Spanish Word of the Day Archive
Monday June 4, 2007

callarse, verb:
to stop talking; to keep quiet

The basic idea behind callarse is that of ‘not talking’.

Cuando entró el profe, todos nos callamos.
When the teacher came in we all stopped talking.

Me callé lo que ya sabía.
I kept quiet about what I already knew.

You can use it to tell people to be quiet:

¡Cállense, por favor!
Please be quiet!

But callarse la boca is rather informal:

¡Cállate la boca!
Shut up!

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Spanish Word of the Day ArchiveMonday June 4, 2007