els cosmètics
“els cosmètics” — cosmetics in Valencian. Noun, level A2, topic — shopping and money. Always plural; his sister spends a lot on them. In a live sentence: “La seva germana gasta molt en cosmètics” — His sister spends a lot on cosmetics. One of 85 words in the set “shopping and money” in the Valencian course.
In short
| Written in Valencian | els cosmètics |
| Translation | cosmetics |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | A2 |
Why it looks that way
Always plural; his sister spends a lot on them
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.
- La seva germana gasta molt en cosmèticsHis sister spends a lot on cosmetics
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?One thing: quant costa? 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 botigashopThe local word — Spanish tienda is not used here. Botiga de tot — a little shop of everything
- el mercatmarketThe indoor city market is el mercat; the street one on set days is el mercadillo, a word borrowed from Spanish
- el taulellcounterThe seller's slab in the market stall: the fish counter sits at the back
- el venedorsellerThe person behind the taulell. Feminine: la venedora
- el compradorbuyerThe mirror of venedor: who pays rather than sells
- la balançascalesThe market scales; every price is per kilo
- el quilokilogramThe unit the whole market trades in: un quilo de taronges, si us plau
- la meitathalfHalf of anything: la meitat del camí — half the way
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 “cosmetics” in Valencian?
Always plural; his sister spends a lot on them
- How do you say “buyer” in Valencian?
The mirror of venedor: who pays rather than sells
- How do you say “shop” in Valencian?
The local word — Spanish tienda is not used here. Botiga de tot — a little shop of everything
- How do you say “half” in Valencian?
Half of anything: la meitat del camí — half the way
- How do you say “seller” in Valencian?
The person behind the taulell. Feminine: la venedora
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 “cosmetics” in Valencian?
«els cosmètics». In a live sentence: “La seva germana gasta molt en cosmètics” — His sister spends a lot on cosmetics. Noun, level A2, from the set “shopping and money”.
Why does this word look the way it does?
Always plural; his sister spends a lot on them. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.