el mantel
“el mantel” — tablecloth in Valencian. Noun, level A2, topic — home and things. The on-table; lay the new one for the festive supper. In a live sentence: “Posa el mantel nou per al sopar de festa” — Lay the new tablecloth for the festive supper. One of 230 words in the set “home and things” in the Valencian course.
In short
| Written in Valencian | el mantel |
| Translation | tablecloth |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | A2 |
Why it looks that way
The on-table; lay the new one for the festive supper
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.
- Posa el mantel nou per al sopar de festaLay the new tablecloth for the festive supper
Nearby words: home and things
Room, key, water, electricity. You will need them on your first day in a rented flat.
- la casahomeA casa without an article — at home; a la casa — inside the particular building. The ear catches the difference
- l'habitatgehousingThe dwelling as a whole — the word of rental ads and forms
- l'habitacióroomA room of a flat, not the whole flat — that is el pis
- la cuinakitchenThe room and the cuisine in one word: cuina valenciana
- el banybathroomThe room with the bath; banyar-se is to bathe
- el balcóbalconyThe outdoor ledge every flat here has; eixir al balcó — step onto the balcony
- la plantafloorThe floor of a building — primer planta is first floor; also a plant of the garden
- l'ascensorliftThe elevator, a look-alike of Spanish ascensor
- l'escalastaircaseThe whole stairway; one step is el grao
- la taulatableThe table of the kitchen and the market stall alike
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “home and things”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “tablecloth” in Valencian?
The on-table; lay the new one for the festive supper
- How do you say “floor” in Valencian?
The floor of a building — primer planta is first floor; also a plant of the garden
- How do you say “room” in Valencian?
A room of a flat, not the whole flat — that is el pis
- How do you say “table” in Valencian?
The table of the kitchen and the market stall alike
- How do you say “balcony” in Valencian?
The outdoor ledge every flat here has; eixir al balcó — step onto the balcony
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 “tablecloth” in Valencian?
«el mantel». In a live sentence: “Posa el mantel nou per al sopar de festa” — Lay the new tablecloth for the festive supper. Noun, level A2, from the set “home and things”.
Why does this word look the way it does?
The on-table; lay the new one for the festive supper. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.