Spanish word of the week: probable

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

Probable is an adjective that means likely and you can find how to pronounce it here: 

Es muy probable. It’s very likely.

Don’t forget that if you want to express in Spanish how likely something is to happen, you will have to use a verb in the subjunctive form, so es probable que has to be followed by a verb in the subjunctive:

Es probable que llueva más tarde. It is likely to rain later on.

Probable is often translated using probably:

Es probable que llegue tarde. He’ll probably arrive late.

Similarly, poco probable, meaning unlikely, is also followed by a verb in the subjunctive.

Es poco probable que venga. He’s unlikely to come.

Another common way of saying ‘probably’ is to use lo más probable es que… followed the subjunctive (word for word, the most likely thing is that…)

Lo más probable es que se haya olvidado. She probably forgot.

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