Olor a corrupción

[Tyrn]

Hi,

Why not de? Or is it just an idiomatic case to be memorized?

[Rusty]

The verb oler always takes the preposition 'a', which must be committed to memory since it differs from English.

oler a rosas = to smell like roses
Huele a rosas. = It smells like roses.

The noun form follows suit.
olor a rosas = rose-like smell
Tiene olor a rosas. = It has a rose-like scent/smell.

Along the same lines is the verb saber a (to taste like) and its noun form sabor a.


There are many cases when the preposition that accompanies a Spanish verb differs from the one used in English. (I know of a site that lists them, should you want to have a look.)

[Tyrn]

Yes, I do want!

[Rusty]

Here you go!

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

I agree with Rusty that the verb "oler" always takes "a" and the preposition is the same with the noun (and also related nouns)...

- Aquí huele a cigarro. ¿Quién ha estado fumando?
I sense the smell of a cigarrete. Who has been smoking here?
- El aroma a lavanda es relajante.
The scent of lavender is relaxing.
- Tus calcetines apestan a patas. (Mexican slang)
Your socks stink like dirty feet.
- Estas galletas saben a naranja.
These cookies taste like orange.


...unless you're "defining" a smell (same case for the taste of something).

- El olor del cigarro me da náuseas.
The smell of the cigarrete makes me sick.
- Me encanta el aroma de la lavanda.
I love the scent of the lavender.
- Ya báñate. Hueles a la peste de tus calcetines. (Mexican slang)
Take a shower now. You stink like your dirty socks.
- El sabor de las galletas me recuerda a las que hacía mi mamá.
The taste of the cookies reminds me of those my mom made.


For the example without any context, I'd say that "olor a corrupción" sounds like the speaker is qualifying a business that seems illegal, but probably hasn't been quite proved yet. If they had chosen to say "el olor de la corrupción", there is no doubt that there is something illegal; it's plain to see, and this corruption has a wide scope.

[Tyrn]

Thanks! How fascinating!

Before I started my Spanish, I used to wonder why the norteamericanos complain about how difficult it is. Half the vocabulary, three fourths of the grammar should already be there. It turned out that, apart from the tenses, the language is built on a set of the totally alien concepts. Alien, that is, to the native English speaker. Being Russian, I find weird but very helpful analogies all the time. Both languages are Indo-European, and otherwise unrelated, but some celestial committee issued a lot of common solutions which in a mysterious way transcend the grammar. The Russian language really helps, though it should not.

Yes, this oler thing is just like in Russian, though in Russian prepositions have nothing to do with the "instrumentation" of this particular case; that's why it took Angelica's extended explanation for the things to click into place . The helpful similarities are usually obvious.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

It's weird indeed, but in my experience learning foreign languages, those coincidences are really helpful.

[babymetal]

A veces veo cosas en YouTube que tienen un preposición antes de un sustantivo.

"Mi primera vez al PES 2021."

¿Significa esto que hay un verbo que se hubiera omitido y ese mismo verbo requiera una preposición?

He aquí más contexto.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

En este caso sí. "Mi primera vez (jugando) al PES".