Spanish palindromes (phrases that read the same backward and forward)
For those who like to play word games, palindromes can be fun to play with in either Spanish or English. Palindromes are words, phrases or sentences that use the same letters both backward and forward. One of the most famous in English may have been Adam’s first words to Eve: “Madam, I’m Adam.” To that, she was able to learn fast and replied with a palindrome of her own: “Eve.” Spanish too has palindromes and, like many of the ones written in English, they often rely on obscure words or unnatural word order to work. As in English, spaces and capitalization don’t count, and neither do accent marks. The longest common single-word palindrome in Spanish is reconocer, “to recognize,” which has the same number of letters as sometemos, a conjugated verb meaning “we submit.” Some Spanish-speaking word gamesters have proposed the longer word soplapalpos, but it was coined for this purpose and doesn’t appear in any dictionary. Perhaps the best-known sentence in Spanish that’s a palindrome is “Dábale arroz a la zorra el abad,” which uses an inverted (but still grammatically correct) word order to say, “The abbot gave rice to the vixen.” Following are some other Spanish palindromes. Most of these are straightforward and avoid the use of unusual names to achieve the palindrome.
Spanish Palindromes
- Adán no calla con nada. (Adam does not shut up with anything.)
- Adán no cede con nada. (Adam does not give in with just anything.)
- A Mercedes ése de crema Ana lleva al oso la avellana. (To Mercedes of the cream, Ana brings to the bear the hazelnut.)
- Amad a la dama. (Love the lady.)
- Amo la pacífica paloma. (I love the peaceful dove.)
- Amó la paloma. (I love the dove.)
- Así Ramona va, no Marisa. (So Ramona goes, not Marisa)
- Anita lava la tina. (Anita washes the tub.)
- A ti no, bonita. (Not you, pretty one.)
- Échele leche. (Give him milk.)
- Es Adán, ya ve yo soy Eva y nada sé. (It’s Adam, you see I am Eva and know nothing.)
- La moral, claro, mal. (Morals, of course, are bad.)
- La ruta natural. (The natural route.)
- La sal. (The salt.)
- Le avisará Sara si va él. (Sarah will let you know if he is going.)
- Luz azul no bajará Sara jabón. (Blue light will not lower Sara’s soap.)
- No deseo yo ese don. (I do not want that gift.)
- Ojo rojo. (Red eye.)
- Somos o no somos. (We are or we are not.)
- Son robos y sobornos. (They are robberies and bribes.)
- Yo hago yoga hoy. (I do yoga today.)
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