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Spanish Word of the Day Archive
Sunday April 13, 2008
rehén, noun:
hostage
Unfortunately in today’s world hostages are often in the news, and kidnapping happens a lot in Latin America. The word for a hostage is un rehén. The word stays masculine, whether the hostage is male or female.
La ministra fue el último rehén de la guerrilla.
The minister was the guerrillas’ last hostage.
You use tomar de in Spanish to describe taking hostages:
El empresario había sido tomado de rehén por algún grupo terrorista.
The businessman had been taken hostage by a terrorist group.
Remember that you drop the accent from the letter -e in the plural of rehén:
Han prometido liberar a los rehenes.
They’ve promised to release the hostages.
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