#50 Second Street, San Juan, Trinidad & Tobago, W.I.
Units of Measurement
The Metric System
The decimal measuring system based on the metre, litre, and gram as units of length, capacity, and weight or mass. The system was first proposed by the French astronomer and mathematician Gabriel Mouton (1618–94) in 1670 and was standardized in Republican France in the 1790s.
The metric system is a system of measurement that uses the meter, liter, and gram as base units of length (distance), capacity (volume), and weight (mass) respectively. The given figure shows the arrangement of the metric units, which are smaller or bigger than the base unit.
Ever wonder how Spanish-speakers talk about inches, pounds, and liters? They usually don’t.
That’s because most countries outside the United States use el sistema métrico decimal
, called the metric system in English, to measure everything from distance, volume, and temperature.
Talking About Length and Distance
Understanding the metric system is easy when you understand that the different measurements used for calculating length or distance are all divisible by 100. For example, there are one hundred centímetros, in English, in un metro,. For calculating units of length or distance larger than one meter, we also follow this pattern. Un kilómetro, , is the same thing as a thousand meters.
Metric System for Measurements of Length and Distance
| SPANISH | ENGLISH | CONVERTS TO |
|---|---|---|
|
milímetro
|
millimeter | 1/1,000th of a meter or .039 inches |
|
centímetro
|
centimeter | 1/100th of a meter or .39 inches |
|
metro
|
meter | 39 inches or 3.2 feet |
|
kilómetro
|
kilometer | 1,000 meters or .62 miles |
American System for Measurements of Length and Distance
| SPANISH | ENGLISH | CONVERTS TO |
|---|---|---|
|
pulgada
|
inch | 2.54 centimeters |
|
pie
|
foot | .3 meters or 12 inches |
|
yarda
|
yard | .91 meters or 3 feet |
|
milla
|
mile | 1.6 kilometers or 5,280 feet |
| EXAMPLES |
|---|
|
Desde aquí hasta el aeropuerto son unos 20 kilómetros.
It’s about 20 kilometers from here to the airport.
|
|
¿Cuántas yardas se extiende una cancha de fútbol americano?
How many yards long is a football field?
|
Talking About Weight and Fluid Volume
Spanish-speakers not only use the metric system for measuring length and distance, but also to calculate el peso y el volumen de líquidos, or the weight and fluid volume, of objects. Use these measurements when talking about the amount of water in a bottle or how heavy a package is. Learn the translations of the metric measurements for weight and fluid volume, their American counterparts, and conversions for both.
Metric System for Measurement of Weight and Fluid Volume
| SPANISH | ENGLISH | CONVERTS TO |
|---|---|---|
|
miligramo
|
milligram | 1/1,000th of a gram or .00004 ounces |
|
gramo
|
gram | .04 ounces |
|
kilogramo
|
kilogram | 1,000 grams or 2.2 pounds |
|
mililitro
|
milliliter | 1/1,000th of a litter or .03 fluid ounces |
|
litro
|
liter | 33.8 fluid ounces |
American System for Measurements of Weight and Fluid Volume
| SPANISH | ENGLISH | CONVERTS TO |
|---|---|---|
|
onza
|
ounce | 28.3 grams |
|
libra
|
pound | 16 ounces or .45 kilograms |
|
tonelada
|
ton | 2,000 pounds or 907.2 kilograms |
|
taza
|
cup | 8 fluid ounces or .24 liters |
|
pinta
|
pint | 2 cups or .47 liters |
|
cuarto de galón
|
quart | 2 pints or .95 liters |
|
galón
|
gallon | 4 quarts (128 fluid ounces) or 3.79 liters |
| EXAMPLES |
|---|
|
El doctor recomienda que tome dos litros de agua todos los días.
The doctor recommends that I drink two liters of water a day.
|
|
Bajo mi nuevo régimen de dieta y ejercicio, perdí diez libras en un solo mes.
