huele
/wele/from spelling rules
The English phrase "smells" is translated into Spanish as huele.
huele is used to describe the act of perceiving an odor through the nose. To specify what something smells like, use the construction huele a. While huele is the verb, you may encounter other nouns for specific types of odors: olor is a general term for any smell, aroma typically describes a pleasant smell, fragancia refers to a sweet or pleasant scent and hedor describes a foul or unpleasant smell.
How does it change in a sentence?
huele is the third-person singular present indicative form of the verb oler, meaning "it/he/she smells". As noted, when describing the scent of an object, huele is followed by the preposition a.
How do you pronounce it?
/wele/
Did you know?
- In some Spanish-speaking countries, the phrase huele a is used in the idiom huele a quemado to describe a situation that is about to fail or end in disaster.
- The verb oler is one of the few Spanish verbs that undergoes a radical spelling change in its stem, moving from 'o' to 'hue' in many forms to maintain the correct sound.
- In Spanish, saying huele a can describe a person's character or a situation, not just a scent. For example, huele a peligro means a situation 'smells of danger'.
Examples in context
- Eso huele muy bien.That smells delicious.This example shows how to say something smells delicious using huele.Tatoeba #1781283 by Shishir, translation #954324 by CK
- La casa huele bien.The house smells good.This example shows how to say a house smells good using huele.Tatoeba #2947835 by marcelostockle, translation #6946682 by evka
- Huele a una trampa.It smells like a trap.This example shows how to use the construction huele a to say something smells like a trap.Tatoeba #5087597 by albrusgher, translation #3115533 by Hybrid
- El olor a café por la mañana es reconfortanteThe smell of coffee in the morning is comforting.
- Hay un hedor desagradable en la cocinaThere is an unpleasant stench in the kitchen.
- El ambiente está impregnado de un suave aroma a vainilla.The atmosphere is impregnated with a gentle vanilla smell.
- Se percibe un olor a tierra mojada después de la lluvia.There is a smell of wet earth after the rain.
- Es agradable el olor que emana de las flores en primavera.The smell that emanates from flowers in spring is pleasant.
- Huele a pastel recién horneado. ¡Qué rico!It smells like freshly baked cake. How delicious!
- Esta colonia tiene un olorcito a lavanda que me encanta.This cologne has a little scent of lavender that I love.
- 89 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Javier and Elena are in the kitchen during a meal.
- JavierEsta sopa huele delicioso.This soup smells delicious.
- ElenaSí, es la receta de mi abuela.Yes, it is my grandmother's recipe.
- Javier¿Huele a especias frescas?Does it smell like fresh spices?
- ElenaExactamente, tiene mucho cilantro.Exactly, it has a lot of cilantro.
Sources
- IPA marked “from spelling rules” is derived from standard Spanish spelling, where Wiktionary gives none.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
