ajenos
/axenos/from spelling rules
The Spanish phrase ajenos means belonging to other people or someone else.
Is it said differently in some regions?
The word ajenos remains consistent throughout the Spanish-speaking world without regional differences.
How does it change in a sentence?
The adjective must agree in gender and number with the noun it modifies. Use ajeno for masculine singular, ajena for feminine singular, ajenos for masculine plural and ajenas for feminine plural.
How do you pronounce it?
/axenos/
Did you know?
- The phrase ser ajeno a algo can mean both that something literally belongs to another person and that a person is completely 'unaware' or 'oblivious' to a certain situation.
- The word ajeno shares a deep linguistic root with the word alien, both stemming from the Latin alius, meaning 'other'.
- The expression meterse en asuntos ajenos is the common way to call someone a busybody, literally meaning to put oneself into others' affairs.
Examples in context
- No debemos preocuparnos por los problemas ajenos.We should not worry about other people's problems.
- Es mala costumbre usar los bienes ajenos sin permiso.It is bad manners to use someone else's belongings without permission.
- A veces envidiamos los éxitos ajenos.Sometimes we envy the successes of others.
Example conversation
Alejandro and Elena are cleaning a shared office space.
- AlejandroElena, ¿estos papeles son tuyos?Elena, are these papers yours?
- ElenaNo, creo que son ajenos.No, I think they belong to someone else.
- AlejandroVoy a dejarlos en la mesa.I am going to leave them on the table.
- ElenaEstá bien, Alejandro.That is fine, Alejandro.
Sources
- IPA marked “from spelling rules” is derived from standard Spanish spelling, where Wiktionary gives none.
