estás castigado
/estas kastiɡado/from spelling rules
In Spanish, "you're grounded" is expressed as estás castigado.
This phrase is used by a parent to tell a child they are being punished, typically by being disallowed from leaving the house or participating in fun activities. While estás castigado is the standard way to express being grounded, it can also be used more broadly to mean "you are being punished" for any type of transgression.
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase is literally translated as "you are punished", because Spanish does not have a specific single word that captures the English concept of being "grounded" in a domestic sense.
How does it change in a sentence?
The adjective castigado must change to castigada if the person being grounded is female. To tell multiple children they are grounded, use the plural form están castigados.
Did you know?
- While English uses 'grounded' to describe both a child's punishment and a plane's inability to fly, Spanish uses castigado for the child and aterrizado or varado for the aircraft.
- The word castigado shares its roots with the English word 'castigate', meaning to reprimand someone severely. While they look similar, 'castigate' is rarely used in everyday English conversation compared to the common Spanish castigado.
- The word castigo is used interchangeably for a child being grounded and for a formal legal sentence handed down by a judge in court.
Examples in context
- ¡Estás castigado/a por dos semanas debido a tu comportamiento irresponsable!You are grounded for two weeks due to your irresponsible behavior!
- No puedes salir este fin de semana por llegar tarde a casaYou can't go out this weekend for coming home late.
- Por llegar tarde, estás castigado.For arriving late, you're grounded.
- No salgas hoy, estás castigado.Don't go out today, you're grounded.
- Si no estudias, estás castigado.If you don't study, you're grounded.
Example conversation
Daniel tells his daughter that she cannot go to a party.
- DanielSofía, no puedes ir a la fiesta.Sofía, you cannot go to the party.
- Sofía¿Por qué? ¡No es justo!Why? It's not fair!
- DanielSacaste malas notas y estás castigado.You got bad grades and you're grounded.
- SofíaEstá bien, lo siento mucho.Okay, I am very sorry.
Sources
- IPA marked “from spelling rules” is derived from standard Spanish spelling, where Wiktionary gives none.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries castigado, CC BY-SA 4.0.
