tiene el pelo castaño
/tjene el pelo kastaɲo/from spelling rules
To say "he has brown hair" in Spanish, use tiene el pelo castaño.
This phrase is used to describe a person's natural hair color. You can add the word claro after the color to indicate that the hair is a light brown.
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase literally translates to "he has the chestnut hair", where castaño is the standard term used for brown hair in Spanish.
Which one should you use?
While you might use marrón to say "brown", it is much more natural to use castaño when specifically describing human hair color. Additionally, you can replace pelo with cabello to refer to a person's hair, which sounds slightly more elegant.
How does it change in a sentence?
The adjective castaño must agree in gender with the noun pelo, which is masculine. Ensure the adjective remains in the masculine form to match the noun.
What mistakes should you avoid?
Do not say tiene el pelo castaña. Because pelo is a masculine noun, you must use the masculine adjective castaño instead of the feminine form.
Did you know?
Examples in context
- Tiene el pelo castaño.He has brown hair.This sentence is useful for practicing the phrase tiene el pelo castaño.Tatoeba #2258382 by hayastan, translation #2258381 by _undertoad
- En la fotografía, él tiene cabello castaño claro.In the photograph, he has light brown hair.
- Él tiene pelo marrón y ojos verdes.He has brown hair and green eyes.
- Sabes que Juan tiene el pelo castaño, ¿verdad?You know Juan has brown hair, right?
- Él tiene el cabello marrón oscuro y una barba corta.He has dark brown hair and a short beard.
- Mi hermano tiene el pelo castaño.My brother has brown hair.
Example conversation
Daniel and María are looking at a photo of a new coworker.
- Daniel¿Cómo es el nuevo empleado?What is the new employee like?
- MaríaÉl tiene el pelo castaño.He has brown hair.
- Daniel¿Es alto?Is he tall?
- MaríaSí, es muy alto.Yes, he is very tall.
Sources
- IPA marked “from spelling rules” is derived from standard Spanish spelling, where Wiktionary gives none.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries castaño, el, pelo, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