Under my new regimen of diet and exercise, I lost ten pounds in just one month.
|
Whew that was una tonelada de información!
You would notice that my translation for a ton of information was not una tonelada de información, but un montón de información. In Spanish, you can only use tonelada when referring to something’s physical weight. If you want to use ton as an intensifier in order to talk about how much of something there is, be sure to use the Spanish word montón instead.
EXAMPLE
Hubo un montón de gente en el concierto.
There were a ton of people at the concert.
Talking About Temperature
In the United States, we use a system of measurement to talk about temperature called the Fahrenheit scale, where units of temperature are expressed in grados Fahrenheit, or degrees Fahrenheit in English. In the Spanish-speaking world (and the rest of the world), the Celsius scale is used. In the Celsius scale, units of temperature are expressed in grados centígrados, or degrees celsius in English.
Scales of Temperature
| SPANISH | ENGLISH | FREEZING POINT | BOILING POINT |
|---|---|---|---|
|
grados centígrados
|
degrees celsius | 0°C | 100°C |
|
grados Fahrenheit
|
degrees Fahrenheit | 32°F | 212°F |
Baking and cooking
You crack open your Spanish-language recipe book only to find instructions that look like this?
Agrega una taza de leche condensada y una cucharadita de vainilla a la mezcla y sigue batiendo.
What does this mean, what do you do?
Most if not all home and professional cooks at some point used a libro de recetas
Some measurements of weight and volume are calculated differently in Spanish-language recipes while others are the same measurements used in English-language ones.
The example here is a pastel de tres leches
Liters and Cups
If you bake, note that the slightest miscalculation can ruin your culinary masterpieces. That’s why understanding exactly how much a mililitro is fundamental to being able to follow a recipe in Spanish. Luckily, as with English, Spanish recipes also use teaspoons, tablespoons, and cups.
| SPANISH | ENGLISH | CONVERTS TO |
|---|---|---|
|
cucharadita
|
teaspoon | 4.9 milliliters |
|
cucharada
|
tablespoon | 14.7 milliliters |
|
taza
|
cup | 8 fluid ounces or .24 liters |
|
mililitro
|
milliliter | 1/1,000th of a liter or .03 fluid ounces |
|
litro
|
liter | 33.8 fluid ounces |
Other recipes require fractions
Los Números Fraccionarios
| Number | Spanish Fraction | Translation | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1/2 | la mitad or medio | half | |
| 1/3 | un tercio | a third | |
| 1/4 | un cuarto | a quarter | |
| 1/5 | a fifth | ||
| 1/6 | a sixth | ||
| 1/7 | a seventh | ||
| 1/8 | un octavo | an eighth | |
| 1/9 | a ninth | ||
| 1/10 | a tenth |
Imagine our bakery sells a delicious dessert called tres leches, which literally means ‘three milks’ because it contains three types of milk. The cake is good for ten people, so the baker recommends:
- Comprar la mitad si lo quieres para servir a cinco personas. (Buy a half if you want it to serve five people.)
A customer, for instance, orders the following:
- Deseo un tercio del pastel. (I would like a third of the cake).
| EXAMPLES |
|---|
|
Agrega una media taza de leche condensada y una cucharadita de vainilla a la mezcla y sigue batiendo.
Add half a cup of condensed milk and one teaspoon of vanilla to the mixture and continue stirring.
|
|
Mezcla tres huevos con dos tazas de azúcar moreno con las varillas eléctricas hasta que no queden grumos.
With the electric egg beater, whip three eggs with two cups of brown sugar until there are no lumps.
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|
Pon 200 mililitros de aceite de canola en un tazón con dos tazas de agua y sal al gusto.
Put 200 milliliters of canola oil in a bowl with two cups of water and salt to taste.
|
To Taste
How much is una pizca
How do you translate this immeasurable amount into Spanish? to add a slight amount of salt: use al gusto