huele bien
/wele bjen/from spelling rules
In Spanish, "it smells good" is said as huele bien.
The phrase huele bien is used to express that something has a pleasant scent. A very natural and common way to express pleasant surprise at a specific scent is to use the exclamation ¡Qué bien huele!, which means "How good it smells!"
Which one should you use?
You can use Huele rico to specifically mean "It smells delicious" in informal settings or the colloquial expression Huele a gloria to say "It smells like heaven".
How does it change in a sentence?
If the thing that smells good is plural, use the third-person plural form huelen bien to mean "they smell good".
Did you know?
- The word bien in huele bien shares a common ancestor with the English word 'bonus'. Both words can be traced back to a Proto-Italic root meaning 'good'.
- In many Latin American countries, using the word rico to describe a scent is the most common way to compliment someone's perfume or cologne.
- When Spanish speakers use the dramatic phrase huele a gloria, they are literally saying that a scent smells like 'glory'.
Examples in context
- Huele bien.It smells good!This example shows the use of huele bien to express that something smells good.Tatoeba #2351598 by Shishir, translation #66685 by CK
- ¡Esa comida huele rico! Estoy ansioso por probarla.That food smells delicious! I'm eager to try it.
- ¡Huele muy bien! ¿Qué perfume estás usando?It smells really good! What perfume are you wearing?
- Esa vela huele bien.That candle smells good.
- La comida huele bien.The food smells good.
Example conversation
Mateo walks into the kitchen where Lucía is cooking.
- MateoHola Lucía, ¿qué cocinas?Hi Lucía, what are you cooking?
- LucíaEstoy haciendo una sopa de verduras.I am making a vegetable soup.
- Mateo¡Qué rico! Huele bien.How delicious! It smells good.
- LucíaGracias, Mateo. Ya casi está lista.Thank you, Mateo. It is almost ready.
Sources
- IPA marked “from spelling rules” is derived from standard Spanish spelling, where Wiktionary gives none.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries bien, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
