personal de limpieza
/peɾsonal de limpjeθa/from spelling rules
The English phrase "custodial staff" is translated into Spanish as personal de limpieza.
The term personal de limpieza is used to refer to people employed to clean and maintain a building.
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase personal de limpieza literally translates to "staff of cleaning".
Which one should you use?
You may use equipo de limpieza to emphasize the group as a "cleaning team". Additionally, trabajadores de mantenimiento y limpieza is a broader phrase that encompasses both maintenance and cleaning workers and ayudantes de limpieza can be used to mean "cleaning assistants" in a broader sense.
How does it change in a sentence?
The noun personal is masculine and singular. Therefore, when referring to the group as "the custodial staff", you use the masculine article el to form el personal de limpieza, even when the group consists of multiple people.
How do you pronounce it?
/peɾsonal de limpjeθa/
Did you know?
- In many Spanish-speaking countries, people will address a member of the personal de limpieza as doña or don to show respect, regardless of the person's actual job title.
- The root of personal connects back to the Latin persōna, which originally referred to a mask worn by actors in a play, representing the character or role they played.
- In certain Spanish-speaking regions, the word aseo can be used to refer to both the cleaning staff and the actual bathroom.
Examples in context
- Buenos días, ¿podría contactar al personal de limpieza, por favor?Good morning, could I get in touch with the custodial staff, please?
- ¡Hola! ¿Dónde puedo encontrar al personal de limpieza?Hi! Where can I find the custodial staff?
- El personal de limpieza viene mañana.The custodial staff is coming tomorrow.
- Necesitamos contactar al personal de limpieza.We need to contact the custodial staff.
- El personal de limpieza dejó las llaves en la recepción.The custodial staff left the keys at the reception.
Example conversation
Elena and Javier are at the office talking about a spill in the hallway.
- ElenaHay café derramado en el pasillo.There is coffee spilled in the hallway.
- JavierVoy a llamar al personal de limpieza.I am going to call the custodial staff.
- ElenaGracias, Javier. Es muy amable.Thank you, Javier. That is very kind.
- JavierNo hay problema, Elena.No problem, Elena.
Sources
- IPA marked “from spelling rules” is derived from standard Spanish spelling, where Wiktionary gives none.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries de, limpieza, personal, CC BY-SA 4.0.
