đ° Valer vs. Costar: Talking About Value in Spanish
Across Spain and Latin America, two verbs are commonly used to talk about price and value: valer and costar.
Both are correct, but they arenât always used in exactly the same way. Letâs look at how they differ.
đ Two Ways to Say the Price
When talking about how much something costs, you can use either valer or costar.
Both verbs mean the same thing and are used interchangeably in everyday Spanish to express price.
- Vale 4 euros. â Itâs worth 4 euros.
- Cuesta 4 euros. â It costs 4 euros.
- ÂżCuĂĄnto vale este libro? â How much is this book?
- ÂżCuĂĄnto cuesta esta camisa? â How much does this shirt cost?
- El cafĂ© vale dos euros. â The coffee is two euros.
- El cafĂ© cuesta dos euros. â The coffee costs two euros.
Youâll hear both verbs used naturally across the Spanish-speaking world to talk about prices.
Outside of money, valer can also express that something is worth the effort or worth it, as in vale la pena (âitâs worth itâ) or ese chico vale mucho (“that boy is really especial”).
đ How These Verbs Work
Because they describe the price of âitâ or âthey,â both verbs are usually used in the third person.
- El libro cuesta mucho. â The book costs a lot.
- Las entradas valen demasiado. â The tickets are worth too much / are too expensive.
đŹ How People Say âOkayâ in Spanish
 As you learn valer and costar youâll often hear another form, vale, in everyday conversations.
Itâs short, friendly and extremely common in Spain. But be careful: one version that learners sometimes create, *es vale, is completely incorrect in Spanish.
In Spain, vale on its own means âokayâ or âall right.â Itâs one of those little words that make you sound instantly more natural:
- Vale, nos vemos luego. â Okay, see you later.
- Vale, perfecto. â All right, perfect.
Never say *es vale â itâs grammatically wrong and doesnât exist in Spanish.
Think of vale as a complete expression by itself, just like saying âokay!â in English.
In Latin America, however, vale isnât usually used this way. Speakers there have other short, natural ways to say âokayâ or âagreed,â such as:
- EstĂĄ bien â okay / thatâs fine
- De acuerdo â agreed / okay
- Listo â okay / got it
- Bueno â okay (common in many countries)
So if youâre in Madrid, vale will make you sound local. But if youâre talking to someone from Mexico, Colombia or Argentina go with estĂĄ bien, listo or bueno instead â youâll sound perfectly natural in any part of the Spanish-speaking world.
â°ïž Related Words Youâll Hear
The most common is la cuesta, which literally means âhillâ or âslopeâ:
- Subimos la cuesta despacio. â We went up the hill slowly.
But youâll also hear it in la cuesta de enero, literally âthe January slope,â which describes the financial struggle many people feel after Christmas spending.
Itâs a perfect example of how Spanish connects literal effort with economic effort.
Youâll also come across el coste (more common in Spain) and el costo (preferred in Latin America), both meaning âthe costâ:
- El costo/coste del envĂo es alto. â The shipping cost is high.
By mastering costar and valer you can express value in every sense, from price and effort to meaning and importance.
And as Spanish speakers like to remind us, whatâs truly worth it usually cuesta a little.