Breakdown of Hay tiritas y gasas en el botiquín.
y
and
en
in / on / by (means of transport) / about (after pensar)
haber
there to be (existential)
el botiquín
the first-aid kit
la tirita
the plaster
la gasa
the gauze
Questions & Answers about Hay tiritas y gasas en el botiquín.
Why is gasas plural when the English translation uses the singular word "gauze"?
In English, "gauze" is generally treated as an uncountable material. In Spanish, gasas refers to the individual cut pieces or pads of gauze used for bandaging. If you were talking about the fabric itself in a general sense, you could use the singular gasa, but in a first-aid kit, you will usually find individual gasas.
Is tiritas a diminutive form of another word?
Yes! It comes from the word tira, which means a "strip" or "band". So a tirita is literally a "little strip". In Spain, this is the standard, everyday word used for a plaster or Band-Aid.
Where does the word botiquín come from?
Botiquín (first-aid kit or medicine cabinet) comes from the older word botica, which means "pharmacy" or "apothecary". The suffix -ín is a diminutive ending, so you can think of a botiquín as your own personal "little pharmacy".
Since the sentence lists multiple things (plasters and gauze), why doesn't the verb hay change to a plural form?
The word hay (meaning "there is" or "there are") is an impersonal form of the verb haber. In Spanish, it only ever has one form in the present tense, no matter how many items follow it. You will never change it to a plural form like "han" just because there are multiple objects.
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