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Parts of the Body by Sandra Rosenstiel

We've all said things like this: “I'm going to eat better,” “I'm going to lose weight,” “I'll exercise more.” As a culture, we are rather obsessed with our physical appearance and condition, and spend small fortunes and a great deal of energy on improving them. Let's start with a quick look at the human body, inside and out.

La Cabeza (The Head)

  • los ojos (eyes)

  • las orejas (ears)

  • el oído (inner ear)

  • la nariz (nose)

  • la boca (mouth)

  • los labios (lips)

  • los dientes (teeth)

  • la frente (forehead)

  • las mejillas (cheeks)

  • el cerebro (brain)

  • el cuello (neck)

  • la garganta (throat)

  • El Torso (The Torso)

  • el pecho (chest)

  • las costillas (ribs)

  • los pulmones (lungs)

  • el corazón (heart)

  • los brazos (arms)

  • los hombros (shoulders)

  • las manos (hands)

  • los dedos (fingers and toes)

  • el estómago (stomach)

  • la cintura (waist)

  • las caderas (hips)

  • las nalgas (buttocks)

    • El Resto (The Rest)

  • las piernas (legs)

  • las rodillas (knees)

  • los tobillos (ankles)

  • los pies (feet)

  • los huesos (bones)

  • los músculos (muscles)

  • la sangre (blood)

  • las venas (veins)

    • Practice: Parts of the Body

    You might try writing these words down on index cards, mixing them up, and trying to categorize them again. You could also play pin the card on your partner, and identify parts of the body on a live subject. (It's best to pin the card to clothing as much as possible, and use tape on skin!) At any rate, the more comfortable you are with this vocabulary, the easier things will be as we move along. For some quick practice, try to identify the body part in each group below that doesn't seem to fit. Then write a short sentence to explain how the other terms are related. When you're done, check your responses with those in Appendix D.

    <tgroup cols="5"> <colspec colnum="1" colname="col1" colsep="0" rowsep="0" colwidth="20%" align="right"/> <colspec colnum="2" colname="col2" colsep="0" rowsep="0" colwidth="20%" align="left"/> <colspec colnum="3" colname="col3" colsep="0" rowsep="0" colwidth="20%" align="left"/> <colspec colnum="4" colname="col4" colsep="0" rowsep="0" colwidth="20%" align="left"/> <colspec colnum="5" colname="col5" colsep="0" rowsep="0" colwidth="20%" align="left"/> <tbody> <tr> <td><p>1.</p></td> <td><p><emphasis>corazón</emphasis></p></td> <td><p><emphasis>músculo</emphasis></p></td> <td><p><emphasis>sangre</emphasis></p></td> <td><p><emphasis>manos</emphasis></p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p>2.</p></td> <td><p><emphasis>boca</emphasis></p></td> <td><p><emphasis>dientes</emphasis></p></td> <td><p><emphasis>costillas</emphasis></p></td> <td><p><emphasis>estómago</emphasis></p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p>3.</p></td> <td><p><emphasis>cerebro</emphasis></p></td> <td><p><emphasis>pulmones</emphasis></p></td> <td><p><emphasis>pecho</emphasis></p></td> <td><p><emphasis>costillas</emphasis></p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p>4.</p></td> <td><p><emphasis>manos</emphasis></p></td> <td><p><emphasis>pies</emphasis></p></td> <td><p><emphasis>dientes</emphasis></p></td> <td><p><emphasis>dedo</emphasis></p></td> </tr> <tr><td><p>5.</p></td> <td><p><emphasis>ojos</emphasis></p></td> <td><p><emphasis>rodillas</emphasis></p></td> <td><p><emphasis>oídos</emphasis></p></td> <td><p><emphasis>lengua</emphasis></p></td> </tr> </tbody> </tgroup> </table> <h2>The Five Senses</h2> <p>The five senses, <emphasis>los cinco sentidos,</emphasis> are:</p> <itemizedlist spacing="compact" role="bullet"> <li><p><emphasis>la vista</emphasis> <B>(sight)</B></p></li> <li><p><emphasis>el oído</emphasis> <B>(hearing)</B></p></li> <li><p><emphasis>el olfato</emphasis> <B>(smell)</B></p></li> <li><p><emphasis>el gusto</emphasis> <B>(taste)</B></p></li> <li><p><emphasis>el tacto</emphasis> <B>(touch)</B></p></li> </ul> <p>To say that Carla has good or bad eyesight you can say: <emphasis>Carla tiene buena (mala) vista</emphasis> or <emphasis>Carla ve bien (Carla no ve bien, ve mal).</emphasis> If Carla has good or bad hearing, say: <emphasis>Carla tiene buen (mal) oído</emphasis> or <emphasis>Carla oye bien (Carla no oye bien, oye mal).</emphasis> Careful, though: the sentence <emphasis>Carla tiene buen gusto</emphasis> means that Carla has good taste. If you want to say she has a good or bad sense of taste, use <emphasis>Carla (no) tiene buen paladar</emphasis>. We don't often talk about people's sense of touch, so you will most often use <emphasis>tacto</emphasis> in the following ways: If you say <emphasis>Carla tiene tacto</emphasis> you are saying that Carla is tactful. If you say <emphasis>Carla no tiene tacto</emphasis>, you are saying she is tactless!</p> <h2>Describing Parts of the Body</h2> <p>It's a fine thing to know some of the parts of the body, but what do we do with them? You can do quite a lot, as a matter of fact. You can describe people more completely, for example: <emphasis>Elena tiene ojos verdes muy exóticos</emphasis> (Elena has very exotic green eyes); <emphasis>Simón tiene piernas muy largas</emphasis> (Simon has very long legs); <emphasis>Arnold tiene músculos grandes y es muy fuerte</emphasis> (Arnold has big muscles and is very strong). You can also say what you do with different parts of the body: <emphasis>Escuchamos con los oídos</emphasis> (We listen with our inner ears); <emphasis>Bailas con las caderas</emphasis> (You dance with your hips); <emphasis>Respiramos con la nariz y los pulmones</emphasis> (We breathe with our nose and lungs). You can also describe problems you have with different parts of the body, but let's save that for a little later.</p> <!--/gc--> <div id="pagination"><ul><li class="prev"><a href="http://www.netplaces.com/intermediate-spanish/the-future-tense/" title="The Future Tense">The Future Tense</a></li><li class="next"><a href="http://www.netplaces.com/intermediate-spanish/the-future-tense/physical-and-mental-condition.htm" title="Physical and Mental Condition">Physical and Mental Condition</a> </li></ul></div></div> <div id="coda"> <div id="rel"><div class="n5">Related Articles</div><ul> <li><a href="http://www.netplaces.com/intermediate-spanish/the-future-tense/parts-of-the-body.htm" zT="18/1YL/Zn"> Parts of the Body - Intermediate Spanish </a></li> <li><a href="http://spanish.about.com/od/spanishvocabulary/a/body_parts.htm" zT="18/1YL/Zn"> Names of Body Parts - Learn Spanish Language </a></li> <li><a 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