escombrar el terra
“escombrar el terra” — to sweep the floor in Valencian. Phrase, level A1, topic — home and things. Sweep before you wash — the order grandmothers insist on. In a live sentence: “Escombrar el terra abans de fregar-lo” — Sweep the floor before mopping. You can hear how it sounds right here. One of 230 words in the set “home and things” in the Valencian course.
In short
| Written in Valencian | escombrar el terra |
| Translation | to sweep the floor |
| Part of speech | phrase |
| Level | A1 |
- escombrar el terrato sweep the floor
Why it looks that way
Sweep before you wash — the order grandmothers insist on
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.
- Escombrar el terra abans de fregar-loSweep the floor before mopping
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 “to sweep the floor” in Valencian?
Sweep before you wash — the order grandmothers insist on
- 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 “to sweep the floor” in Valencian?
«escombrar el terra». In a live sentence: “Escombrar el terra abans de fregar-lo” — Sweep the floor before mopping. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Phrase, level A1, from the set “home and things”.
Why does this word look the way it does?
Sweep before you wash — the order grandmothers insist on. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
Can I hear how this sounds?
Yes, right on this page: click the word and it will play. The sound works on any phone, and nothing needs to be installed.