Basic health and temperature | Learn Spanish in English

Sentence explanations

1. Hace demasiado calor.

   It is too hot.

   Hace

   it is / there is (weather)

   demasiado

   too much; too

   calor

   heat

   More detail

   Hace is the present-tense third-person singular form of hacer (“to make/do”). In this weather expression, hacer is used impersonally: hace calor means “it is hot” or, more literally, “there is heat.” The form does not identify a person or thing that is doing the making. A useful pattern is Hace + [weather noun]: Hace frío means “It is cold.” demasiado means “too” here and modifies calor. It says that the heat exceeds a suitable or desired level; it does not mean that heat is being replaced by something else. Before a noun, demasiado can also agree with that noun: demasiado calor uses the masculine singular form, while demasiada lluvia uses the feminine singular form. As an adverb, it is invariable: Hace demasiado calor and Trabaja demasiado. calor is the noun “heat.” In this construction it is the weather condition expressed with hacer, rather than a person or object receiving an action. Its contrasting weather noun is frío (“cold”), as in the supplied context sentence Hace demasiado frío. Together, Hace demasiado calor follows the reusable pattern Hace + demasiado + weather noun: Hace presents the weather condition, demasiado marks it as excessive, and calor names the condition. The complete meaning is “It is too hot.”

2. Hace demasiado frío.

   It is too cold.

   Hace

   It is (weather expression)

   demasiado

   too much; excessively

   frío

   cold

   More detail

   Hace is the third-person singular present form of hacer ("to do/make"), but in this weather expression it does not mean that a person is doing something. Hace + weather condition describes the weather impersonally: Hace calor = "It is hot" and Hace frío = "It is cold." The form does not identify a human subject. demasiado means "too much" or "too," expressing an excessive degree. Here it modifies frío, so the meaning is "too cold," not merely "very cold." For comparison, muy means "very" without necessarily expressing excess: Estoy muy cansado = "I am very tired." frío is the adjective "cold." In this expression, it appears in the masculine singular form because Spanish uses this form in the fixed weather expression hacer frío; it is not agreeing with an identified person. The related weather noun frío can also mean "cold" in other structures, but here it describes the weather. Together, Hace + demasiado frío forms an impersonal weather statement: "It is too cold." The preceding pattern Hace demasiado calor uses the same construction with calor ("heat"), meaning "It is too hot."

3. Estoy muy cansado.

   I am very tired.

   Estoy

   I am

   muy

   very

   cansado

   tired

   More detail

   Estoy is the first-person singular present form of estar (“to be” for a state or condition). The subject is implicit yo, so it means “I am” here. Estar is commonly used for temporary or changeable conditions: Estoy enfermo. = “I am ill.” Muy means “very” and intensifies the adjective that follows. It normally comes directly before an adjective or adverb: muy cansado = “very tired.” It is different from mucho, which commonly expresses a large amount or degree with nouns or verbs: Tengo mucho trabajo. = “I have a lot of work.” Cansado is the masculine singular form of the adjective cansado/cansada, “tired.” It agrees with the person or thing described: cansada is feminine singular, while cansados and cansadas are plural forms. The form in the sentence is masculine singular; the English translation does not identify the speaker’s gender, but the Spanish adjective form does. Together, Estoy + muy + cansado gives “I am very tired.” The pattern is estar + muy + adjective, useful for describing a current state: Estoy muy ocupado. = “I am very busy.”

4. Tengo mucha hambre.

   I am very hungry.

   Tengo

   I have

   mucha

   much / a lot of

   hambre

   hunger

   More detail

   Tengo is the first-person singular present form of tener (“to have”). In Spanish, physical states such as hunger are commonly expressed with tener: tengo hambre literally presents hunger as something one has, and naturally means “I am hungry.” Other useful forms include tienes (“you have”) and tiene (“he, she, or usted has”). mucha means “a lot of” or “much” here and agrees with hambre in feminine singular form. The adjective is mucha, not mucho, because hambre is treated as feminine for agreement, even though the noun often appears with el in the expression el hambre because of its stressed initial sound. For example, Tengo mucha sed means “I am very thirsty.” hambre means “hunger.” The fixed phrase tener hambre is the standard reusable pattern for expressing hunger: Tengo hambre means “I am hungry,” while No tengo hambre means “I am not hungry.” Together, Tengo mucha hambre combines tener in the first-person singular (Tengo) with the quantity expression mucha and the noun hambre: “I have a lot of hunger,” naturally translated as “I am very hungry.”

5. Tengo mucha sed.

   I am very thirsty.

   Tengo … sed

   be thirsty

   mucha

   a lot of

   More detail

   Tengo ... sed is a Spanish construction meaning “to be thirsty.” Tengo is the first-person singular present form of tener (“to have”); with sed, tener sed expresses thirst rather than using a Spanish adjective equivalent to English “thirsty.” The same pattern appears in the supplied sentence Tengo mucha hambre: tener hambre means “to be hungry.” mucha means “a lot of” here. It is the feminine singular form of mucho, agreeing with the feminine singular noun sed. The masculine singular form is mucho, as in mucho calor (“a lot of heat”). Together, Tengo mucha sed means “I have a lot of thirst” literally and naturally means “I am very thirsty.”

6. Me siento mal.

   I am feeling sick.

   Me siento

   I feel

   mal

   unwell

   More detail

   Me siento means “I feel” here. It is the first-person singular present form of the reflexive verb sentirse (“to feel” in a state). The pronoun me shows that the speaker is describing their own state, and siento agrees with the first-person singular subject yo (usually omitted in Spanish). Compare me siento (“I feel”) with se siente (“he/she/you formal feels”) or nos sentimos (“we feel”). Example: Me siento cansado. — “I feel tired.” The adjective cansado describes the speaker’s state. mal means “unwell” in this sentence. It is an adverb used with sentirse to describe feeling badly or being in poor physical condition; it is not the adjective form that agrees with a noun. Compare Me siento mal (“I feel unwell”) with Estoy mal (“I am unwell”) and Me siento bien (“I feel well”). Together, Me siento + mal gives “I feel unwell” or, matching the fixed translation, “I am feeling sick.” The sentence describes the speaker’s current condition without specifying a particular illness.`} bay loo Cay-LINK? this is call.