Sports vocabulary and idiomatic expressions in Spanish We start April talking about sports! Do you like doing sports? Are you a fan of any sport? If so, you will love this article. Let's see all the necessary sports vocabulary in Spanish. The article will be divided into these points
We start April talking about sports!
Do you like do sports? Are you a fan of any sport?
If so, you will love this article. Let's see all the sports vocabulary in spanish necessary. The article will be divided into these points:
Are we ready? Well, let the game begin!
If you stop to think about it, the world of sports is huge and there are many types and sports names. There are them for all tastes.
Let's see the sports classes most popular!
The olympic sports are all those included in the Olympic Games, which are celebrated every four years in different countries around the world.
They bring together athletes from a wide variety of sports: athletics, swimming, team sports, weightlifting, precision sports...
Athletes compete for get the gold medal, although the silver or bronze one is not bad either.
The Olympic Games are usually an event of interest around the world. When they are celebrated, do they keep you glued to the screen or does it not suit you?
Do you prefer water sports? These sports are all those that are practiced inside the water, whether in the sea, lake or pool.
Some of the water sportsThe most popular are swimming, surfing, kayaking, water skiing, wakeboarding or windsurfing.
A water sport, in addition to providing a fun way to exercise, also offers an opportunity to enjoy nature and get tanned.
They are very complete!
Many people associate sport with good weather and short-sleeved clothing. But the truth is that you also do sports when it's cold.
There are many sports specific during winter which are practiced in snow or ice and require very cold temperatures.
Some of the ice sports The most famous are ice skating, ice hockey and curling.
As for the snow sportsThe best known are skiing and snowboarding. Within the sport of skiing, there are many modalities such as alpine, cross-country, acrobatic or cross-country skiing.
Typical sports question: Are you more into skiing or snowboarding?
As its name suggests, the team sports They are what a group of well-organized people are needed to be able to practice it.
It is curious that for this type of sports the verb is used «play», since, in reality, sports like football, basketball, handball or volleyball are like games.
The summer sports are those that are practiced outdoors during the warmest months of the year, taking advantage of the good weather and the little sun.
These sports require less specialized equipment than winter sports.
Some examples of summer sports could be soccer, basketball, baseball, tennis, golf, swimming, surfing, beach volleyball, cycling, track and field, rowing, canoeing, and skateboarding, among others.
Do you like strong emotions? Maybe yours are the adventure sports. These sports usually have a certain degree of risk and challenge. They are generally carried out in natural environments.
What sports are in this modality? Some of the most typical risk sports are climbing, canyoning, rafting, caving or paragliding.
There are many sports that revolve around a ball.
In some ball sports, the ball must be introduced into a goal, as in football or handball.
In others you must get into a basket, like in basketball. There are also those in which it is hit with racket, as in tennis or fronton.
The mountain sports They are sports activities that take place in mountain environments.
Some of these sports require strength, endurance and adaptation skills to very demanding environments such as climbing, skiing or mountain biking.
There are others that may be more accessible to everyone, such as hiking, which consists of climbing a mountain walking along trails.
In themotor sports Races are held with motorized vehicles.
Most people know about car racing. Formula 1, Rally or the motorcycle racing.
But the truth is that there are also many other competitions with other types of vehicles, such as kart racing, boat racing (powerboat) or even airplane racing (sports aviation) 😯
If you love training in the gym, you will know that there are different modalities included in these strength sports, such as weightlifting, weightlifting, crossfit, or calisthenics.
If you want get strong and increase your muscles, there is nothing better than these sports 💪🏻
Sports can be played practically anywhere. Let's look at the vocabulary of places to play sports more common.
The field It is a large playing field that is outdoors. It can be grass, dirt or asphalt.
In elite sports you always play on grass and is surrounded by stands with the public cheering on their players.
Some sports that are played on the field are soccer, rugby, American football, baseball or hockey.
The court It is an enclosed play space, generally rectangular and with a hard surface, such as cement or wood. These sports are not played outdoors, so weather conditions do not play a role.
The sport par excellence that is played on a field is basketball.
The ring It is the square platform on which the competitions of contact sports such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai or mixed martial arts (MMA).
In Spanish we also call it "quadrilateral."
If you do swimming, you can do it in the sea, but the most comfortable thing is usually a swimming pool, since you will not be bothered by weather conditions or waves.
There are many swimming sports that are done in pools: swimming, diving, synchronized swimming or water polo, which is a team sport played in a pool.
Which is your favorite?
In the sports field, a track It is a surface specially designed and optimized for the practice of certain sports.
For example, in skating, roller hockey or track cycling, the track must have a floor with good grip for the wheels and that is not slippery.
