despullar-se
“despullar-se” — to get undressed in Catalan. Verb, level A1, topic — everyday life and routine. Reflexive, from la pell, the skin: literally to un-skin. Es despulla abans del bany — he undresses before the bath. In a live sentence: “El nen es despulla per al bany” — The child undresses before the bath. One of 14 words in the set “everyday life and routine” in the Catalan course.
In short
| Written in Catalan | despullar-se |
| Translation | to get undressed |
| Part of speech | verb |
| Level | A1 |
Why it looks that way
Reflexive, from la pell, the skin: literally to un-skin. Es despulla abans del bany — he undresses before the bath
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.
- El nen es despulla per al banyThe child undresses before the bath
Nearby words: everyday life and routine
Work, home, rest, errands. The words the answer to “how are things?” is made of.
- el treballworkThe double ll is one fused ly sound: truh-BAL. Work as the place, and tinc treball — I'm busy
- treballarto workTo work on something is treballar en; to work as something is treballar de
- despertar-seto wake upReflexive: to wake oneself — em desperto. El despertador — the alarm clock: the same family
- aixecar-seto get upReflexive, Latin 'to lift upward': to lift oneself — m'aixeco. About prices rising, the same verb without -se
- rentar-seto wash upReflexive: to wash oneself — em rento. Without -se the same verb washes the dishes: rentar els plats
- pentinar-seto comb one's hairReflexive, from el pentinat, the hairstyle: em pentino. With el cabell it combs the hair — still about oneself
- afaitar-seto shaveReflexive: s'afaita al bany — he shaves in the bathroom. Stress the last a
- vestir-seto get dressedReflexive: to dress oneself. Em vesteixo — I get dressed: mind the -ixo, as in començo
- seureto sit downTo sit down and to sit are one word: seure. Seu aquí — sit here: the verb is both the pose and the motion
- ficar-se al llitto go to bedLiterally 'to get oneself into the bed': no ceremony. El llit — the bed: a word of its own
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “everyday life and routine”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “to get undressed” in Catalan?
Reflexive, from la pell, the skin: literally to un-skin. Es despulla abans del bany — he undresses before the bath
- How do you say “to shave” in Catalan?
Reflexive: s'afaita al bany — he shaves in the bathroom. Stress the last a
- How do you say “to wake up” in Catalan?
Reflexive: to wake oneself — em desperto. El despertador — the alarm clock: the same family
- How do you say “to go to bed” in Catalan?
Literally 'to get oneself into the bed': no ceremony. El llit — the bed: a word of its own
- How do you say “to comb one's hair” in Catalan?
Reflexive, from el pentinat, the hairstyle: em pentino. With el cabell it combs the hair — still about oneself
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 “to get undressed” in Catalan?
«despullar-se». In a live sentence: “El nen es despulla per al bany” — The child undresses before the bath. Verb, level A1, from the set “everyday life and routine”.
Why does this word look the way it does?
Reflexive, from la pell, the skin: literally to un-skin. Es despulla abans del bany — he undresses before the bath. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.