astuto
“astuto” — cunning in Spanish. Adjective, level B1, topic — people and family. Crafty as a fox, with a shade of praise for the mind. When the trickery is cheating, it is tramposo. And listo simply means sharp, without any reproach. In a live sentence: “Es astuto y siempre encuentra la manera” — He is cunning and always finds a way. You can hear how it sounds right here. One of 134 words in the set “people and family” in the Spanish course.
In short
| Written in Spanish | astuto |
| Translation | cunning |
| Part of speech | adjective |
| Level | B1 |
- astutocunning
Why it looks that way
Crafty as a fox, with a shade of praise for the mind. When the trickery is cheating, it is tramposo. And listo simply means sharp, without any reproach
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.
- Es astuto y siempre encuentra la maneraHe is cunning and always finds a way
Nearby words: people and family
Mum, friend, child, neighbour. The first thing people ask you about, and the first thing you tell about yourself.
- el amigofriendA heavier word than English friend: an acquaintance is un conocido, a colleague un colega
- la familiafamilyA false friend: this is family, not surname — the surname is el apellido. Stress on the i: fah-MEE-lyah
- la madremotherThe neutral word, for documents and for talking about someone else. The affectionate mom is mamá, stress at the end
- el padrefatherThe affectionate one is papá, stress at the end. The accent mark decides everything: papá is dad, papa is a potato and the Pope
- el hijochildA child as somebody's son or daughter. In the plural los hijos means children in general; a kid regardless of parents is el niño
- la personapersonAlways feminine, even about a man: una persona alta. People in general are la gente, and the verb with it stays singular
- el hombremanA man, and mankind in the broad sense. In conversation hombre! is just listen! or come on!
- la mujerwomanThe j is a harsh throaty h: moo-HER
- el chicoyoung manA young man, a guy. The bookish one is el joven; Latin America prefers el muchacho. As an adjective chico means small
- la chicayoung womanThe pair of el chico. One word covers girl and young woman; age comes from context, not the word
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “people and family”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “cunning” in Spanish?
Crafty as a fox, with a shade of praise for the mind. When the trickery is cheating, it is tramposo. And listo simply means sharp, without any reproach
- How do you say “man” in Spanish?
A man, and mankind in the broad sense. In conversation hombre! is just listen! or come on!
- How do you say “mother” in Spanish?
The neutral word, for documents and for talking about someone else. The affectionate mom is mamá, stress at the end
- How do you say “young woman” in Spanish?
The pair of el chico. One word covers girl and young woman; age comes from context, not the word
- How do you say “person” in Spanish?
Always feminine, even about a man: una persona alta. People in general are la gente, and the verb with it stays singular
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 “cunning” in Spanish?
«astuto». In a live sentence: “Es astuto y siempre encuentra la manera” — He is cunning and always finds a way. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Adjective, level B1, from the set “people and family”.
Why does this word look the way it does?
Crafty as a fox, with a shade of praise for the mind. When the trickery is cheating, it is tramposo. And listo simply means sharp, without any reproach. 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 it 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.