Today we’re analysing another pair of similar-looking Spanish words to find out how to use them. This week’s pair are química and químico.
Starting with the feminine form química, you can listen to how it’s pronounced here:
La química is the branch of science that looks at the composition and structure of substances and how they will react with other substances. La química of a substance, material or organism is the chemical substances it’s made from and the chemical reactions that go on inside it. In other words chemistry:
Estudió química y mineralogía en la Universidad de Berlín.
He studied chemistry and mineralogy at the University of Berlin.
Ha publicado más de 200 artículos científicos sobre química y afines en revistas especializadas.
She has published over 200 scientific articles on chemistry and related subjects in specialist magazines.
la química orgánica
organic chemistry
Sus investigaciones giran en torno a la química de compuestos orgánicos.
His research centres on the chemistry of organic compounds.
Like its English counterpart, la química is also used to mean a discernible attraction, or lack of it, between two people:
No hay química entre los actores principales.
There is no chemistry between the principal actors.
Una química is a woman who is expert in or studies chemistry – a (female) chemist:
Su hermana mayor es química.
His older sister is a chemist.
Turning to químico, you can listen to how it is pronounced here:
Given the last feminine sense, it is probably unsurprising that un químico (masculine) is a man who is expert in or studies chemistry – a (male) chemist; and los químicos are chemists in general.
Fue un químico y cristalógrafo holandés.
He was a Dutch chemist and crystallographer.
Los físicos y químicos publican regularmente en revistas de gran impacto.
Physicists and chemists regularly publish in very influential magazines.
As well as being a noun, químico is also an adjective meaning chemical:
Estudió ingeniería química.
She studied chemical engineering.
los productos químicos utilizados en la agricultura industrial
chemical products used in industrial agriculture
DID YOU KNOW?
While in British English we refer to a person who dispenses drugs in a shop as a chemist (a name which is also applied to the shop itself) in Spanish the terms are respectively farmacéutico/ farmacéutica and farmacia:
¿Por qué no consultas al farmacéutico?
Why don’t you consult the chemist or pharmacist?
¿Qué opinó la farmacéutica?
What did the chemist or pharmacist think?
¿Hay una farmacia por aquí cerca?
Is there a chemist or pharmacy near here?
To see some more similar-looking Spanish words under the microscope, join us again next week.