The places where tests are carried out are also called tracks. athletics such as sprinting, jumping or throwing.
The racket sports Like tennis or paddle tennis, they are also played on their corresponding courts.
A stadium is a sports facility designed to accommodate thousands of spectators who enjoy sporting events or public shows.
The most popular sports such as football, baseball, basketball or rugby are played in the stadiums.
There are stadiums of different sizes. Some of the largest in the worldThey are Maracaná, in Rio de Janeiro, or Wembley, in London. Both can hold almost 100,000 spectators.
The equestrian centers They are the fields in which sports are performed. related to horses like the horse riding.
In equestrian centers there are competitions and also classes for anyone who wants to learn how to do jumping, dressage or horse racing competitions.
We have talked about the ring before, but not all contact sports are done in a quadrilateral.
The martial arts coming from Asia, especially Japan, are made in the tatami.
It is a padded material covered by a bottom layer of foam or cork. This makes this floor ideal for falls, since it has a kind of light mat inside.
Some of the martial arts that are practiced on tatami are judo, jiu-jitsu, karate or taekwondo.
Nowadays, the gyms They are equipped to offer a wide variety of sports to practice. On the one hand, they have the traditional objects to work strength such as dumbbells, bars or machines.
On the other hand, they also tend to give directed classes groups to offer other types of training. For example, you can find yoga, pilates, toning, spinning and even boxing classes.
There are sports that require paved surfaces and that is why they are done in the road.
For example, in the road cyclingCyclists compete over long distances across public roads, such as in the Tour de France.
There are also car racing that are disputed on roads and some forms of inline skating.
When we talk about table sports, we can be referring to two things.
There are sports in which the playing field is literally a table, as in table tennis.
But there are also sports like chess, in which the table is the board to move the pieces and compete on it.
We continue to expand our lexical field of sports. Now let's talk about kind of sports that are formed with more than one name.
Some of these sports names in Spanish are derivations that come from English and that, in Spanish, have become their own words.
Do you want to know this list of sports and their names?
Let's see them!
«Ball» and "basket" are the words that make up this name. A ball is synonymous with a ball, and the basket is the basket in which this ball must be put to score points.
the word «football» comes from English «football». We also have a translation in Spanish: «football». We put the m because in Spanish you never put the n in front of the p 😉
This is one of the most popular ball sports in the world. Eleven players on each team must drive the ball to the opposing team's field and score a goal in the goal.
How is it possible for something so simple to be so fun at the same time?
It is clear what the two words that make up this name are, right? Ball + hand = Handball.
Players must try to score the ball into the opponent's goal, just like in soccer. However, there are many differences between both sports.
Handball is played on a court, and not on a field.
In this sport you play with 7 players on each team, and not 11. Furthermore, the ball is carried in the hand, and not with the feet.
Did you know that Players can only give one maximum of three steps before passing, dribbling or shooting the ball? They can't hold it either more than 3 seconds.
the word "volleyball" It comes from the English "voleyball", which means something like "the ball that flies."
In volleyball, two teams separated by a network They try to pass a ball over the net and make it fall into the opposing team's field.
There are different modalities, such as the one played in court with 6 people or the one played on the beach (beach volleyball) in pairs.
the word "water polo" It is made up of two words: "wáter" (water) and "polo", which comes from the sport in which a rider hits a ball with a stick while riding a horse.
In this water sport, players must score a goal for the opposing team in the water, swimming non-stop. It seems like one of the hardest sports, don't you think?
baseball also comes from english "baseball". In Spanish it would mean"base ball." This is because the bases in this sport are very important.
The bases are the pads that are placed on the ground and that runners must step on to score points. In total, there are four bases on the baseball field and they are always stepped on after bat the ball
This team sport is very popular in United States and other countries of the latin america.
In this section of words related to sports, we are going to see the main verbs involved in sports and their activities.
run It is the action of moving on foot, but at a faster than normal speed. You can run at a slow pace for a long time or in short intervals at high intensity, which is known as "sprint".
In practically all sports, these two ways of running are necessary. In the first you need resistance, and in the second power.
When we introduce a ball or other similar element into a sport, the verb used is "play."
What sport do you like to play? Tennis, football, handball...?
Jump It is a movement in which a person propels his body upward with force using his feet and legs. During a jump, the body rises in the air and then falls to the ground again.
There are sports in which jumping is the main exercise, such as the long jump, the high jump or the pole vault.
Whenwe get into a vehicle the verb is used ride. We can get in a car, on a motorcycle, on a bicycle, on a train...
