Word
La cola avanza despacio hoy.
Meaning
The line moves slowly today.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Questions & Answers about La cola avanza despacio hoy.
Does cola mean tail or line here? Why is cola used for queue in Spain?
In this sentence cola means queue / line (of people).
In Spanish, cola has several meanings:
- tail (of an animal)
- queue / line (of people waiting)
- in some contexts, train of a dress, etc.
In Spain, using hacer cola (to queue) and la cola (the queue) is very common and perfectly standard. You can also hear fila for line, but cola is probably the most usual everyday word for a queue of people.
Why is it la cola and not el cola? Is cola always feminine?
Cola is a feminine noun, so it takes the feminine article la. That is why we say la cola, una cola, esta cola, etc.
As a general pattern, many nouns ending in -a are feminine, and cola follows that pattern. In its common meanings (tail, line/queue), cola is always feminine.
Why is it avanza (simple present) instead of está avanzando, when in English we say is moving?