Untranslatable spanish words! Look at my Ser & Estar post to see the most used untranslatable spanish words. These untranlatable words happen in languages all the time.
In english we have words like sibling , aura farming , looks-maxing , shallow , sonder , ect. The creation of these words occur due to being an aspect of our daily lives , enviroment or our cultures. Western cultures , especially on the internet heavily value physical appearance and use words like aura farming , looks-maxxing to describe their daily adherance to enhancing physical beauty. This also creeps into the second reason why a language would have intranslatable words ; to express nuanced , subtle , complicated emotions and concepts. Furthermore , languages evolve and borrow loan words from more developed languages like English , french , ect to use independent words.These are spanish words that can’t be expressed in one english word!
friolento/a – somebody who is very sensitive to the cold.
Maria es una friolenta. Siempre tiene fria. Maria is very sensitive to the cold. She is always cold.
madrugar – to wake up very early.
Tengo que madrugar por mis hijos. I have to wake up early for my kids.
empalagarse – something being sickingly sweet
No quiero más caramelos, estoy empalagado. I don’t want any more lollies/candy , I’m sick of it.
ganas – the motivated feeling to do something
Tengo ganas de jugar tenis. I feel like playing tennis.
anteayer – the day before yesterday
Anteayer , María se casó con Juan. The day before yesterday , Maria married Juan.
transnochar – to spend the night without sleep
No me gusta trasnochar. I like staying up late
sobremesa – chatting at dining table after eating a meal
Disfruto sobremesa con mi familia. I enjoy chatting with my family after eating.
Querer – To Want (but if used reflexively means family , platonic , light hearted love)
Te quiero – I love you. (This is used for expressing everday love)
Amar– To Love ( Intense Romantic Love)
Te amo – I love you. ( This holds a strong ,passionate and romantic nuance)
Further resources:
Share your thoughts