el matalàs
“el matalàs” — mattress in Valencian. Noun, level A1, topic — the city and its places. The mattress; this one is hard — the back feels it in the morning. In a live sentence: “Aquest matalàs és dur: l'esquena ho nota al matí” — This mattress is hard: the back feels it in the morning. One of 157 words in the set “the city and its places” in the Valencian course.
In short
| Written in Valencian | el matalàs |
| Translation | mattress |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | A1 |
Why it looks that way
The mattress; this one is hard — the back feels it in the morning
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.
- Aquest matalàs és dur: l'esquena ho nota al matíThis mattress is hard: the back feels it in the morning
Nearby words: the city and its places
Street, square, pharmacy, bank. An address is built out of these, and an address is something you have to both say and understand.
- el restaurantrestaurantMasculine, and the everyday meal happens in el bar: morning coffee, lunch and an evening beer
- la ciutatcityFeminine like every -tat word. Stress at the end: siu-TAT. The dot in tranquil·la is the same geminated l as in the alphabet
- el carrerstreetWith two r's: the first is a short tap between vowels. Addresses use the short form: c/ Major, 12
- 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
- la farmàciapharmacyLook for the green cross on the sign. The night-duty one is the farmàcia de guàrdia — every pharmacy posts the list on its door
- el bancbankThe same word means bench, as in Spanish. Both come from the Germanic bench: money-changers worked at one
- l'estacióstationBoth the metro stop and the train station: estació de metro, estació de tren. The article la shrinks before the vowel: l'estació
- el semàfortraffic lightThe traffic light; it's red — wait a little
- la bicicletabicycleThe bicycle; we ride to the park on it
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “the city and its places”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “mattress” in Valencian?
The mattress; this one is hard — the back feels it in the morning
- How do you say “bank” in Valencian?
The same word means bench, as in Spanish. Both come from the Germanic bench: money-changers worked at one
- How do you say “street” in Valencian?
With two r's: the first is a short tap between vowels. Addresses use the short form: c/ Major, 12
- How do you say “bicycle” in Valencian?
The bicycle; we ride to the park on it
- How do you say “pharmacy” in Valencian?
Look for the green cross on the sign. The night-duty one is the farmàcia de guàrdia — every pharmacy posts the list on its door
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 “mattress” in Valencian?
«el matalàs». In a live sentence: “Aquest matalàs és dur: l'esquena ho nota al matí” — This mattress is hard: the back feels it in the morning. Noun, level A1, from the set “the city and its places”.
Why does this word look the way it does?
The mattress; this one is hard — the back feels it in the morning. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.