Wednesday 22 June 2011

Ala

Today's word is: 'ala' = wing.
In Spanish, 'ala' is a feminine noun of Latin origin and means wing, when referring to a plane, a bird, a building, a political party faction, a field position in football/ other sports, troop arrangements in battle, air force units, etc. The Spanish noun 'ala' is also used to mean the brim of a hat.

When talking about food, 'ala' means the wing of a bird, typically chicken.



Grammar
The noun 'ala' belongs to a group of Spanish nouns which, despite being of feminine gender, they they require a masculine article 'el' (i.e.: 'el ala'). This rule does not apply when there is another word in between the article and the noun 'ala' (for example 'la gran ala').

Spanish words related to 'ala' are:
  1. The noun 'aleta', which means a car wing/ quarter panel/ fender, a finn, a flipper, a flight in an arrow, a blade of a propeller
  2. The adjective 'alado'/ 'alada', which describes someone or something as being winged or having wings.

Some common expressions with the noun 'ala' are:
  • Ala delta (hang gliding-sport and hang glider-aparatus)
  • Ala de mosca (a colour: black with greenish brown shades)
  • Ahuecar el ala (colloquially, to leave)
  • Arrastrar el ala (colloquially, to make/ to get to fall in love)
  • Cobrar alas (to spread one's wings) 
  • Cortar las alas (to clip the wings)
  • Dar alas (to encourage/ to estimulate/ to give free rain)
  • Estar tocado del ala (to be a bit crazy/ 'worse for the wear'-male)
  • Estar tocada del ala (to be a bit crazy/ 'worse for the wear'-female)
  • Meterse bajo el ala (to seek or obtain protection)

Examples of the use of 'ala' are:
  • Las alas de pollo asado están muy ricas (the roast chicken wings are very tasty)
  • Al oir eso, Pedro ahuecó el ala (on hearing that,  Pedro left)
  • Tuvimos que cortarle las alas a Pili (we had to clip Pili's wings)
  • Eso sí que me dió alas (that really gave me encouragment)
  • Manolo está un poco tocado del ala (Manolo is a bit crazy)
  • Antonio se metió bajo el ala de su tío (Antonio got himself under his uncle protection)

Love-Spanish.com loves the word 'ala' in the YouTube clipDivididos Ala Delta
 
More on the word 'ala', visit: Wordreference.com/es/en/ Ala

*NB 'Click' on the speaker icon next to the word “ala” in the link to hear the word pronounced.

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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Porque no cobramos alas y visitar todo esquina del mundo.