As there are motor sports, we also use this verb when the athlete gets in and drives the vehicle.
swim It is the action of moving in water using coordinated movements of the arms, legs and body.
Did you know that swimming is one of the sports exercises more effective for health? Helps improve cardiovascular endurance, muscle strength and is ideal for burn calories.
When we train, we perform exercises with the aim of improve our physical condition and possibly others specific skills.
For example, when a footballer trains it is to improve his physical health but also to refine his technique with the ball or dribbling, passing, precision...
Training to have good physical health makes us live longer and provides us with better quality of life. It is one of the best investments you will make in your life 😉
In many strength sports, a large part of the exercise consists of lift a weight, such as in weightlifting, crossfit or weightlifting.
The main objects that are used to lift weights are dumbbells, bars with plates, gym machines or kettlebell.
In sports, the verb "mark" is used when if write down a score. In football they say "score a goal» when the ball is introduced into the goal.
In basketball or racquet games it is said «mark a point».
Skate It is a physical activity that consists of moving on a surface, such as an ice rink or a flat, smooth surface, using skates.
Skates can be of different types, such as ice skates, roller skates or inline skates.
Are you good at skating?
When we play activities and sports against another team and only one can win, we compete.
There are also individual competitions, such as in athletics, where people compete to achieve the best mark and break records.
The verb throw It is used in various sports where the main objective is throw an object at a specific distance or target. There are many sports in which throwing occurs:
And many more.
Warm up It is the action of moving the body and muscles before doing intense exercise.
The warm-up It is performed to prepare the body, increase body temperature, improve flexibility, prevent injuries and improve performance.
In a sports competition, all players want win the game, the race or the event whatever.
In every sporting event there is always a winner…
Just as there is also a loser. To lose is to be defeated by someone better.
nobody likes it lose, but no matter how painful it is, losing can always serve as a great learning experience 😊
The verb "do sports" It is the most general of all. It can be used for any sport. It is similar to "exercise" and it can be used whenever we do physical activity.
When we do physical activity, our body sweat to regulate the temperature.
Sweat comes out of our skin and this allows our body temperature not to be too high. That's why we sweat a lot more in summer than in winter.
In this section of sports vocabulary in Spanish, let's talk about the main instruments that are used in sports.
The racket It is that oval-shaped object with a knob that is used to hit the ball in sports such as tennis, racquetball, squash or badminton.
The rackets always have some nets that cover the ring.
There are many types of rackets depending on the sport and made of different materials. Are you good at racquet sports?
The ball is the team sports star object. This spherical object is the protagonist in football, basketball, handball, water polo, volleyball, baseball, tennis...
Sport owes a lot to whoever invented the ball!
The difference between balland ball is that the first one has a larger size. For example, we call a basketball a ball, but we do not call a tennis ball a ball.
In some sports it is necessary to wear a protective helmet because they pose a risk to physical integrity. The helmet protects the head of possible falls against the ground.
The helmet is common in motor sports or speed such as motorcycle, car, ski or skateboard racing.
The helmet is also used to protect against blows in contact sports like boxing or taekwondo.
The gloves they are put in the hands and they can have many uses in sports: protection, improving grip, greater cushioning, keeping hands warm...
They are used in many sports such as boxing, baseball, skiing, climbing, motocross, among others.
The sports shoes They are all sports shoes that are used to practice a sport.
There are many types of sneakers; there are general, which more or less work for most sports; and there are more specific, which fit a particular sport.
For example, if you play soccer, the ideal is to equip yourself with cleated shoes to have better grip with the grass.
In the basketball High-top sneakers are worn, with an upper made of leather, mesh, or other durable materials, which supports the foot and helps keep it in place.
On the other hand, those who practiceskateboard They use shoes with a flat and grippy sole that provides excellent grip on the board. skate. In addition, they usually have reinforced footwear with a protective layer to resist the wear and tear caused by the board.
Each sport is a world, and its shoes... too!
The bicycle It is a means of transportation that is also used for sports. By having to be pedaling We constantly make physical effort.
There are many types of bicycles, the most typical are 3:
one pole It is a long and thin object that is used specifically in the pole vault.
Pole vaulting is a olympic sport very spectacular. The pole is used to propel the athlete and jump over a bar that is at a great height.
These poles can measure up to 5 meters in length… Imagine if the bar is high!
The shovel It is an object similar to the racket. It is also circular, has a handle to catch it and is used to hit a ball. Although the paddles and rackets they have differences.
If you have ever seen images of sports that are played with paddles or rackets, you will know how they are different.
The difference is that your surface is flat, does not have an open ring covered by a net.
The paddles are used in sports such as ping pong or paddle tennis.
