oler bien
/oleɾ bjen/from spelling rules
The phrase 'smell good' in Spanish is oler bien.
Oler bien is used to describe a pleasant scent. You will often hear people omit the subject 'it' when describing a scent, such as saying Huele bien instead of Eso huele bien.
Which one should you use?
Use oler bien to describe a pleasant scent, whereas oler mal is used to say something smells bad.
How does it change in a sentence?
The verb oler is irregular in the present tense. The stem changes from o- to hue- in the third person forms. While oler bien is the infinitive, use huele bien to say 'it smells good' in the third person singular and use huelen bien to say 'they smell good'.
Did you know?
- While oler bien describes a scent, the word oler is also used in Spanish to mean 'to suspect' or 'to sense' that something is wrong.
- To say someone smells good in a romantic or physical way, Spanish speakers often use oler rico instead of oler bien.
- In colloquial Spanish, the expression olerse el miedo means to sense that an opponent is afraid.
Examples in context
- ¿Qué rico hueles?You smell so good!
- Esta comida huele bien.This food smells good.
- Esta sopa debe oler bien.This soup must smell good.
- Las flores suelen oler bien.Flowers usually smell good.
Example conversation
Javier and Elena are in the kitchen.
- JavierElena, la cena empieza a oler bien.Elena, dinner is starting to smell good.
- ElenaGracias, Javier. Es una receta nueva.Thanks, Javier. It is a new recipe.
- Javier¿Qué ingredientes usaste para que oliera bien?What ingredients did you use to make it smell good?
- ElenaSolo puse un poco de albahaca fresca.I just put in some fresh basil.
Sources
- IPA marked “from spelling rules” is derived from standard Spanish spelling, where Wiktionary gives none.
