Today’s Spanish word of the day is “tonto” in the masculine form, or “tonta” in the feminine form.
It’s an adjective meaning “stupid” or “silly”.
It can also be used in both the masculine or feminine form as a noun to refer to a stupid person or a fool, for example:
- El tonto del pueblo siempre contaba historias increíbles. – The village idiot always told incredible stories.
One common phrase involving the word “tonto” is “hacer el tonto”, which means “to be silly” or “to play the fool”.
The word “tonto” is thought to come from Latin attonitus meaning “stunned” or “dumbfounded”.
Another Spanish word that’s closely related to “tonto” is the feminine noun “tontería”, which means “nonsense”, “foolishness” or “silly thing”. Essentially, a “tontería” is something that a “tonto” would do.
Example sentences
No seas tonto, eso no es verdad.
Don’t be silly, that’s not true.
Es una pregunta tonta, pero necesito saberlo.
It’s a dumb question, but I need to know.
Mi hermana es tan tonta que cuando le dije que se perdiera, necesitó un mapa.
My sister is so stupid that when I told her to get lost, she needed a map.
Ese error fue muy tonto.
That mistake was very silly.
Juan hizo el tonto en la fiesta anoche.
Juan acted like a fool at the party last night.
