al mig
“al mig” — in the middle in Valencian. Adverb, level A1, topic — asking the way. Literally at the middle: al mig del parc — in the middle of the park. In a live sentence: “Al mig del parc hi ha una font” — There is a fountain in the middle of the park. One of 28 words in the set “asking the way” in the Valencian course.
In short
| Written in Valencian | al mig |
| Translation | in the middle |
| Part of speech | adverb |
| Level | A1 |
Why it looks that way
Literally at the middle: al mig del parc — in the middle of the park
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.
- Al mig del parc hi ha una fontThere is a fountain in the middle of the park
Nearby words: asking the way
Right, left, straight on, how far. You ask the way rarely — and always at the moment when there is no time to work it out.
- on és?where is it?Literally where is it — asked through ésser, not estar, which is one more difference from Spanish. No one drops the verb
- la dretarightA la dreta — to the right. The word is feminine: la mà dreta — the right hand
- l'esquerraleftA Latin word of its own — not the borrowed izquierdo of Spanish. A l'esquerra — to the left
- tot rectstraight aheadLiterally all straight. Recte is the same word as the straight of the final straight
- a propcloseA prop de — close to something: a prop de casa. Without de it is simply near
- llunyfarOpens with the double ll — one soft sound, lyoon-y. Lluny de — far from something
- acíhereThe Valencian ací is one of the giveaways of the norm: central Catalan says aquí. The scale is the same: ací — here by me, allà — over there
- allàthereThe far there, out of reach. The near there, in your reach, is allí
- per on s'hi vahow do I get thereLiterally by where does one go — the impersonal way of asking for a route
- arribar-hito get thereArrive there: the hi is the there already in the conversation
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “asking the way”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “in the middle” in Valencian?
Literally at the middle: al mig del parc — in the middle of the park
- How do you say “here” in Valencian?
The Valencian ací is one of the giveaways of the norm: central Catalan says aquí. The scale is the same: ací — here by me, allà — over there
- How do you say “left” in Valencian?
A Latin word of its own — not the borrowed izquierdo of Spanish. A l'esquerra — to the left
- How do you say “to get there” in Valencian?
Arrive there: the hi is the there already in the conversation
- How do you say “far” in Valencian?
Opens with the double ll — one soft sound, lyoon-y. Lluny de — far from something
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 “in the middle” in Valencian?
«al mig». In a live sentence: “Al mig del parc hi ha una font” — There is a fountain in the middle of the park. Adverb, level A1, from the set “asking the way”.
Why does this word look the way it does?
Literally at the middle: al mig del parc — in the middle of the park. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.