Are you familiar with the body parts in Spanish? Do you know how to say words like "hands," "legs," or "face" in Spanish? Let's see how to write and pronounce las partes del cuerpo en español (the parts of the body in Spanish), from head to toe!
Inclina tu cabeza hacia atrás,
Tilt your head back;
Caption 19, Bienestar con Elizabeth - Rehabilitación vestibular
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Pelo is a very common word for "hair." However, keep in mind that pelo can refer to any kind of body hair, while the word cabello only refers to the hair on one's head.
Vale, pero los dos tenemos el pelo negro, vale, muy bien, perfecto.
OK, but we both have black hair, OK, very good, perfect.
Caption 12, Clase Aula Azul - El verbo parecer
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Para mi cabello, aquí tengo mi cepillo de cabello
For my hair, I have here my hair brush
Caption 27, Ana Carolina - Artículos de aseo personal
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Keep in mind that the Spanish word for the inner ear is el oído while the external ear (what you actually see) is called la oreja.
Las orejas son partes del cuerpo
The ears are parts of the body
que se encuentran en cada lateral de la cabeza
that are found on each side of the head
y que forman la parte exterior del oído.
and that form the external part of the inner ear.
Captions 53-55, Clara explica - El cuerpo
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Some of the most often used parts of the body in Spanish are placed in our face. Let's take a look.
There are two words for face in Spanish: la cara and el rostro. However, while cara is mostly used to talk about the physical part of the body, rostro is often used to talk in a sort of poetic, abstract way about someone's face. Let's see how to pronounce both words:
Esa mañana, al lavarse la cara,
That morning, while washing his face,
Caption 15, Aprendiendo con Carlos - El microrrelato
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Pinto mi rostro de mascarada
I paint my face in masquerade
Caption 20, Alejandra Guzmán - Porque no estás aquí
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Dio un suspiro y un golpe en la frente,
She let out a sigh and banged her forehead,
Caption 55, Cleer - Rafael Pombo y "Pastorcita"
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Me encantaría tener los ojos azules.
I would love to have blue eyes.
Caption 34, Clara explica - El cuerpo
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Ahora voy a delinear las cejas con un lápiz color café.
Now I am going to line the eyebrows with a brown-colored pencil.
Caption 53, Maquillaje - Con Cata y Cleer
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Después tenemos las pestañas.
Then we have the eyelashes.
Caption 21, Marta de Madrid - El cuerpo - La cabeza
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Cuando una mujer hablaba de mis mejillas,
When a woman talked about my cheeks,
Caption 23, Los Años Maravillosos - Capítulo 3
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que podía tener sangre por la nariz.
that he might have a bloody nose.
Caption 15, Juan Sánchez - Personajes
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Esta... esta boca quiere decir que está como un poco...
This... this mouth wants to say that it's like a bit...
Caption 67, Bucaramanga, Colombia - Pintor callejero
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Tanto te quise besar que me duelen los labios
I wanted to kiss you so much that my lips hurt
Caption 2, Shakira - Sale el Sol
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para que los dientes estén más fuertes
so that the teeth become stronger
Caption 61, Los médicos explican - Consejos: dientes de niños
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Esta letra la pronuncias poniendo la lengua junto al paladar
You pronounce this letter by putting the tongue next to the palate
Caption 61, Ana Carolina - Mejorando la pronunciación
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Después tenemos la barbilla.
Then we have the chin.
Caption 70, Marta de Madrid - El cuerpo - La cabeza
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Vas a bajar el mentón hacia tu cuello
You're going to lower your chin toward your neck,
Caption 28, Bienestar con Elizabeth - Relajación
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La cabeza es la parte superior del cuerpo
The head is the top part of the body
que está situada sobre el cuello
that is situated on the neck
Captions 49-50, Clara explica - El cuerpo
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y a Chibchacum lo puso a cargar la Tierra en sus hombros.
and forced Chibchacum to carry the Earth on his shoulders.
Caption 57, Aprendiendo con Carlos - América precolombina - El mito de Bochica
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Esta que tengo en mis brazos se llama Poeska.
This one I have in my arms is named Poeska.
Caption 21, Fermín y los gatos - Mi gata Poeska
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Vamos a mover codos,
We're going to move [our] elbows,
que normalmente no movemos esta articulación.
as we don't normally move this joint.
Captions 15-16, Bienestar con Elizabeth - Activar las articulaciones
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Of all the names of body parts in Spanish, this is probably the most unique. The word muñeca indeed means not only "wrist" but "doll" as well, so keep that in mind when you need to remember how to say "wrist" in Spanish.
sufren mucha lesión en codos, en muñecas y en hombros.
they suffer a lot of injuries on [their] elbows, wrists and shoulders.
