¿sois gemelos?
The English phrase "are you twins?" is translated into Spanish as ¿sois gemelos?
This question is used to ask two people if they were born from the same pregnancy. In casual conversation, you can also ask this very simply by using a rising intonation with just the words ¿Gemelos? or ¿Hermanos mellizos?
Which one should you use?
The choice of word determines the type of twins you are asking about. Use gemelos to refer to identical twins, but use mellizos if you are asking if they are fraternal twins (e.g., ¿sois mellizos?).
How does it change in a sentence?
In Latin American Spanish, or when using the formal 'ustedes' in Spain, you should use the form ¿son gemelos? instead of ¿sois gemelos? to address a group. Additionally, if you are specifically asking two females if they are twins, you must change the masculine gemelos to the feminine gemelas (e.g., ¿sois gemelas?).
Did you know?
- The word gemelo is also used to describe the calf muscle in the leg, as the muscles are paired and mirror each other.
- The word gemelos is a cognate of the English word 'geminate', which describes consonants that are doubled or repeated.
- The form sois replaced the original Latin-derived word estis through a process of linguistic analogy.
Examples in context
- ¿Sois gemelos?Are you twins?
Example conversation
Sofía meets Alejandro and his brother for the first time.
- SofíaHola, Alejandro. ¿Sois gemelos?Hi, Alejandro. Are you twins?
- AlejandroNo, no lo somos.No, we aren't.
- SofíaAh, es que os parecéis mucho.Oh, it's just that you look very similar.
- AlejandroSí, pero somos hermanos distintos.Yes, but we are different brothers.
Sources
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries sois, CC BY-SA 4.0.
