una vegada
“una vegada” — once upon a time in Valencian. Adverb, level B1, topic — people and family. Literally "one time": once here works in a fairy tale and in life alike. The opening of all grandpa's stories. In a live sentence: “Una vegada vam arribar tard a l'avió” — Once we missed a plane. One of 129 words in the set “people and family” in the Valencian course.
In short
| Written in Valencian | una vegada |
| Translation | once upon a time |
| Part of speech | adverb |
| Level | B1 |
Why it looks that way
Literally "one time": once here works in a fairy tale and in life alike. The opening of all grandpa's stories
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.
- Una vegada vam arribar tard a l'avióOnce we missed a plane
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
- el fillchildA 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
- 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
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 “once upon a time” in Valencian?
Literally "one time": once here works in a fairy tale and in life alike. The opening of all grandpa's stories
- 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 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 “young woman” in Valencian?
A girl or young woman; the everyday address for waitresses too
- How do you say “person” in Valencian?
A person of any kind; grammatically feminine even about men: una persona amable
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 “once upon a time” in Valencian?
«una vegada». In a live sentence: “Una vegada vam arribar tard a l'avió” — Once we missed a plane. Adverb, level B1, from the set “people and family”.
Why does this word look the way it does?
Literally "one time": once here works in a fairy tale and in life alike. The opening of all grandpa's stories. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.