Time to get the measure of two more superficially similar Spanish nouns and uncover their different uses: these are tallo (masculine) and talla (feminine).
You can listen to the pronunciation of the less common tallo here:
Un tallo (masculine) is a stem or a stalk – that slim part of a plant from which flowers, fruits or leaves burst forth:
Es una planta de tallo muy largo.
It’s a plant with a very long stem.
Las hortensias se podan acortando los tallos que florecieron el año anterior.
Hydrangeas are pruned by cutting the stems that flowered the year before.
el tallo de un diente de león
a dandelion stalk
Moving on to talla, you can listen to how it’s pronounced here:
La talla (feminine) is particularly important if you’re shopping for clothes – if you’re large you may conceal it from others, while if you’re slim you may boast of it, since talla means size:
Encontró unos pantalones verdes, de su talla.
She found some green trousers, in her size.
Los guantes son de la talla extra-larga.
The gloves are the extra-long ones.
La talla can also refer to your physical height:
Era de talla media, pero parecía más alto.
He was of average height or size, but seemed taller.
In a less tangible, metaphorical use, la talla can refer to someone’s stature or standing, as in their importance:
No hay otro pianista de su talla en su generación.
There is no other pianist of his stature or standing in his generation.
Given that the verb tallar can mean to carve, sculpt, engrave or cut, it’s not surprising that una talla can also mean something created in such a way – a carving, sculpture or engraving:
una hermosa talla de madera
a beautiful wooden carving
La talla can also refer to the action itself:
Una vez acabada la talla del diamante, consta de 33 facetas la parte superior.
Once the cutting of the diamond is finished, the upper part has 33 facets.
diamantes talla esmeralda
emerald cut diamonds
DID YOU KNOW?
As talla is related to the verb tallar (to cut) and shares the same Latin root as the English noun tailor, it’s perhaps unsurprising that it’s used to talk about clothing sizes.
Note that you usually use número instead if talking about shoe size:
¿Qué número calzas?
What size shoe are you?
When talking about the size of other things, tamaño is the word to use:
Tenía el tamaño de una máquina de coser.
It was the size of a sewing machine.
Hay que reducir el tamaño del déficit.
We need to reduce the size of the deficit.
To size up some more similar nouns with different meanings, join us next week.
