Trae una toalla, por favor.
Bring a towel, please.
In a beach scene, someone asks for a towel. Trae is the friendly command form of traer, to bring.
From ¿Cómo sobrevivir a mi ex? · Spanish audio
Spanish vocabularyA1 · Beginner
How to say "towel" in Spanish
la toalla
nounfeminineplural: las toallasthree syllables
"Towel" in Spanish is la toalla, a feminine noun: Trae una toalla, por favor. It has three syllables, toh-AH-yah, and the double l sounds like the y in yes. A beach towel is una toalla de playa.
Hear "toalla" in real movie scenes
A request at the beach and an offer at the office. Each video starts and stops on that line.
Una toalla, cocoa.
A towel, some cocoa.
In an office, someone gets offered two small comforts at once, a towel and a cocoa, and toalla takes una because it's feminine.
From The Office · Spanish audio
Bath towel, beach towel, throw in the towel
Spanish names each towel with de plus what it's for.
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| la toalla de baño | bath towel |
| la toalla de playa | beach towel |
| la toalla de manos | hand towel |
| secarse con la toalla | to dry off with the towel |
| el albornoz | bathrobe (in Latin America often la bata de baño) |
| tirar la toalla | to throw in the towel, to give up |
Tip: Tirar la toalla works just like the English idiom. ¡No tires la toalla! means don't give up.
Grammar: la toalla, las toallas
Four points for talking about towels.
Feminine, ends in -a
la toalla, una toalla, las toallas. Adjectives follow with -a: una toalla limpia, dos toallas mojadas.What kind of towel
Put the use after de: toalla de playa, toalla de manos. The towel comes first, the purpose second.Drying yourself
Use the reflexive verb secarse: Me seco con la toalla. To tell a friend, Sécate con esta toalla.Three syllables
Say to-a-lla, keeping the o and the a apart. In most places the ll comes out as a y sound: toh-AH-yah.Example sentences
Sentences from the Wordy Spanish course. Tap to listen.
Trae una toalla, por favor.
Bring a towel, please.
Hay una toalla, pero está sucia.
There's a towel, but it's dirty.
Aquí está tu toalla.
Here's your towel.
Es una toalla.
It's a towel.
Common mistakes
Mistakes learners make with this word, and how to fix them.
✗un toalla
✓una toalla
Toalla is feminine, so it takes una and la.
✗La toalla está sucio
✓La toalla está sucia
The adjective takes the feminine ending to match toalla.
✗TWAH-yah (pronunciation)
✓toh-AH-yah
The o and the a belong to different syllables. Don't squeeze them into one.
Real conversation: what's in the toiletry bag?
A short dialog in the bathroom of a holiday rental.
You and Alejandro have just arrived at your accommodation. You unpack the toiletry bag and check what you have for the bathroom and what's missing.
Oye, ¿hay champú en el neceser?
Hey, is there shampoo in the toiletry bag?
No, no hay champú.
No, there's no shampoo.
Vaya. ¿Y una toalla?
Oh well. And a towel?
Your turn to answer
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How to remember it
Toalla starts like towel and ends in a long AH-yah, the happy sigh you make when you wrap up in a warm towel.
Questions about "towel" in Spanish
How do you say towel in Spanish?
La toalla, pronounced toh-AH-yah. Two towels are dos toallas.
Is toalla masculine or feminine?
Feminine: la toalla, una toalla. Adjectives agree with it, as in una toalla seca.
How do you say beach towel in Spanish?
Una toalla de playa. A bath towel is una toalla de baño, and a hand towel is una toalla de manos.
How do you say "throw in the towel" in Spanish?
Tirar la toalla, with the same meaning as in English: to give up.
