Fregar vs. lavar

[laepelba]

Are these two words completely interchangeable? Do they mean exactly the same thing? Or are there different ways in which they are used? Are there regional differences? Thanks!

[chileno]

Originally Posted by laepelba

Are these two words completely interchangeable? Do they mean exactly the same thing? Or are there different ways in which they are used? Are there regional differences? Thanks!

No. Fregar means "restregar"

Lavar means to wash.

[laepelba]

So they are never ever used interchangeably? Because I wrote "lava los platos" and the book had "friega los platos"...... What is the difference between fregar/restregar and lavar?

[chileno]

Originally Posted by laepelba

So they are never ever used interchangeably? Because I wrote "lava los platos" and the book had "friega los platos"...... What is the difference between fregar/restregar and lavar?

Ok.

Básicamente se puede usar indistintamente.

En Chile no se friegan los platos, pero sí se restriegan cuando se lavan estos.

[laepelba]

Would you give me that (the second part) in English, please. It would be more helpful. Thanks.

[poli]

Clean the dishes. Lavar los trastes.
Scrub the dishes. Fregar los trastes (platos)

Todo depende en lo que comes. Sí te encuentras fregando mucho los platos, a lo mejor tu cardiologo tedrá que fregar tus arterias. en algunos años

[chileno]

Lou Ann, Poli gave you the answer. My question to you:

What bilingual dictionary/dictionaries do you use?

[laepelba]

Ahah!! Thanks, Poli - that makes perfect sense.

Hernan - I use WordReference.com when I'm near a computer. But I didn't use one on this particular sentence because I didn't think I needed to look anything up for that particular sentence - I was asked to translate "My mother wants me to wash the dishes", which I thought would be "lavar", but the answers used "fregar" (which makes sense because the exercises were using verbs with spelling changes in the roots in the subjunctive). After I checked the answers and saw their word, THEN I looked in the dictionary and both "lavar" and "fregar" say " ~~ los platos", so I wasn't sure if they were exact synonyms or not. In fact, one of the Spanish definitions given there for "fregar" is "lavar".

Hernan - it would still be helpful for me to get your sentence in English:

Originally Posted by chileno

En Chile no se friegan los platos, pero sí se restriegan cuando se lavan estos.

Thanks!!

[chileno]

Originally Posted by laepelba

Hernan - it would still be helpful for me to get your sentence in English:


Thanks!!

In Chile dishes are not scrubbed but scrubbed when these are washed.

You asked. Now, does it make sense? And why?

You shouldn't need much translation now in English, and as always I am trying to push your limits...

[laepelba]

Originally Posted by chileno

In Chile dishes are not scrubbed but scrubbed when these are washed.

You asked. Now, does it make sense? And why?

You shouldn't need much translation now in English, and as always I am trying to push your limits...

I understood each individual word in your sentence, but I didn't understand it when they were all put together. That's why I asked. I'm sorry that you think I'm faking or something ... I'm not actually sure why you think I ask questions. Anyway, I wouldn't ask if I actually understood it to begin with...

And, no, I don't even understand the English sentence. At this point, I'll just drop it ... I seem to be missing some elephant in the room again.