Your question makes perfect sense...if only we had more posts like yours! Jejeje

Hope to see you around.

Answer 3

so what letter appears on the dial thing for the ground floor? Instead of G there is... P? - rabbitwho

Thats an interesting question: a simple cultural difference that often gets overlooked. Never been to Espana but I used Google images to find the 3 pics below:

The first two uses a numerical numbering with 0 as the ground floor and -1 for the basement and so on. The third picture uses letters for el piso bajo and other basement floors. Although it does look like it is a stock photo.

In Mexico, the elevator button for ground floor is usually PB - 005faa61, Sep 7, 2010

Sorry John, I may have reversed pic 2 & 3. - LateToDinner, Sep 7, 2010