Mercadona's Big Win in Portugal

Key vocabulary

• cadenaf.

  chain (of stores)

  “Mercadona es una cadena de supermercados española.”— Mercadona is a Spanish supermarket chain.

  Pattern cadena de supermercados chain supermarkets

  Compare red (f. network)

  Plural: cadenas

  💡 Originally meaning "chain", extended to mean "chain store", as in cadena hotelera (hotel chain).

• cuotaf.

  share; quota

  “Tiene una cuota de mercado del 7,4%.”— It has a market share of 7.4%.

  Pattern cuota de mercado market share

  Compare porcentaje (m. percentage)

  Plural: cuotas

  💡 In business contexts, it often refers to market share; cuota de mercado is a fixed collocation.

• operadorm.

  operator; player

  “Ahora es el cuarto operador más importante del país.”— It is now the fourth most important operator in the country.

  Pattern operador del mercado market operator

  Compare empresa (f. company)

  Plural: operadores

  💡 From the verb operar (to operate); the suffix -dor indicates "a person or entity that does something".

• invertirv.

  to invest

  “La empresa ha invertido más de 1.200 millones de euros desde 2019.”— The company has invested more than 1.2 billion euros since 2019.

  Pattern invertir en invest in...

  Compare financiar (v. to fund)

  Present: invierto, inviertes, invierte...; past participle: invertido

  💡 Note the stem change e→ie: invierto. The noun form is inversión (investment).

• facturarv.

  to bill; to invoice

  “En 2025 facturó más de 2.000 millones de euros en Portugal.”— In 2025 it billed more than 2 billion euros in Portugal.

  Pattern facturar millones have a turnover of millions

  Compare vender (v. to sell)

  Present: facturo, facturas, factura...

  💡 From factura (invoice); in business contexts it means "to have a turnover of".

• hogarm.

  household; home

  “Mercadona vende ya al 55,6% de los hogares portugueses.”— Mercadona now sells to 55.6% of Portuguese households.

  Pattern en el hogar in the household

  Compare casa (f. home)

  Plural: hogares

  💡 hogar refers to "household" as a social unit, more abstract than casa, and is often used in market research.

• competitivoadj.

  competitive

  “El mercado portugués es muy competitivo.”— The Portuguese market is very competitive.

  Pattern mercado competitivo competitive market

  Compare rival (adj. competing)

  Feminine: competitiva; plural: competitivos/competitivas

  💡 From competir (to compete); the suffix -ivo indicates "having the nature of...".

• ambiciosoadj.

  ambitious

  “Sus planes son ambiciosos: quiere seguir creciendo.”— Its plans are ambitious: it wants to keep growing.

  Pattern planes ambiciosos ambitious plans

  Compare audaz (adj. bold)

  Feminine: ambiciosa; plural: ambiciosos/ambiciosas

  💡 From ambición (ambition); note the spelling change c→c+i/o.

Grammar spotlight

Sentence patterns to steal

• Mercadona vende ya al 55,6% de los hogares portugueses.

  Mercadona already sells to 55.6% of Portuguese households.

  subject + vender + a + percentage + de + nounYou can replace the subject (e.g., Lidl), the percentage, and the noun (e.g., consumidores 'consumers').

• Casi seis de cada diez familias compran en sus tiendas.

  Almost six out of every ten families shop in its stores.

  casi + number + de cada + number + noun + verbYou can replace the numbers and the noun, for example: "casi ocho de cada diez personas" (almost eight out of every ten people).

• Sus planes son ambiciosos: quiere seguir creciendo y abriendo nuevos supermercados.

  Its plans are ambitious: it wants to continue growing and opening new supermarkets.

  subject + querer + seguir + gerund + y + gerundYou can replace querer with desear (to wish), and the gerunds with other actions.