The oars are those objects that we use to move a boat, canoe, pirogue or kayak. They are long and can be made of wood or other materials.
Have you ever rowed for a long time? It is a really demanding exercise for the arms, back and the entire torso in general.
People who row often are as strong as a bull 💪🏻
The sticks It is another of the star objects in sports.
There are ski sticks, hockey sticks, golf clubs, polo sticks, cricket sticks, softball sticks…
In most of these sports, the stick is used to hit or pass a ball. Although in skiing they are necessary to stabilize and make precise movements through the snow.
The bat It is the club used to hit the ball mainly in baseball and in softball.
Bats can be made of different materials such as wood, aluminum or graphite.
There are several motor sports that are done with motorcycles:
In Valencia there is a lot of passion for motorcycle racing, we have our own circuit in Cheste: the Ricardo Tormo circuit.
Have you ever seen a motorcycle race? The noise they make is amazing!
How many sports words in Spanish are you learning! But there is still one last point in this sports article in Spanish that you are going to love.
Next, you will learn idiomatic expressions in Spanish related to sports.
As we always say, know expressions in a language it is a sign that your level is good and that you are interested in the culture of that country.
Learn with us all the expressions you can so that your Spanish is excellent 😉
This expression is used when we get something indirectly, without having proposed it, taking advantage of a situation or circumstance that was not originally planned.
It's something like get something by luck.
This expression means offering the opportunity to someone to speak and express yourself freely, without interruptions or limitations.
This expression comes from football. «be offside» is an offense committed when a player is in an advanced position with respect to the last defender at the time the pass is made to him.
In real life, we use this expression to indicate that someone not aware of what is happening in his environment or has missed the opportunity to act at the right time.
This expression also comes from football. Sometimes the players they throw the ball out of the field to stop play and buy time when his team is in a favorable position.
Off the field of play, this expression can be used to divert the topic of a conversation that bothers us or when directly we avoid a situation which seems complicated to us.
We have already talked about verb sweat. We have said that when we do physical activity we usually sweat.
Well, we also say the expression "sweat your shirt" to express that a person performs a great effort to achieve a goal.
That effort can be physical, mental, psychological, economic or any type.
It involves doing everything possible to achieve success.
The expression comes from target shooting or of archery. In both sports, precision is worked on and the main objective is to hit the center of a target or a specific object.
In real life, "hit the target" means to achieve, do or say something accurately, effectively and correctly.
Have you ever seen a boxer being hit by another against the ropes? It is a very unfavorable and distressing situation for that person, right?
It seems that can't escape from there and that at any moment his opponent is going to knock him down.
Well, sometimes life makes us feel this same way. Sometimes there are situations where someone feels cornered, without having enough room for maneuver or control over the situation.
"Throw in the towel"is another idiom that comes from boxing. In this sport, when the coach sees that his boxer must finish the fight because his health is in danger, he throws in the towel.
This gesture means surrender and the fight immediately stops.
We can use the expression in other contexts where we give up or we give up.
Before we have named the trampoline jump in water sports listings. Don't you think that to make those jumps into the pool you have to have a lot of courage?
There are times when we need courage to do important changes, leaving our comfort zone and improving our lives.
Those actions can sometimes be risky and we don't know if they will be successful or not.
When we do this, we use the expression "jump into the pool." Doing this requires a lot of courage. Whether it turns out good or bad, daring to jump into the pool from time to time almost always has positive consequences.
When we say that "the ball is in your court" It means it's your turn to play. That is, I have already acted or spoken and now it's your turn do something, give your opinion or make a decision about something.
In this article we have seen a large list of Spanish sports. Perhaps it has helped you learn more information about existing sports that you didn't know about before.
You have also learned a lot of vocabulary of verbs, elements and expressions related to sports.
To consolidate all this vocabulary, as we always do, we are going to practice it with a couple of activities. Let's get to work!
In this activity we propose a crossword to review all article lexicon.
Now is the time to practice idiomatic expressions related to sports. You have to drag the expression to the corresponding sentence.
Have the exercises gone well?
If you want to know other different lexical fields, come to our school!
In Hispania, Spanish school, we work vocabulary and grammar in each class so that students always take something new from Spanish home.
We offer face-to-face Spanish courses and online Spanish courses with which you can learn Spanish and obtain an official degree in just a few months.
Do you have any questions about sports that we haven't mentioned?
Do you really have them? Yes we will have talked about more than 30 types of sports!
Just kidding 😁
You already know that you can ask us anything you want and we encourage you to leave your comment, we would love to interact with you and know what you thought of the article.
See you soon!
Article written by Carlos Martinez for Hispania, Spanish school.
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