Sobremesa and Other Spanish Words English Should Steal

Every language has gaps — things its speakers do every day and have never bothered to name. English is full of them, and Spanish, by luck or by long lunches, has filled a surprising number. Learning these words is one of the small pleasures of the language: you get the vocabulary, and you also get a new way of noticing your own life.

Here are twelve that English should simply take.

1. La sobremesa

The time spent at the table after a meal has finished — talking, drinking coffee, not going anywhere. Literally over the table. In Spain it can easily outlast the meal itself, and a long Sunday sobremesa is less an absence of plans than the plan. English has after-dinner conversation, which is a description. Spanish has an institution.

2. Madrugar

To get up early. One verb, where English needs four words. It comes with a proverb every Spanish child hears: no por mucho madrugar amanece más temprano — getting up earlier won’t make the sun rise any sooner.

3. Trasnochar

The opposite: to stay up late, or to be up all night. Ayer trasnoché y hoy no soy persona — I stayed up late last night and today I’m not a functioning human.

4. Estrenar

To use or wear something for the first time. New shoes, a new flat, a new pan. Estreno camisa — I’m wearing this shirt for the first time. The same word is used for a film premiere, which tells you something about the ceremony Spanish attaches to first times.

5. La vergüenza ajena

The embarrassment you feel on someone else’s behalf. The best man’s speech that goes wrong, the colleague who replies-all. English borrowed Fremdschämen from German for this and nobody uses it. Vergüenza ajena is two words everyone understands, and ¡qué vergüenza ajena! is said with a wince.

6. El puente

Literally a bridge: the extra day off that joins a bank holiday to the weekend. When a holiday falls on a Thursday, you hacer puente by taking the Friday too. The word does the logistics for you — and in early December, when two national holidays fall close together, Spaniards talk about the acueducto.

7. Friolero / friolera

A person who feels the cold easily. Not a temporary state — a personality. Soy muy friolera explains the cardigan in August, and it is a far kinder description than anything English offers.

8. Los consuegros

The parents of your child’s spouse. English has no word at all for this relationship, which is odd given how many Christmases depend on it. Spanish gives it a noun, which makes it considerably easier to complain about.

9. Tocayo / tocaya

Someone who has the same first name as you. ¡Somos tocayos! is a small social bond, instantly formed. English has namesake, but it is formal and usually about being named after someone; tocayo is the friendly, sideways version.