Expressions with the five senses in Spanish is a good topic when we talk about anatomy in our lessons at Spanishviaskype.com. It’s often boring to learn a large list of vocabulary with the names of the parts of the body. Because of that, we usually provide our students with idioms or phrases in order to encourage their curiosity.

Today, we’ll see some expressions with the five senses in Spanish: la vista (sight), el oído (hearing), el olfato (smell), el tacto (touch), el gusto (taste).

Expressions with the Five Senses in Spanish: ‘la vista’

El ojo (the eye) is the organ of la vista (sight). Using it, we can ver (see) the colors and the forms. Let’s see some expressions with this word:

  • Hasta la vista: see you soon (as Terminator would say). Here you’ll find more synoyms of this.
  • A la vista: visible. ¡Tierra a la vista! (land ho!) is maybe the most popular.
  • A primera vista: at first sight. Who of you have ever felt amor a primera vista?
  • Bajo mi punto de vista: from my point of view.
  • Hacer la vista gorda: look the other way. If you make a mistake in our lessons, our teachers no harán la vista gorda.

 

More expressions: ‘el oído’

El oído (the hearing) also has some expressions in Spanish. Its organ is also el oído (the ear), although the external part is known as la oreja. With this sense, we can oír (to hear) or escuchar (listen) to music, noises or the voice of our frieds. Here you have idioms with it:

  • Ser duro de oído: to be almost deaf. Habla más fuerte: soy duro de oído.
  • Entrarle por un oído y salirle por otro: to ignore someone. Le doy muchos consejos para aprobar el examen DELE, pero le entra por un oído y le sale por otro.
  • Tener el oído puesto: to pay attention. Si quieres saber de qué están hablando, ten el oído puesto.

Expressions with the Five Senses in Spanish: ‘el olfato’

El olfato (the smell) is maybe the most undervalued sense of all. However, people who can’t smell can say exactly the opposite. With la nariz (the nose) we can oler (to smell) the smoke when there’s a fire, burnt food when we forgot to switch of the fires but also the fragrance of flowers… Let’s learn some expressions with the five senses in Spanish: now el olfato.

  • Tener olfato para algo: to be good at something. Tienes buen olfato para los negocios. Llegarás lejos en la empresa.
  • Alegrar el ofato: to smell good. Ese plato, además de alegrarnos el olfato, estaba riquísimo.

‘El tacto’: one of the most sensitive senses

El tacto (the touch) is felt by las manos (hands) and la piel (skin). We can tocar (to touch) objects and people and feel suavidad (softness), rugosidad (roughness), dureza (toughness)… Here you have some expressions with the touch:

  • Tener tacto con alguien: to be diplomatic. Para educar bien a los niños hay que tener mucho tacto. However, it’s not always easy, isn’t it?
  • Hacer tacto: to examine or to palpate. Imagine a doctor palpating a patient: está haciendo tacto.
  • Ser + adjective al tacto: it expresses how we feel something touching it. Esta almohada es muy agradable al tacto.

The final sense: ‘el gusto’

El gusto (the taste) is the gourmet people’s sense. Thanks to it, we can saborear (to taste) food and drinks, using la boca (the mouth), la lengua (the tongue) and las papilas gustativas (taste buds). As we showed some weeks ago, para gustos los colores:

  • Mucho gusto: nice to meet you / a pleasure.
  • Estar a gusto: to feel comfortable, at ease…
  • Al gusto: to your liking or to taste. Echa sal al gusto.
  • Tener el gusto de + infinitive: to have the pleasure of. Tengo el gusto de presentarles nuestras clases de conversación en Spanishviaskype.com.

In conclusion, there are many expressions with the five senses in Spanish. Just, choose your favourite one and try to put it in practice. How? Just reserve lessons with us or try a trial lesson first. Tendremos mucho gusto de conocerte.