tócate las orejas
/tokate las oɾexas/from spelling rules
The English phrase "touch your ears" is translated into Spanish as tócate las orejas.
You can enhance the politeness of the instruction by adding Por favor before the command.
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase is literally constructed as "touch yourself the ears". This reflects the Spanish grammatical structure of using reflexive pronouns and definite articles instead of possessive adjectives for body parts.
How does it change in a sentence?
The informal form tócate las orejas uses the informal imperative tócate. The formal version of the command is tóquese las orejas.
What mistakes should you avoid?
English speakers often mistakenly use the possessive adjective tus (your) instead of the definite article las (the) when referring to body parts in Spanish. Instead of saying tócate tus orejas, you should use tócate las orejas.
Did you know?
- Using tus instead of las in tócate tus orejas can sound to a native speaker as if the ears are detached from the body.
- In some regions, the phrase estar con las orejas tiesas is used to describe someone who is alert or surprised.
- The word orejas shares a root with the Latin 'auricula', which is also the root for the English word 'auricle', a part of the heart.
Examples in context
- Por favor, toque sus orejas. Es parte de la evaluación auditiva.(Please) Touch your ears. It's part of the hearing assessment.
- ¡Toca tus orejas! Pareces un elefante adorable.Touch your ears! You look like an adorable elephant.
- Tócate las orejas rápidamente.Touch your ears quickly.
- Tócate las orejas para el juego.Touch your ears for the game.
Example conversation
Javier and Sofía are playing a children's game during a party.
- JavierSofía, tócate las orejas ahora.Sofía, touch your ears now.
- Sofía¿Así de rápido, Javier?That fast, Javier?
- JavierSí, tócate las orejas con fuerza.Yes, touch your ears firmly.
- Sofía¡Vale, ya lo hice!Okay, I did it!
Sources
- IPA marked “from spelling rules” is derived from standard Spanish spelling, where Wiktionary gives none.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries las, CC BY-SA 4.0.
