Confusing words 2 Ring

Wednesday, 12 October 2011 10:38

Written by Editor

If you are going to ring someone, that is, call them on the phone, you
use  llamar. Sometimes adding por teléfono if it is necessary to clarify.

Voy a llamar a mi Madre por teléfono -  I'm going to phone my Mother.
Vamos a llamar a Juan esta tarde -  We're going to phone Juan this evening.
Llamo a mi suegra todos los domingos  -  I phone my Mother-in-law every Sunday.

If you want people to stand in a ring you tell them to formar un circulo
Use Hay que .. - it is necessary to.. Hay que formar un circulo  -  You have to form a circle .
Un toque is the actual sound of ringing.  Dame un toque  means make a missed call to me.

If you ring a door bell you use  tocar el timbre.  
Tocaron el timbre y se fueron corriendo  -  They rang the bell and ran away.

A ring for your finger is un anillo,
Me compré un precioso anillo de oro  -  I bought myself a beautiful gold ring.
Ahora mismo los anillos grandes son de moda  -  At the moment, big rings are in fashion.

There is a separate word for wedding ring,  una alianza
Perdí mi alianza en la playa hace tres años  -  I lost my wedding ring at the beach
three years ago

A boxing ring is, un cuadrillo (a little square)  which makes a lot more sense.
Why on earth do we call it a ring in English? Another example of how,  when it
comes to logic, Spanish wins hands down over English.

And if you want to say "That rings a bell" as in "That sounds familiar to me" use "Me suena"

Hasta la próxima - Until next time.
Valerie.

Valerie runs the Centro Idiomas Language School in Coin.
Her books, “The First Twelve Shortcuts to Spanish” , “The Second Twelve Shortcuts to Spanish”   & “The Third Twelve Shortcuts to Spanish” (€5 each) and  “The Verb Book” (€7) are available from The News office in Coin, Woody’s Cards and Books in Los Boliches, David’s Books in Los Boliches or by email from This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Valerie's books can also now be bought from her website - www.cslspain.com

or call 952 450 747.