Caption 28, Adícora, Venezuela - Los fisioterapeutas
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los voy a colocar en mis manos,
I'm going to place them in my hands,
Caption 30, Ana Carolina - Gérmenes
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Tiene agujeros donde se colocan los dedos,
It has holes where you place your fingers,
Caption 38, Karla e Isabel - Instrumentos musicales
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Si tienes unas piernas fuertes y ganas de andar,
If you have some strong legs and feel like walking,
Caption 102, Blanca - Cómo moverse en Barcelona
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¡Vamos! Doble sus rodillas.
Let's go! Bend your knees.
Caption 24, Extr@: Extra en español - Ep. 3 - Sam aprende a ligar
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unos zapatos para los pies del bebé.
some shoes for the baby's feet.
Caption 35, Conversaciones en el parque - Cap. 4: Regalos para un nuevo bebé
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También, este... son frecuentes en lesionarse [sic] mucho las articulaciones metatarsianas
Also, um... they frequently hurt their metatarsal joints a lot,
que son los dedos del pie,
which are the toes,
Captions 25-26, Adícora, Venezuela - Los fisioterapeutas
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And with this last term, we have come to the end of this lesson about Spanish body parts. We encourage you to practice the names of all of these partes del cuerpo, and don't forget to send us your comments and suggestions. ¡Hasta la próxima!
Let’s talk about articles. In this lesson, we will review this basic but very important ingredient of the Spanish language. We'll begin this lesson by discussing what an article is, and then look at the two main groups of articles we have in Spanish.
An article is a word that we use in Spanish to specify the gender and number of a noun. Articles also tell us how specific a noun is and that’s why they can be definite or indefinite. Finally, we always put articles before a noun.
If that sounds too complicated, let’s see how the Cambridge Dictionary defines the word article: “Any of the English words "a," "an," and "the," or words in other languages that are used in a similar way as these.” With that being said, let’s take a look at definite and indefinite articles in Spanish.
Definite articles in English are easy. In fact, we only have one definite article: the. On the contrary, we have four different definite articles in Spanish:
The article la
The article los
The article las
Let’s see them in action:
El niño (the boy) - We use ‘el’ to indicate that the noun is singular and masculine.
La niña (the girl) - We use ‘la’ to indicate that the noun is singular and feminine.
Los niños (the boys) - We use ‘los’ to indicate that the noun is plural and masculine.
Las niñas (the girls) - We use ‘las’ to indicate that the noun is plural and feminine.
Keep in mind, however, that if you are referring to a group where you have both male and female elements, we need to use the masculine article ‘los’. In fact, in those cases we need to use the plural form of the masculine noun:
A group of 4 male friends: los amigos (the friends)
A group of 4 female friends: las amigas (the friends)
A group of 2 male friends and 2 female friends: los amigos (the friends)
Hoy tengo clase con los alumnos principiantes de español.
Today I have class with the beginner Spanish students.
Caption 5, Español para principiantes - La hora
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In the example above, we use the article los with the word alumnos (students) but the speaker is very likely referring to a group of both male and female students.
We also have the neuter definite article lo but if you want a further explanation about this very particular article, please check the lesson about this topic HERE.
In English, we have the indefinite articles “a” and “an.” On the other hand, we have four indefinite articles in Spanish that we use to specify the gender and number of the noun they precede. These articles are un, una, unos and unas:
Un perro (a dog) - We use ‘un’ to indicate that the noun is singular and masculine.
Una serpiente (a snake) - We use ‘una’ to indicate that the noun is singular and feminine.
Unos perros (some dogs) - We use ‘unos’ to indicate that the noun is plural and masculine.
Unas serpientes (some snakes) - We use ‘unas’ to indicate that the noun is plural and feminine.
Let’s look at a couple of sentences more with indefinite articles in Spanish:
Compré un regalo para unos amigos.
I bought a gift for some friends.
Caption 9, Conversaciones en el parque - Cap. 4: Regalos para un nuevo bebé
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In this sentence, we use the article unos with the noun amigos (friends). However, just as it happens with the definite article los, we use the indefinite article unos when referring to groups that may include both male and female elements. In this case, some friends could easily include both male and female friends.
¿Unas entradas para ver un musical?
Some tickets to see a musical?
Caption 35, Blanca y Mariona - Planificación de cena
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In this example, both nouns are indefinite so the girls use the corresponding indefinite articles. If the girls had known some specific information about the tickets and the musical, they would have used definite articles:
That's it for now. If you are aware of the gender and number variables that nouns have in Spanish, you will be on your way to using definite and indefinite articles in Spanish like a pro. We hope you find this lesson useful and don’t forget to send us your feedback and suggestions.
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