Spanish · Chapter 30 · Lesson 22 · Themed review
El cuerpo, en detalle
The second pass, now that the face has a nose and ears and the arm has a hand on the end of it.
Practise this lesson
25-word session
A quick mix of exercises - recognise, recall, type and build each word. Miss one and it comes back round until it sticks.
Worth knowing
One word for finger and toe, and two for hair
You met the head, the hand and the heart in chapter 8. This is the rest of it, and it is where Spanish and English stop agreeing about which parts deserve their own words.
dedo does both ends
is a finger. is also a toe. If it matters, you say pie, finger of the foot, which is exactly as clumsy as it sounds and is what people actually say.
English has two words and no way to talk about both at once. Spanish has one word and has to work to be specific. Neither is better; they are different bets about what you will need to say.
pelo and cabello
Two words for hair and the split is not what you would guess.
is hair anywhere, on anyone, including animals, and it is the ordinary everyday word. is specifically the hair on a human head, and it is more elevated - shampoo advertising, poetry, a hairdresser being professional.
Ask for a haircut and you say . Read the bottle and it says .
The face
is the face, and it is the common word. is also the face, and it is literary. A police description would use ; you would use .
is the mouth and also an opening generally: is the entrance to the underground.
brazo and mano
stops at the wrist. takes over from there, and is feminine despite ending in -o, which makes it one of the small handful of nouns that simply disobey. . Learn it as a phrase and the gender stops being a decision.
espalda
is the back of a body. in the plural turns up in expressions about carrying burdens. It is unrelated to España, which every learner briefly suspects.
The back of an object is or dorso. Spanish is quite firm that a body's back and a chair's back are different concepts.
Words in this theme
el cuerpo/ˈkweɾpo/body
la cabeza/kaˈβeθa/head
la cara/ˈkaɾa/face; expensive
el rostro/ˈrostɾo/face
el pelo/ˈpelo/hair
el cabello/kaˈβeʎo/hair
el ojo/ˈo.xo/eye
la oreja/oˈɾexa/ear
la nariz/naˈɾiθ/nose
la boca/ˈboka/mouth
el diente/ˈdjente/tooth
el cuello/ˈkweʎo/neck, collar
el hombro/ˈombɾo/shoulder
el brazo/ˈbɾaθo/arm
la mano/ˈmano/hand
el dedo/ˈde.ðo/finger, toe
el pecho/ˈpetʃo/chest, breast
la espalda/esˈpalda/back (body part)
el estómago/esˈtomaɣo/stomach
la pierna/ˈpjeɾna/leg
la rodilla/roˈðiʎa/knee
el pie/ˈpje/foot
la piel/pjel/skin, leather
el hueso/ˈweso/bone
el cerebro/θeˈɾeβɾo/brain, mind, mastermind