Está frío.
It's cold.
A thing is cold here, so the line uses está, and the masculine ending -o stays. For cold weather the verb changes to hace, and frío never changes form.
From Dr. House · Spanish audio
Spanish vocabularyA1 · Beginner
How to say "cold" in Spanish
frío
adjective and nounfeminine: fríatwo syllables
"Cold" in Spanish is frío, or fría with a feminine noun: El agua está fría. Cold weather is hace frío, and when you feel cold yourself you say tengo frío. The cold you catch has its own name: el resfriado.
Hear "frío" in a real movie scene
Two short words about a cold object. The video starts and stops on that line.
Frío, tengo frío or un resfriado?
English uses one word for all of these. Spanish splits them up.
| Spanish | When to use it | Example |
|---|---|---|
| frío / fría | A thing is cold | El café está frío. The coffee is cold. |
| hace frío | The weather is cold | Hoy hace frío. It's cold today. |
| tengo frío | You feel cold | ¿Tienes frío? Are you cold? |
| el resfriado | A cold, the illness | Tengo un resfriado. I have a cold. |
| estar resfriado / resfriada | To have a cold | Estoy resfriada. I've caught a cold. |
| el catarro | A cold, common in Spain | Tengo catarro. I have a cold. |
Tip: Agua is feminine but takes el in the singular, so a glass of cold water is un vaso de agua fría, with the -a ending.
Grammar: frío, hace frío, tengo frío
One word, three verbs. Pick the verb by what is cold.
Things: estar + frío
Four forms that match the noun: frío, fría, fríos, frías. La sopa está fría. The soup is cold.Weather: hacer + frío
Here frío is a noun and never changes: Hace frío. En invierno hace frío en Madrid.Your body: tener + frío
Spanish says you have cold: Tengo frío. For a friend: ¿Tienes frío?Muy or mucho
With estar, use muy: El agua está muy fría. With tener and hacer, use mucho: Tengo mucho frío.Example sentences
Sentences from the Wordy Spanish course. Tap to listen.
El Atlántico está muy frío.
The Atlantic is very cold.
Vale. Pero esta noche hace frío.
Okay. But it's going to be cold tonight.
Tengo frío.
I'm cold.
El agua está muy fría.
The water is very cold.
Common mistakes
Mistakes learners make with this word, and how to fix them.
✗Estoy frío (meaning I feel cold)
✓Tengo frío
Estoy frío says your skin is cold to the touch. The feeling of being cold goes with tener.
✗Tengo un frío (meaning I caught a cold)
✓Tengo un resfriado
The illness is a separate word. Frío is only the temperature.
✗El agua está frío
✓El agua está fría
The el in front of agua is there for sound only, and the adjective still takes the feminine -a.
✗Tengo muy frío
✓Tengo mucho frío
After tengo, frío is a noun, and nouns take mucho.
Real conversation: something cold to drink
A short dialog on a café terrace.
It's a hot afternoon, and you sit down at a café terrace with Hugo, someone you know.
¡Uf, qué calor hace hoy!
Phew, it's so hot today!
Sí, hace mucho calor.
Yes, it's really hot.
Yo quiero algo muy frío.
I want something ice-cold.
Your turn to answer
In the app you reply in Spanish for the last 2 lines.
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The other 25 exercises on this topic are in the app.
How to remember it
Frío and fridge both start with fri. Anything that comes out of the fridge is frío.
Questions about "cold" in Spanish
How do you say cold in Spanish?
Frío, or fría with feminine nouns: la sopa fría. Cold weather is hace frío, and feeling cold is tengo frío.
How do you say "I'm cold" in Spanish?
Tengo frío, which word for word means "I have cold". Estoy frío would mean your body feels cold when someone touches it.
How do you say "I have a cold" in Spanish?
Tengo un resfriado or Estoy resfriado (resfriada for a woman). In Spain people also say Tengo catarro.
How do you say "it's cold" in Spanish?
About the weather, Hace frío. About food or a drink, Está frío or Está fría, depending on the noun.
