Today’s Spanish word of the day is “vuelta”.
It’s a feminine noun that means “turn”, as in turning a corner, but is also used in a lot of different idiomatic expressions to mean different things including “back”, “return” and “around”.
Here are a few of the different ways the word “vuelta” can be used:
- To mean “turn”: Dio una vuelta a la derecha. – He/She took a right turn.
- To mean “the return” or “the way back”, in the expression “la vuelta”: A la vuelta, pasaremos por la tienda. – On the way back, we’ll stop by the store.
- To mean “back”, in the expression “de vuelta”: Estoy de vuelta. – I’m back.
- To refer to a walk or short trip: Demos una vuelta por el parque. – Let’s take a walk around the park.
- To refer to turning something over in your mind, or overthinking something: Le dio mil vueltas en mi mente. – I turned it over and over in my mind.
The word “vuelta” comes from Latin voluta meaning “spiral” or “rolled”, which in turn derived from the Latin word verb volvere (“to roll”), from which we also get several English words including “revolve”, “revolution” and “evolve”.
Example sentences
Tienes que darle un par de vueltas a la llave para abrir la puerta.
You have to turn the key a couple of times to open the door.
¿Has oído que Pedro está de vuelta de Colombia?
Have you heard that Pedro is back from Colombia?
La situación dio una vuelta inesperada.
The situation took an unexpected turn.
Di una vuelta al parque antes de cenar.
I took a walk around the park before dinner.
El autobús da la vuelta a la ciudad en una hora.
The bus goes around the city in one hour.
