el fill
“el fill” — child in Valencian. Noun, level A1, topic — people and family. A child as somebody's son or daughter. In the plural els fills is children in general; the toddler on his own is el xiquet, a Valencian word the central norm swaps for nen. In a live sentence: “Tenen dos fills, un xiquet i una xiqueta” — They have two children, a boy and a girl. One of 129 words in the set “people and family” in the Valencian course.
In short
| Written in Valencian | el fill |
| Translation | child |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | A1 |
Why it looks that way
A child as somebody's son or daughter. In the plural els fills is children in general; the toddler on his own is el xiquet, a Valencian word the central norm swaps for nen
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.
- Tenen dos fills, un xiquet i una xiquetaThey have two children, a boy and a girl
Nearby words: people and family
Mum, friend, child, neighbour. The first thing people ask you about, and the first thing you tell about yourself.
- l'amicfriendThe article shrinks before the vowel: l'amic, l'amiga. A mere acquaintance is un conegut
- la famíliafamilyA false friend: it is the family, not the surname — the surname is el cognom. Stress on the í: fa-MÍ-lia
- la maremotherThe neutral word, for documents and talk about third persons. The cuddly mum is mamà, stress at the end. The sea is el mar — the article tells them apart
- el parefatherThe cuddly one is papà, stress at the end. The accent decides: papa without it is potato and the Pope
- la personapersonA person of any kind; grammatically feminine even about men: una persona amable
- l'homemanAn adult man; the plural homes. Not to be mixed with the house — that is la casa
- la donawomanAn adult woman; the wife in older speech: la meva dona
- el joveyoung manLiterally young man: jove is the adjective young
- la noiayoung womanA girl or young woman; the everyday address for waitresses too
- l'anciàelderly manThe respectful old person: l'ancià, l'ànciana. Say it this way and you will never go wrong
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 “child” in Valencian?
A child as somebody's son or daughter. In the plural els fills is children in general; the toddler on his own is el xiquet, a Valencian word the central norm swaps for nen
- How do you say “woman” in Valencian?
An adult woman; the wife in older speech: la meva dona
- How do you say “mother” in Valencian?
The neutral word, for documents and talk about third persons. The cuddly mum is mamà, stress at the end. The sea is el mar — the article tells them apart
- How do you say “elderly man” in Valencian?
The respectful old person: l'ancià, l'ànciana. Say it this way and you will never go wrong
- How do you say “man” in Valencian?
An adult man; the plural homes. Not to be mixed with the house — that is la casa
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 “child” in Valencian?
«el fill». In a live sentence: “Tenen dos fills, un xiquet i una xiqueta” — They have two children, a boy and a girl. Noun, level A1, from the set “people and family”.
Why does this word look the way it does?
A child as somebody's son or daughter. In the plural els fills is children in general; the toddler on his own is el xiquet, a Valencian word the central norm swaps for nen. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.