els alicates
“els alicates” — pliers in Catalan. Noun, level A2, topic — home and things. Only plural — like scissors: two teeth go in a pair. They cut wires and hold nuts: tallen el cable. In a live sentence: “Amb els alicates pots tallar el cable” — With pliers one can cut a wire. One of 230 words in the set “home and things” in the Catalan course.
In short
| Written in Catalan | els alicates |
| Translation | pliers |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | A2 |
Why it looks that way
Only plural — like scissors: two teeth go in a pair. They cut wires and hold nuts: tallen el cable
A word with a story stays in memory longer than one learned as a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
In a live sentence
A single word almost never appears alone in conversation. A sentence shows where it fits and what stands next to it.
- Amb els alicates pots tallar el cableWith pliers one can cut a wire
Nearby words: home and things
Room, key, water, electricity. You will need them on your first day in a rented flat.
- la casahouseA casa without the article means 'at home'; a la casa — inside the specific building. The ear hears the difference
- l'habitatgehousingThe bookish 'housing in general': ads say habitatges de lloguer — housing for rent. The specific flat is el pis
- l'habitacióroomDo not mix up with l'habitatge, housing as a whole. Habitació doble — a room for two: that is how hotels write it
- la cuinakitchenBoth the room and the cooking: la cuina catalana — Catalan cuisine. The cook is el cuiner, he is in this unit too
- el banybathroomBoth the bathroom and the bath: prendre un bany — to take a bath. In ads: pis amb dos banys
- el balcóbalconyWith the accent: buhl-KOH. Al balcó hi ha flors — flowers on the balcony, a classic of Catalan streets
- la plantafloor (story)The same word is 'plant': context divides. Planta baixa — the ground floor, quarta planta — the fourth
- l'ascensorliftA relative of French ascenseur. Old houses lack it — sense ascensor is written large and honestly
- l'escalastaircaseAlso a 'scale' and a 'scope'. The entrance stairwell is l'escala: 'Scale A' on the plate by the door
- la taulatableA taula! — to the table! — the call to lunch. Taula rodona — a round table, and negotiations
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “home and things”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “pliers” in Catalan?
Only plural — like scissors: two teeth go in a pair. They cut wires and hold nuts: tallen el cable
- How do you say “floor (story)” in Catalan?
The same word is 'plant': context divides. Planta baixa — the ground floor, quarta planta — the fourth
- How do you say “room” in Catalan?
Do not mix up with l'habitatge, housing as a whole. Habitació doble — a room for two: that is how hotels write it
- How do you say “table” in Catalan?
A taula! — to the table! — the call to lunch. Taula rodona — a round table, and negotiations
- How do you say “balcony” in Catalan?
With the accent: buhl-KOH. Al balcó hi ha flors — flowers on the balcony, a classic of Catalan streets
How not to forget this word
Reading a word and remembering it are different jobs. A day later, little survives of a single reading — and that is not bad memory, that is how memory works.
- This has been tested on foreign words too. The difference shows up most when you test yourself a few days later rather than straight away.checked many timesKim & Webb, 2022, Language Learning 72(2) · 48 experiments, 3,411 participants, 98 comparisons.
- Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
- An answer you worked out yourself sticks better than one handed to you.checked many timesBertsch et al., 2007, Memory & Cognition 35(2) · 86 studies, 445 comparisons, d = 0.40.
Frequently asked
How do you say “pliers” in Catalan?
«els alicates». In a live sentence: “Amb els alicates pots tallar el cable” — With pliers one can cut a wire. Noun, level A2, from the set “home and things”.
Why does this word look the way it does?
Only plural — like scissors: two teeth go in a pair. They cut wires and hold nuts: tallen el cable. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.