Exclaiming About Fabrics
Use the preposition de followed by a material like el ante (suede), el cuero (leather), or el lino (linen) to describe what clothing is made of.
You will often hear these materials in exclamation structures like ¡Qué [noun] más/tan [adjective]! ("What a [adjective] [noun]!").
| What beautiful suede shoes! | ¡Qué zapatos de ante tan bonitos! |
| What an expensive leather jacket! | ¡Qué chaqueta de cuero más cara! |
| What comfortable linen trousers! | ¡Qué pantalones de lino tan cómodos! |
Construction and the Passive "Se"
Clothes are often held together with a zipper (la cremallera) or seams (las costuras).
| What a difficult zipper to zip up! | ¡Qué cremallera más difícil de subir! |
To describe how garments and fabrics like velvet (el terciopelo) are manufactured or sold, Spanish frequently uses the passive se. Form this with se plus a third-person verb to show that an action "is done", without specifying by whom.
| Many velvet skirts are sold here. | Aquí se venden muchas faldas de terciopelo. |
| The seams are sewn with a special thread. | Las costuras se cosen con un hilo especial. |
Making Comparisons
When comparing natural fabrics to synthetic (sintético) ones, or traditional closures to velcro (el velcro), use transition phrases like en cambio (on the other hand) or sin embargo (however) to highlight differences.
| This bag is made of leather; on the other hand, that one is synthetic. | Este bolso es de cuero; en cambio, ese es sintético. |
| The red coat has buttons; on the other hand, the black one has velcro. | El abrigo rojo tiene botones; en cambio, el negro lleva velcro. |
| Velvet is very soft; however, this synthetic material is uncomfortable. | El terciopelo es muy suave; sin embargo, este material sintético es incómodo. |
Fastening Your Clothes
A shoelace is el cordón.
| The boy does not know how to tie his shoelaces. | El niño no sabe atarse los cordones. |
To talk about fastening, zipping, or buttoning clothes, use the verb abrochar. Because people usually fasten their own garments, it frequently appears in its reflexive form (abrocharse).
| My daughter prefers velcro because she hates fastening her shoes. | Mi hija prefiere el velcro porque odia abrocharse los zapatos. |
| She fastens the leather coat. | Ella se abrocha el abrigo de cuero. |