April 8, 2021 by Olga Put Spanish Vocabulary 0 comments

A Simple Vocab Guide on Physics in Spanish

Whether you need to study physics in Spanish for high school or college or you simply want to impress a Spanish-speaking physicist with smart conversations, this article will help you reach your goals.

This simple vocabulary guide on physics in Spanish includes strategies to help you learn the new words. It also features activities and games to download to practice everything you’ll learn today.

Keep reading to boost to your vocabulary so that you never feel lost in the Spanish-speaking scientific world.

How to Learn Physics Vocabulary in Spanish

Let me give you some tips on how to study physics in Spanish, or rather how to study physics vocabulary in Spanish.

Spanish for specific purposes tends to be more challenging than everyday words, and learning subject-specific vocabulary requires innovative strategies. At the same time, you are always more self-motivated because you’re learning something that is immediately useful for your work and studies.

5 Tips to Study Physics in Spanish

Many Spanish words used in physics and other sciences are cognates and therefore easier to learn. However, for words that aren’t cognates, consider the following 5 learning strategies.

1. Study in Chunks

Divide your material into easily digestible pieces. Do you feel comfortable with 10 new words a day? Use different strategies to work with just these 10 words every day.

2. Use Pictures

Creating a picture dictionary will help your brain remember. Your drawings don’t need to be perfect. Just let yourself associate a word with an image.

3. Use Videos

Videos are a great resource that not only train your ear but also let you study words in context. You can also turn on subtitles and learn the correct spelling.

MinutoDeFisica is a wonderful YouTube channel related to physics in Spanish.

4. Befriend Etymological Dictionaries

Most words will become easier to remember if you understand where they come from and how they are formed. Understanding prefixes, suffixes, and roots that are most common in physics will help you make sense of the words.

Diccionario Etimológico Castellano en Línea is super useful. Look up your 10 daily words, and you’ll see how understanding rather than simply memorizing can do wonders.

5. Use Your Words Immediately

Write a scientific text, record yourself describing a phenomenon, or engage in another activity to incorporate your newly acquired words about physics in Spanish.

Key Terms to study

Now, let’s dive into vocabulary you’ll use when studying physics in Spanish. I’ve divided the list into categories to make them easier to learn.

This is not an exhaustive list of words for physics in Spanish, but it definitely covers the basic terms you’ll need to know when reading Spanish physics textbooks or lecture notes.

For a slew of more specific terms, check out this English-Spanish Glossary for High School.

Physics in Spanish: Basic Units

SPANISH	ENGLISH
las unidades básicas	basic units
la longitud	length
el tiempo	time
la masa	mass
la intensidad de corriente eléctrica	intensity of electric current
la temperatura	temperature
la cantidad de sustancia	amount of substance
la intensidad luminosa	light intensity
el metro (m)	meter
el segundo (s)	second
e kilogramo (kg)	kilogram
el amperio / ampere (A)	ampere
el kelvin (K)	kelvin
el mol (mol)	mole
la candela (cd)	candela
la velocidad de la luz	speed of light
el tiempo atómico	atomic time
el campo eléctrico	electric field

Physics in Spanish: Other Units of Measurement

SPANISH	ENGLISH
el hercio (Hz)	hertz
la frecuencia	frequency
el newton (N)	newton
la fuerza	force
el pascal (Pa)	pascal
la presión	pressure
el julio (J)	joul
la energía	energy
el trabajo	work
el calor	heat
el vatio (W)	watt
la potencia	power
el culombio (C)	coulomb
la carga eléctrica	electrical charge
el voltio (V)	voltio
el celsius (ºC)	celsius

Length, Capacity, and Volume

SPANISH	ENGLISH
la longitud	length
la pulgada	inch
el pie	foot
la yarda	yard
la milla	mile
el área	area
la capacidad	capacity
el volumen	volume

Types of Energy

SPANISH	ENGLISH
la energía mecánica	mechanical energy
la energía cinética	kinetic energy
la energía potencial	potential energy
la energía electromagnética	electromagnetic energy
la energía radiante	radiant energy
la energía térmica	thermal energy
la energía interna	internal energy

Work and Power

SPANISH	ENGLISH
el trabajo	work
la potencia	power
la potencia mecánica	mechanical power
la potencia eléctrica	electric power
la potencia sonora	sound power

Physics in Spanish: Games and Activities

I don’t know about you, but I like studying new words through games. I prepared three games for you to play with new vocabulary and learn about Physics in Spanish in an effortless way.

You can download and print out the worksheets below and do the activities in your study time.

Practice Time!

Now that you’ve learned the vocabulary needed to study physics in Spanish, it’s time to practice before you try out your newfound knowledge in the real world.

To learn vocabulary from other scientific fields, check out International Day of Women and Girls in Science in Spanish. The article includes a series of interesting words and expressions.

Do you want to talk about physics in Spanish in a 1-on-1 conversation? Sign up for a free class and take your physics vocabulary to the next level with one of our friendly and professional native Spanish-speaking teachers from Guatemala.

high school spanish classes online — *Sign up for your* *FREE TRIAL CLASS* *today!*

Ready to learn more Spanish vocabulary? Check these out!

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Olga Put

Freelance Writer at Homeschool Spanish Academy

I'm a Spanish philologist, teacher, and freelance writer with a Master's degree in Humanities from Madrid. I speak Polish, Spanish, and English fluently, and want to get better in Portuguese and German. A lover of literature, and Mexican spicy cuisine, I've lived in Poland, Spain, and Mexico and I'm currently living and teaching in Madeira, Portugal.