Inklingo

How to Say "thumb" in Spanish

The Spanish word forthumbis pulgarA2 level. This is a very common word in everyday Spanish.

English → SpanishA2
nounA2
the thickest finger on the human hand
A close-up illustration of a human hand with the thumb pointing upwards.

Examples

Me lastimé el pulgar jugando baloncesto.

I hurt my thumb playing basketball.

Ella hizo una señal con el pulgar hacia arriba.

She gave a thumbs-up sign.

El niño se chupa el pulgar cuando tiene sueño.

The boy sucks his thumb when he is sleepy.

Using 'the' instead of 'my'

In Spanish, when talking about body parts like your thumb, you usually use 'el' (the) instead of 'mi' (my) if it's obvious the body part belongs to you. For example: 'Me duele el pulgar' (The thumb hurts me) instead of 'mi pulgar'.

Don't confuse with 'pulgada'

Mistake:Using 'pulgar' to mean 'inch'.

Correction: Use 'pulgada' for the unit of measurement (inch) and 'pulgar' only for the body part (thumb).

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