Techo

[laepelba]

Techo can mean ceiling or it can mean roof. Correct? But those two things are very different. Is it up to the context of the sentence to decide which meaning it carries?

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by laepelba

Techo can mean ceiling or it can mean roof. Correct? But those two things are very different. Is it up to the context of the sentence to decide which meaning it carries?

Correct. I don't know why, but I constantly mix up the two words in English. I never get it wrong in Spanish.

[laepelba]

I see that, of course, there are other Spanish words for ceiling and for roof. But is "techo" the most commonly used word for both?

[poli]

Cielo is the right word of ceiling. Techo or tejado is roof. These words are
sometimes confused in Latin American Spanish because the the inherent
weakness of the word cielo which also means sky, heaven and the heavens. I don't know if this is done in Spain as well. Remember ceiling can also mean sky in aviation lingo.

[chileno]

Originally Posted by laepelba

I see that, of course, there are other Spanish words for ceiling and for roof. But is "techo" the most commonly used word for both?

Correcto. Although some people will use the proper terms

ceiling = cielo

roof = techo

If you are inside and someone says "mira al cielo" it is perfectly understood.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

I've never seen "cielo" for a house or a room ceiling, and I think a Mexican would make unkind jokes if someone used it like that.

The meaning I know for ceiling is "techo", which is normally the indoors side of it.
Mexicans use "azotea" for roof, when it's flat, but we commonly say "techo" for "tejado" when it's stooped and/or tiled.

El techo del comedor tiene una gotera.
The ceiling of the dining room has a water leak.

Colgamos un móvil del techo.
We hung a mobile from the ceiling.

Mi perro vive en la azotea.
My dog lives on the roof.

Se rompieron unas tejas y tuvimos que arreglar el techo.
Some tiles got broken and we had to fix the roof.

[chileno]

Originally Posted by AngelicaDeAlquezar

I've never seen "cielo" for indoor ceiling, and I think a Mexican would make unkind jokes if someone used it like that.

The meaning I know for ceiling is "techo", which is normally the indoors side of it.
Mexicans use "azotea" for roof, when it's flat, but we commonly say "techo" for "tejado" when it's stooped and/or tiled.

El techo del comedor tiene una gotera.
The ceiling of the dining room has a water leak.

Colgamos un móvil del techo.
We hung a mobile from the ceiling.

Mi perro vive en la azotea.
My dog lives on the roof.

Se rompieron unas tejas y tuvimos que arreglar el techo.
Some tiles got broken and we had to fix the roof.

Perdona. Pensé que en todas partes se usaba eso del cielo raso...

Ahora me dejaste pensado en que otras partes no se entiende cielo por ceiling... que de todas maneras se usa más techo que cielo, por lo menos en Chile.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

"Cielo raso" (completo), sí, aunque en contextos más poéticos. Pero "cielo" a secas, es más bien desconcertante.

[CrOtALiTo]

Originally Posted by chileno

Correcto. Although some people will use the proper terms

ceiling = cielo

roof = techo

If you are inside and someone says "mira al cielo" it is perfectly understood.

Chileno.

I've a question.
Then definitely I can use roof for express a word or a phrase related with the Techo de alguna casa.

For example.

The house's roof is falling to be old.

The roof of my house is broken.


I hope your commentaries.

[pjt33]

Originally Posted by poli

Remember ceiling can also mean sky in aviation lingo.

No creo. En la aviación, que yo sepa, sólo significa "la máxima altura que puede alcanzar el avión".

[laepelba]

Originally Posted by CrOtALiTo

I've a question.
Then definitely I can use roof for express a word or a phrase related with the Techo de alguna casa.

For example.

The house's roof is falling to be old. I think you mean to say "The house's roof is old and is falling in." You want the word "in" there. I would put the "old" part first because it's the cause of the falling of the roof.

The roof of my house is broken.

Careful with your spelling, Crotalito - it's roof. You spelled it incorrectly each time. I made some corrections to one of your sentences.

Thanks, everyone. Another case of (1) lots of Spanish synonyms, and (2) different usages in different countries/regions of the world. That's one (two, I suppose) of the things I like most about the Spanish language. But it also is one of the hardest things for me. Instead of studying collocations, I ought to make a study of vocabulary that includes synonyms and the contexts in which different synonyms are used.

