Today’s Spanish word of the day is “mientras”.
It’s a versatile word that can be translated as “while”, “as long as”, “whereas”, “meanwhile” or “in the meantime”.
When followed by a verb in the subjunctive form, it means “as long as”, for example:
- Mientras haya vida, hay esperanza. – As long as there is life, there is hope.
When followed by the word “que”, it means “whereas” or “while”, for example:
- En Glasgow llueve mucho, mientras que en Madrid casi siempre hace sol. – It rains a lot in Glasgow, whereas in Madrid it’s almost always sunny.
Some common idiomatic expressions involving the word “mientras” include:
- Mientras tanto – In the meantime
- Mientras más… más… – The more…, the more…. Example: Mientras más duermo, más quiero dormir. – The more I sleep, the more I want to sleep.
The word “mientras” came from an older Spanish word “domientre”, which evolved from the Latin phrase dum interim, meaning “while”. The English word “interim” also comes from the Latin word interim used in this phrase.
Example sentences
Mientras más practicas, más mejoras.
The more you practice, the more you improve.
Puedes jugar mientras no hagas ruido.
You can play as long as you don’t make noise.
Mientras iba caminando, encontré una moneda en el suelo.
While I was walking, I found a coin on the ground.
Miré la televisión mientras esperaba que se cocinara la cena.
I watched TV while waiting for dinner to cook.
Mientras no llueva, el picnic será en el parque.
As long as it doesn’t rain, the picnic will be in the park.
