Lengua and idioma

[Jessica]

idioma and lengua both mean language but idioma is a noun and lengua is an adj. right??

[Rusty]

Both are nouns, and so is lenguaje, which also means language. Two of these words are masculine.
the Spanish language
= el idioma español
= el lenguaje español
= la lengua española

[bobjenkins]

Originally Posted by jchen

idioma and lengua both mean language but idioma is a noun and lengua is an adj. right??

I'm not totally sure but I believe idioma means language, but lengua means tongue
(as in the body part, as well as "the tongue of a people/the language of a people"

[Rusty]

Yes, lengua also means tongue.

[CrOtALiTo]

Originally Posted by jchen

idioma and lengua both mean language but idioma is a noun and lengua is an adj. right??

In my opinion about it.

Language is Lenguaje.

Lengua meaning tongue.


They together are very different.

[chileno]

Originally Posted by bobjenkins

I'm not totally sure but I believe idioma means language, but lengua means tongue
(as in the body part, as well as "the tongue of a people/the language of a people"

Just like in English, your mother tongue.

[Jessica]

hmm I see because we learned "language lab" as el laboratorio de las lenguas and "foreign languages" as las lenguas extranjeras. I didn't know if you could use idioma to replace lenguas.

[Rusty]

idiomas = lenguas

Yes, they're interchangeable. Just remember that one is feminine and the other is masculine, so the respective articles and adjectives need to be switched.

[Jessica]

oh ok thanks