Sopa is soup. Soap is jabón.

A one-letter difference in English, a whole meal in Spanish. Tell reception there's no sopa in the bathroom and watch them think.

You said

No hay sopa en el baño.

What it means: There's no soup in the bathroom.

A local says

No hay jabón en el baño.

There's no soap in the bathroom.

Why: Sopa is soup. Soap is jabón.

A hotel front desk in Antigua, Guatemala

Disculpe, no hay sopa en el baño.

"¿Sopa?" A pause. "Ah, ¡jabón! Ahorita se lo llevo."

This one isn't a false friend so much as a near miss: sopa sounds like soap, and under pressure the brain grabs the closest sound. Sopa is soup, a staple across Latin America (sopa de tortilla, sopa de lima, caldo). Jabón comes from a different word entirely, so there's no shortcut: it just has to be learned.

The bathroom words travellers need most: jabón (soap), champú (shampoo), papel de baño or papel higiénico (toilet paper), toalla (towel) and agua caliente (hot water). The phrase for anything missing is no hay: no hay papel, no hay toallas, no hay agua caliente.

Put disculpe at the front and you've made a polite complaint: Disculpe, no hay jabón en el baño. To ask for more of something, ¿Me puede dar otra toalla? (could I have another towel?) works anywhere.

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Also worth knowing

Spanish	English
Disculpe, no hay papel de baño.	Excuse me, there's no toilet paper.
¿Me puede dar otra toalla?	Could I have another towel?
La sopa del día es de verduras.	The soup of the day is vegetable.

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Questions people ask

What does sopa mean in Spanish?

Soup: sopa de tortilla, sopa de verduras. It never means soap.

How do you say soap in Spanish?

Jabón (plural jabones). Hand soap is jabón para manos, dish soap is jabón para trastes in Mexico, and shampoo is champú.

How do you say there's no soap?

No hay jabón. At a hotel: Disculpe, no hay jabón en el baño.