el centre comercial
“el centre comercial” — shopping mall in Catalan. Noun, level A2, topic — shopping and money. Literally "a commercial center": both words you know. It is cold inside and easy to get lost — look for el plànol at the entrance. In a live sentence: “El centre comercial obre fins a les deu de la nit” — The shopping mall is open until ten in the evening. You can hear how it sounds right here.
In short
| Written in Catalan | el centre comercial |
| Translation | shopping mall |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | A2 |
- el centre comercialshopping mall
Why it looks that way
Literally "a commercial center": both words you know. It is cold inside and easy to get lost — look for el plànol at the entrance
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 centre comercial obre fins a les deu de la nitThe shopping mall is open until ten in the evening
Nearby words: shopping and money
How much it costs, whether there is a smaller one, whether cards are accepted. A shop forgives mistakes: miss a word and they will show you the thing with their hands anyway.
- quant costa?how much is it?For one thing: quant costa? For several: quant costen? The verb agrees with the goods, not the buyer
- l'euroeuroIt changes in the plural: un euro, dos euros. The cents are els cèntims
- la botigashopCatalonia's own word: the Spanish tienda is not used here. Botiga de tot — a shop of a little bit of everything
- el mercatmarketThe covered city market is el mercat; the street market on certain days is el mercadillo — a word that arrived from Spanish
- el taulellcounterThe double ll is one fused ly sound: tuh-LYEL. The market counter is a taulell de mercat
- el venedorsellerFrom vendre, to sell. Feminine la venedora: the gender lives in the ending
- el compradorbuyerFrom comprar, to buy — a word shared with Spanish. A woman buyer is la compradora
- la balançascalesbuh-LAN-suh: the ç is always s. Hence balança comercial — the trade balance
- el quilokiloThe short form of quilogram, like English 'kilo'. Un quilo de préssecs — a kilo of peaches
- la meitathalfmuh-TAT. La meitat de quilo — half a kilo. The same word is half a watermelon and half past five
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “shopping and money”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “shopping mall” in Catalan?
Literally "a commercial center": both words you know. It is cold inside and easy to get lost — look for el plànol at the entrance
- How do you say “buyer” in Catalan?
From comprar, to buy — a word shared with Spanish. A woman buyer is la compradora
- How do you say “shop” in Catalan?
Catalonia's own word: the Spanish tienda is not used here. Botiga de tot — a shop of a little bit of everything
- How do you say “half” in Catalan?
muh-TAT. La meitat de quilo — half a kilo. The same word is half a watermelon and half past five
- How do you say “seller” in Catalan?
From vendre, to sell. Feminine la venedora: the gender lives in the ending
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 “shopping mall” in Catalan?
«el centre comercial». In a live sentence: “El centre comercial obre fins a les deu de la nit” — The shopping mall is open until ten in the evening. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Noun, level A2, from the set “shopping and money”.
Why does this word look the way it does?
Literally "a commercial center": both words you know. It is cold inside and easy to get lost — look for el plànol at the entrance. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
Can I hear how this sounds?
Yes, right on this page: click the word and it will play. The sound works on any phone, and nothing needs to be installed.