Inklingo

How to Say "bad dreams" in Spanish

The Spanish word forbad dreamsis pesadillasA2 level. This is a very common word in everyday Spanish.

English → SpanishA2
nounA2
less intense scary dreams
A storybook image of a child sleeping soundly in a bed in a dark room. A large, slightly scary, gray shadow figure is hovering silently above the child's head, symbolizing a nightmare.

Examples

Tuve pesadillas horribles después de ver esa película de terror.

I had horrible nightmares after watching that horror movie.

Las pesadillas de la guerra lo persiguen todavía.

The nightmares of the war still haunt him.

Arreglar el coche se convirtió en una pesadilla de gastos y demoras.

Fixing the car turned into a nightmare of expenses and delays.

Always Plural

Even when you are talking about just one scary dream experience, Spanish usually uses the plural form 'pesadillas' (nightmares) when talking about the general occurrence of bad dreams.

Using 'sueños malos'

Mistake:Usar 'sueños malos' para decir 'nightmares'.

Correction: Although 'sueños malos' literally means 'bad dreams,' the standard and much more common word for 'nightmare' is 'pesadilla' (singular) or 'pesadillas' (plural).

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