I was in a Spanish learning forum earlier today and someone asked how do you say that your breath stinks or that you have bad breath in Spanish. And another person asked how do you say you have BO (body odor), your armpits stink, or your armpits smell in Spanish.
No one had answered the questions, but I thought I’d share the answers with my readers in case they
Have you ever had the urge to tell someone this:
He has bad breath.
You have bad breath.
Your breath stinks.
And if you ever need to tell someone “you have bad breath” the following
The phrase can also be useful:
You need to rinse your mouth with baking soda and Listerine to disinfect it.
You should rinse your mouth with baking soda and Listerine to disinfect it.
Yes, both Listerine and Colgate toothpaste are sold in Spanish-speaking countries. But what I find so interesting is that in Spanish speaking countries they pronounce both Listerine and Colgate EXACTLY
in the same way that you would pronounce the words if they were of the Spanish language.
Here is another vocabulary word that may be helpful:
Mouthwash – mouthwash
And this is how you say in Spanish you have BO (body odor) or your armpits stink:
Don’t worry.
Your armpits/armpits stink.
(Literally, “you have a bad sweat”).
“Have bad sweat” is probably the most universal way of saying in Spanish that someone has bad underarm odor or BO (body odor). But in Colombia, the term I’ve also heard is “tener grajo” for “your armpits stink.” For example…
When I was little I had a teacher who had a rook.
When I was little, I had a teacher who had smelly armpits, stinky armpits, BO, etc.
I was wondering if “tener grajo” might be a phrase that is only used in Colombia. So I looked up the phrase in one of my Spanish dictionaries and it says that the phrase is used in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.
There is one more phrase that I have heard used in Colombia, to say that one has BO. And that is
is “to have shit”. “Chucha” literally means “opossum” as in the possum animal.
Telling someone “Tens chucha” (you have possum) to say that one has BO makes a lot of sense considering that possums, like “zorrillos” (skunks) or “skunks” (skunks), also have the ability to release a liquid smelly when threatened.
By the way, this is how you say armpit or armpit in Spanish.
Armpit (armpit, armpit)
Wash your armpits well so you don’t smell bad.
Wash your armpits well so you don’t stink.
In addition to “axila”, you may also hear Spanish speakers use the word “sobaco” for the English word axilla.
You didn’t wash your armpit well. That’s why you have bad sweat.
You didn’t wash your armpits properly. That’s why you have BO (body odor).
Before I go and while we’re on the topic of “olfato” (the sense of smell), I have a mistake I want to share with you that I heard an American friend make here in Medellin, Colombia tonight.
when speaking Spanish.
My friend, his “girlfriend” and I were at a bar having drinks. And then his “girlfriend” came out of the bar to smoke a cigarette. When she came back, I heard my American friend say:
You smell like cigarettes.
That is NOT the correct way to say “smells like a cigarette” in Spanish.
In Spanish you must use the construction “oler a” to say that something or someone smells like something. You do NOT use “smell like”.
So I should have told him:
You smell a cigarette.
You smell like cigarettes.
The same rule applies when you want to say that something tastes like something. You must use the “know to” construction. You do NOT use “know how”.
This cake tastes like chocolate.
This cake tastes like chocolate.
