Our weekly appointment with a pair of similar-looking Spanish nouns with different meanings is here again, so let’s see where a comparison of the commonest senses of feminine conducta and masculine conducto leads us.
Starting with the feminine conducta, you can listen to how it’s pronounced here:
Conducta is the way you behave in your life, in a particular situation or on a given occasion. It often translates as behaviour or as the more formal conduct:
Mi conducta tiene un efecto sobre los demás.
My behaviour affects others.
Su conducta me parecía intolerable.
I thought his behaviour was unacceptable.
Es rarisimo que la irritación desemboque en conducta agresiva.
It’s extremely rare that irritation leads to aggressive behaviour.
un nuevo código de conducta
a new code of conduct
Turning to the masculine conducto, you can listen to how it’s pronounced here:
Un conducto is a tube that typically carries liquids or gases somewhere.
In building and construction, it often translates as a pipe:
El accidente se produjo por la rotura de un conducto de gas.
The accident was caused by a broken gas pipe.
Atacan los conductos que abastecen de agua potable a la capital.
They’re attacking the pipes that supply drinking water to the capital.
However, when talking about ventilation, un conducto is more usually a duct:
Su presencia es frecuente en los conductos de aire acondicionado.
It is often present in air-conditioning ducts.
And where un conducto is the type of protective tubing through which electrical cables and/or pipes pass, it is likely to be translated as a conduit:
Las instalaciones de agua, gas, teléfono y electricidad se llevaron hasta el barrio a través de conductos elevados.
The utilities (water, gas, telephone and electricity) were brought into the area through overhead conduits.
In the body, un conducto may be a duct, a canal or a passage, depending on the context:
Carecía de conducto auditivo.
She had no ear canal.
conductos mamarios
mammary ducts
los conductos nasales
the nasal passages
las infecciones del conducto urinario
infections of the urinary tract
In more abstract contexts, un conducto is often equivalent to a channel in English:
El escrito tenía que ser enviado por conducto oficial.
The document had to be sent through official channels.
Los negativos pasaron a Suiza y luego a Francia por conductos clandestinos.
The negatives passed to Switzerland and then to France via secret channels.
QUIZ TIME
What Spanish verb often translating as lead or drive is related to conducto and conducta? Clue: it’s used in the examples below:
Hay que seguir la carretera que conduce a Poblet.
Subieron la escalera que conducía a la habitación.
Dicen que conduzco demasiado deprisa.
Una muchacha rubia los condujo por un largo pasillo.
You guessed it: conducir!
Hay que seguir la carretera que conduce a Poblet.
You need to follow the road that takes you or leads to Poblet.
Subieron la escalera que conducía a la habitación.
They went up the stairs that led to the bedroom.
Dicen que conduzco demasiado deprisa.
They say I drive too fast.
Una muchacha rubia los condujo por un largo pasillo.
A blonde girl led them or took them down a long passage.
Join us next week as we conduct more investigations into how similar-looking Spanish nouns are used.
