el trabajo
“el trabajo” — work in Spanish. Noun, level A1, topic — everyday life and routine. The j sounds like a throaty h: trah-BAH-hoh. Both the workplace and being busy: tengo trabajo — I'm busy. In a live sentence: “Salgo del trabajo a las seis” — I leave work at six. You can hear how it sounds right here. One of 12 words in the set “everyday life and routine” in the Spanish course.
In short
| Written in Spanish | el trabajo |
| Translation | work |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | A1 |
- el trabajowork
Why it looks that way
The j sounds like a throaty h: trah-BAH-hoh. Both the workplace and being busy: tengo trabajo — I'm busy
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.
- Salgo del trabajo a las seisI leave work at six
Nearby words: everyday life and routine
Work, home, rest, errands. The words the answer to “how are things?” is made of.
- trabajarto workThe j is a throaty h: trah-bah-HAR. Working on something is trabajar en; working as something is trabajar de
- despertarseto wake upThe stem breaks: me despierto. Without -se it means to wake somebody up
- levantarseto get upWaking and getting up are two different jobs and two different verbs — Spanish never mixes them
- lavarseto wash oneselfBody parts come with the article, not my: me lavo la cara — literally I wash myself the face
- peinarseto comb one's hairFrom peine, a comb. Regular, no broken stem
- afeitarseto shaveWithout -se it means to shave somebody else. At the barbershop they ask exactly that: le afeito?
- vestirseto get dressedThe stem swaps e for i: me visto. Vestido is the same word as a dress
- desvestirseto get undressedThe prefix des- undoes the action, like un- in English. In live speech people more often say quitarse la ropa
- sentarseto sit downIt breaks: me siento. Exactly the same shape as me siento from sentirse — I feel
- acostarseto go to bedIt breaks: me acuesto. For sleep it's acostarse; for lying down on the sofa it's tumbarse
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 “work” in Spanish?
The j sounds like a throaty h: trah-BAH-hoh. Both the workplace and being busy: tengo trabajo — I'm busy
- How do you say “to get dressed” in Spanish?
The stem swaps e for i: me visto. Vestido is the same word as a dress
- How do you say “to get up” in Spanish?
Waking and getting up are two different jobs and two different verbs — Spanish never mixes them
- How do you say “to go to bed” in Spanish?
It breaks: me acuesto. For sleep it's acostarse; for lying down on the sofa it's tumbarse
- How do you say “to shave” in Spanish?
Without -se it means to shave somebody else. At the barbershop they ask exactly that: le afeito?
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 “work” in Spanish?
«el trabajo». In a live sentence: “Salgo del trabajo a las seis” — I leave work at six. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Noun, level A1, from the set “everyday life and routine”.
Why does this word look the way it does?
The j sounds like a throaty h: trah-BAH-hoh. Both the workplace and being busy: tengo trabajo — I'm busy. 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.