Spanish word of the week: cuento

This week’s Spanish word of the week is cuento.

Cuento is a noun that means story. To hear how cuento is pronounced, you can click the icon below: 

El cuento, meaning a story, has an ‘-o’ in it, like ‘story’, and is masculine. 

La abuela nos contaba cuentos. Grandma used to tell us stories.

Más que novela es un cuento. It’s more a short story than a novel.

un cuento de hadas a fairy tale

If you remember that, you won’t muddle it up with la cuenta, the bill.

¿Nos trae la cuenta, por favor? can we have the bill, please?

From the idea of ‘storycuento takes on the meaning of something completely made up: in other words, a lie.
No le creas, es puro cuento. Don’t believe him, it’s all lies.

Come back next week to learn a new word!

Other Articles

Spanish words of the week: tallo or talla?

Time to get the measure of two more superficially similar Spanish nouns and uncover their different uses: these are tallo (masculine) and talla (feminine). Read More

Spanish words of the week: plata or plato?

Another week, another opportunity to buff up our knowledge of two similar-looking Spanish nouns with different meanings. This week it’s the turn of 'plata' and 'plato'. Read More

Spanish words of the week: manzana or manzano?

It’s time to peel the layers off another pair of Spanish nouns which look similar in form but mean different things depending on their ending and gender. This week it’s the turn of feminine manzana and masculine manzano. Read More