[chileno]

Originally Posted by CrOtALiTo

Chileno.

I've a question.
Then definitely I can use root for express a word or a phrase related with the Techo de alguna casa.

For example.

The house's root is falling to be old.

The root of my house is broken.


I hope your commentaries.

Yes you can use roof as techo.

[JPablo]

Well, I think if you go with DRAE, and learn and understand the definitions, you cannot go wrong in any area of the Spanish-speaking map... although I am sometimes very surprised at things... Here are a couple of DRAE definitions,
techo. (Del lat. tectum).
1. m. Parte superior de un edificio, que lo cubre y cierra, o de cualquiera de las estancias que lo componen.
2. m. Cara inferior del techo, superficie que cierra en lo alto una habitación o espacio cubierto.

cielo 4. m. Parte superior que cubre algunas cosas. El cielo de la cama, del coche.
(By extrapolation, you can say "techo" = "cielo", per this definition 4.)

tejado.
1. m. Parte superior del edificio, cubierta comúnmente por tejas.

And that reminded me a tongue twister that may be useful for you... (I include 2 versions) (The second one is the one I remembered from childhood, the first one is the first one I found on a Google search.)

María Chucena su choza techaba,
un techador que atento miraba
le dijo: «¿Qué haces, María Chucena,
techas tu choza o techas la ajena?»
«No techo mi choza
ni techo la ajena,
techo la choza
de María Chucena.»

María Chucena su techo techaba
y un techador que por allí pasaba
le preguntó:
María Chucena, ¿tú techas tu choza o techas la ajena?
Yo no techo mi choza ni techo la ajena,
yo techo la choza de María Chucena.

Also, at least in Spain, the film "Fiddler on the Roof" is "El violinista en el tejado" (Probably there are some version with "El violinista en el techo"?)

[chileno]

Perdón de antemano, pero no la puedo dejar pasar...

También:

Techo una o techo dos, no importa decía ella, sin remilgos.

[CrOtALiTo]

Thank you for advice.
Lea.

Chileno.

Thank you man.

[Elaina]

Originally Posted by chileno

Perdón de antemano, pero no la puedo dejar pasar...

También:

Techo una o techo dos, no importa decía ella, sin remilgos.

By George I think I've got it!

Chileno you are a devil indeed!

[JPablo]

Elaina, tú dominas el español a la perfección...

Bueno, hablando de "techar" y de "techo", aunque me vaya un poquito por las ramas... había un cuplé, que decía: ¡Echa té, ¡echa té..., a la camarera le dice: ¡Echa té!

Que sólo significa "Pour tea!, pour tea! To the waitress he tells her, "pour tea!"... right?

[Elaina]

Originally Posted by JPablo

Elaina, tú dominas el español a la perfección...

Bueno, hablando de "techar" y de "techo", aunque me vaya un poquito por las ramas... había un cuplé, que decía: ¡Echa té, ¡echa té..., a la camarera le dice: ¡Echa té!

Que sólo significa "Pour tea!, pour tea! To the waitress he tells her, "pour tea!"... right?

Right......sure........

[irmamar]

That's curious, I would never say "techo" for roof, but "tejado". Techo: ceiling, roof: tejado. However, I would say "una cabaña/choza con el techo de paja". I should think about it.

And about "cielo", I've heard "el cielo de la boca" (curiously, roof of the mouth in English), but never "el cielo del coche", but "el techo del coche".

[chileno]

Originally Posted by irmamar

That's curious, I would never say "techo" for roof, but "tejado". Techo: ceiling, roof: tejado. However, I would say "una cabaña/choza con el techo de paja". I should think about it.

And about "cielo", I've heard "el cielo de la boca" (curiously, roof of the mouth in English), but never "el cielo del coche", but "el techo del coche".

Right. However, tejado is used also, but strictly speaking, it is because the roof has tejas (or should it be texas?)

Techo de paja, madera, metal but never techo de tejas. And that's a tejado.

As "cielo" is concerned, according to RAE: we can say el cielo del auto/coche but I have never used it that way either, or "cielo de la boca" para mí eso es "paladar".

@Elaina and JPablo: