Language Trainers Blog

Fuego is a Spanish word meaning fire which comes from the Latin word for heart – focus. Other meanings of fuego include (gas) burner; (electric) plate; hot plate; flame; heat; beacon; light; a rash; home; hearth; ardour and passion. So it’s quite a useful word.

Here are some examples of usage:

• la paella se prepara a fuego lento – Paella is cooked over a low heat
• hervir a fuego lento – to simmer
• pegar / prender fuego a – to set fire to
• apagar el fugeo – to put out the fire
• apagarfuegos – fire fighter / fire extinguisher
• echar fuego por los ojos – to glare, look daggers
• fuegos artificiales – fireworks (articial fires)
• ¿tienes fuego? – do you have a light?
• abrir / romper el fuego – to open fire
• ¡alto el fuego! – cease fire!
• un pueblo de 50 fuegos – a village of 50 houses / families
• apagar los fuegos de uno – to damp down somebody’s ardour / passion
• la distancia avivó el fuego de su pasión – distance rekindled the fires of his passion
• atizar el fuego – to add fuel to the flames, stir things up, to poke the fire
• poner las manos en el fuego por – to stake one’s life on
• jugar con fuego – to play with fire (figuratively)
• estar entre dos fuegos – to be between the devil and the deep blue sea

Related words include fueguear – to set fire to, and fueguina – a native of Tierra del Fuego (the land of fire).

In France it’s best to stick to formal forms of language (vous, etc), unless you know people well. Using first names, nicknames or terms of endearment for people you’ve just met would sound strange and rude. Younger people don’t tend to worry about such things as much though.

Punctuality tends to be quite approximate in France – arriving somewhere 10-15 minutes late for a party, for example, is normal and polite. Arriving on time could be seen as rude as it might not give the hosts enough time to prepare everything.

When eating in France it’s normal to put your hands and fore-arms on the table, though not your elbows, which is rude. Forks are normally laid with the prongs pointing towards the table, a custom that dates back to the French Revolution, and bread is often placed directly on the table rather than on a plate. If you’re invited to dinner, it’s normal to bring something –chocolates or flowers are acceptable gifts, whereas bringing wine is not a good idea as it would indicate that the host’s wine is worthless.

Politics, politicians and philosophy are perfectly acceptable and normal subjects for conversation in France, and the French like to engage in long and sometimes heated discussions about them. They also contradict each other just for fun sometimes, and also to encourage debate. One subject best avoided in France is money, discussion of which the French consider extremely vulgar.

In French offices the workers usually address the management, especially those much higher up the hierarchy, with their titles, e.g. Monsieur le Président, and it’s not usually for colleagues to go out for a drink after work, unless they know each other well.