Today we enter the world of storytelling as we explore the differences in usage between the Spanish words narrativa and narrativo, and we consider a couple of related words too.
You can listen to how the main words are pronounced below:
narrativa:
narrativo:
Whether packed with action, romance, suspense or just everyday life, narrativa (feminine noun) is the literary genre that is made up of novels, stories and short stories – fiction:
La narrativa y la poesía florecieron en especial en el siglo XIX.
Fiction and poetry flourished in the 19th century.
el premio de narrativa de 2026
the 2026 fiction prize
Narrativa (feminine noun) is also the action or process of telling a story – narrative or sometimes story:
Es una narrativa de ciencia ficción postapocalíptica.
It’s a postapocalyptic science fiction story.
Hay que cuestionar las narrativas de las élites.
We need to question the narratives of the elites.
Narrativo (together with its inflections narrativa, narrativos and narrativas to agree with the noun it relates to) is an adjective describing things to do with storytelling – narrative:
el uso de la técnica narrativa del monólogo interior
the use of the stream of consciousness narrative device
Experimenta con distintos hilos narrativos.
He experiments with different narrative threads.
DID YOU KNOW?
Narrativa and narrativo are related to the verb narrar, meaning to tell, relate or recount as well as to narrate. This verb suggests detailed storytelling in a structured way. Compare contar, which is a more everyday word for to tell in the context of stories and events:
Dice que ya en su temprana infancia solía leer y narrar historias fantásticas.
She says that already in early childhood she used to read and tell fantastical stories.
La serie narra las aventuras de Timothy, un joven mapache.
The series relates or recounts the adventures of Timothy, a young racoon.
El libro es narrado en primera persona por Antonio.
The book is narrated in the first person by Antonio.
Le contaron la historia del incendio y se horrorizó.
They told her the story of the fire, and she was horrified.
Durante el programa contó anécdotas de su vida deportiva.
During the programme he told anecdotes from his sporting life.
QUIZ TIME
Another pair of nouns related to narrativa and narrativo are narrador (masculine) and narradora (feminine). Looking at the following examples, do you know or can you guess what they are?
- Ford emplea el recurso del narrador no fiable con gran efecto.
- Aparte de eso trabajó como narradora de documentales.
ANSWER
Un narrador and una narradora can both be a narrator:
- Ford emplea el recurso del narrador no fiable con gran efecto.
Ford uses the unreliable narrator device to great effect. - Aparte de eso trabajó como narradora de documentales.
In addition to that she worked as a documentary narrator.
In context, storyteller, commentator and even author may sometimes be more appropriate than narrator.
To dip into how some other similar-looking Spanish words are used, come back next week.
