silencio por favor
/silenθjo poɾ faboɾ/from spelling rules
The English phrase "quiet please" is translated into Spanish as silencio por favor.
The phrase is a polite request for people to stop talking or making noise. In practice, it is often spoken with exclamation marks, such as ¡Silencio, por favor!, to indicate a command or a strong request. Other ways to express this include Por favor, silencio (Please, silence) or more formal requests like Les pido silencio, por favor (I kindly ask for silence, please), Rogamos mantener silencio (We kindly request silence) or Se ruega guardar silencio (Silence is kindly requested). You can also use Shhh, no hables to say "Shhh, don't speak."
What does it mean word for word?
The word silencio is a noun meaning "silence" rather than an adjective meaning "quiet".
Is it said differently in some regions?
In some Latin American countries, favor de guardar silencio is used as an alternative to se ruega guardar silencio.
How do you pronounce it?
/silenθjo poɾ faboɾ/
Did you know?
- In Spanish, the concept of keeping quiet is often expressed as guardar silencio, which literally means 'to guard silence' or 'to save silence'.
- If you want to tell someone to be quiet in a very informal or slightly rude way, you might say ¡Cállate!, which is much more blunt than the polite silencio por favor.
- The Spanish word silencio is a direct descendant of the Latin silentium, which shares a root with the English word 'silent'.
Example conversation
Sofía and Daniel are in a library.
- SofíaDaniel, silencio por favor.Daniel, quiet please.
- DanielLo siento, hablaré más bajo.I'm sorry, I will speak lower.
- SofíaGracias, mucha gente está estudiando.Thanks, many people are studying.
- DanielTienes razón, perdona.You are right, sorry.
Sources
- IPA marked “from spelling rules” is derived from standard Spanish spelling, where Wiktionary gives none.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries favor, por, silencio, CC BY-SA 4.0.
