El Carro (Trolley)
As per the dictionary the Spanish equivalent of a trolley (which we use in the supermarkets to keep our items and move around with them until we finally go the cashier and check them out and make our payment ) is El Carro..
now the confusion I have is that in Latin America .. even a car (el coche) is called "el carro" so if I am in a supermarket in any south amercian country say venezuela or chile etc. and I ask the sales assistant (el dependiente) that where are the trolleys .. he might misunderstand me as if I am asking where are the cars .. for example .. if I say .. señor donde están los carros ... (I would actualy be asking him that where can I find the trolleys to commence my shopping) and he might misunderstand and point his finger towards the car parking area (el aparcamiento) .. so is there a better way of referring to the trolleys .. and how to avoid this confusion..
Thanks and Regards, Jimmy
11 Answers
Hola!
We usually say "carrito", "carrito de la compra" or even "changuito" (this last in contries like Argentina). The problem starts when you realize that there are many meanings for the word (it depends on the country).
In Spain for example, "carro" doesn't mean car, so if you ask for a "carro" in a supermarket you won't have any problem.
In the other hand, if you are in South America, you should say "carrito", "carrito de la compra" or "changuito", but I recomend use "carrito de la compra", because you are specifying what are you going to do with the "carrito" (countries like Uruguay, "carrito" means barbecue too).
I hope this will be helpful.
They say a picture is worth a hundred words (or a thousand words)
This word is very regional, so I can only comment on Mexican usage.
Coche / auto ..... car
Carro ..... train car / sometimes car (auto)
Carrito .... cart (shoping / horse drawn)
Tranvía .... trolley
As long as you are not "off your trolley" Jimmy.
That is an expression in England that means " around the bend / twist" or " a bit bonkers".
In real words "slightly mad". 
As a kid I often travelled on trolley busses in London.
Joydeep,
I thought this was an interesting thread and am voting for both your posts to give you extra points.
First of all, thanks for teaching me a British English word that does not correspond identically to the American one. I've never heard anyone here use that word for what we call a shopping cart or cart when in the stores.
Chileno's answer describes in his first definition what we mean when we use the word Trolley. Obviously it's more rare in The States since there are few places here with trolleys (San Francisco comes famously to mind).
From perusing the answers I think carrito de compras would be the best in Latin America with ¿Dónde están las carritos? being what you might ask when in the store.
Thanks to all here for helping me learn a new word.
Context – if you were at a Ford dealership and asked the same question they would not expect you to be talking about shopping trolleys. Asking the question at the supermarket they would not expect you to be talking about cars - Context
I've heard 'carrito' for 'trolley' in the South of Spain...
Incidentally, it's 'chariot' (sha-ghee-oh) in France, which I like because since watching Ben Hur as a kid I always wanted to be a chariot driver, & now whenever I visit a French supermarket I can live my fantasy...
And just because New Orleans likes to be different, we call the electric train-like cars that go along tracks "streetcars."
But then Joy, the following is in English, never mind Spanish.
- Trolley
-
an electric vehicle that runs along the street on tracks
-
a vehicle that is pulled along tracks on the ground by a moving cable or that hangs from a moving cable
-
a metal basket on wheels used to hold groceries while you are shopping
eh?
I answered in this way because Joy seemed a bit of a problem in understanding something that also happens in English, where context will dictate.
in any event:
cart = carreta/carro/carrito
I use carrito for the one in question.
A shopping trolley is indeed a carrito in southern Spain.
A wheelbarrow is a carrito de mano.
The coche de caballos is a carro, Falda, or possibly a carrito, if it is small, which yours is, I can see that!
I completely agree with the answer posted by tomasdeAlba and thats exactly what I was thinking that the context would make it obvious that at the supermarket I would obviously be talking about a shopping cart and not a car .. but still I was thinking if there may be a better way of putting it across to make it more specific and avoid any ambiguity .. like can we say .. el carrito .. which means a "shopping cart or a trolley" as per SD-Dictionary .. would it be better to use "el carrito" instead of "el carro" and is there any difference ?? or can we append some contextual word to make it more meaningful for example "el carro de compra" (like we say .. una bolsa de compra) ..
Thanks
