Speak Spanish Fluently: Embarrassing Mistakes Made by Translating “Hot” into Spanish

 

Spanish has several ways of saying “hot”, and the use of each one depends on what you are referring to.

You probably know the word “caliente”, but you need to know that this word is not always correct as a translation of “hot”, so when using it you could be making mistakes, some of them a bit embarrassing.

To translate this word into Spanish, you have to know the correct form for each context and be careful with the most embarrassing mistake.

 

1. “Estar caliente” (used with people)

 

 

For body temperature, we do NOT say “Estoy caliente”. The word “caliente” when referring to people is used in a sexual context, so be careful!

The correct way to say that is: “Tengo calor”. The verb “tener” is conjugated for each person.

 

 

 

2. “Ser caliente” (used with people)

 

This is another common mistake. When we want to say that someone is physically attractive, we don’t use the word “caliente”, we just use the expression “ser sexi”. And the verb is also conjugated for each person:

 

 

So, you can say “ella es sexi”. And remember you can also say “ella es bonita” (she is cute), o “ella es hermosa” (she is beautiful)”.

 

 

3. Salsa caliente

 

When we talk about the taste of food, the spicy flavor, we don’t say “caliente”, the correct word is “picante”. It can be followed by the verbs “ser” or “estar” depending on the context (if it is a characteristic or a condition). Click here if you want to learn more differences between the verbs SER and ESTAR.

 

 

4. Aquí es caliente

 

To talk about the temperature of a place, we do not say “caliente”, but we use the expression “hace calor”.

The verb “hacer” is always conjugated in the third person singular.

 

 

 

Finally, to talk about the temperature of food, drinks, and objects, we do use the word “caliente” followed by the verb “estar”. And it can be conjugated in the singular or in the plural (está – están). 

 

 

Is it clearer now? Let’s look at a summary:

 

 

 

 

 

So here you have it. Follow these tips to avoid making these embarrassing mistakes in Spanish. Speak like a native, learn Spanish now! Click here!