Spanish Word of the Day Archive
Friday August 15, 2008

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copa, noun:
glass

Sometimes Spanish uses two words to describe different aspects of a thing or concept that English describes with one word. Classic examples are ser and estar, for to be, and un muro and una pared for a wall. Another example is glass. If you are talking about a glass with a stem, especially a wineglass, it’s una copa.

Sólo tomé una copa de vino.
I only had one glass of wine.

A glass without a stem is un vaso:

Ni siquiera me ofrecieron un vaso de agua.
They didn’t even offer me a glass of water.

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