Heat Kills: Spanish Cities and Urban Heat Traps

Key vocabulary

• calorm.

  heat

  “El calor mata cada vez más en España.”— Heat kills more and more in Spain.

  Pattern muerte por calor heat-related death

  Compare high temperature: altas temperaturas

  Plural calores

  💡 From Latin calor, cognate with English calorie.

• muertef.

  death

  “Las muertes por calor aumentan en las ciudades.”— Heat-related deaths are increasing in cities.

  Pattern muertes por calor heat-related deaths

  Compare fallecimiento death

  Plural muertes

  💡 From the verb morir (to die); note that muerte is a noun, morir is a verb.

• trampaf.

  trap

  “Granada es una trampa de calor.”— Granada is a heat trap.

  Pattern trampa de calor heat trap

  Plural trampas

  💡 trampa originally refers to a trap for catching animals; here it metaphorically describes a city trapping heat.

• temperaturaf.

  temperature

  “La temperatura urbana superó a la rural.”— The urban temperature exceeded the rural one.

  Pattern temperatura urbana urban temperature

  Plural temperaturas

  💡 Cognate with English temperature; note that in Spanish the u is pronounced /u/.

• asfaltom.

  asphalt

  “El asfalto absorbe el calor.”— Asphalt absorbs heat.

  Pattern calle de asfalto asphalt street

  Plural asfaltos

  💡 From Latin asphaltus; in cities, asphalt absorbing heat is one of the main causes of the heat island effect.

• árbolm.

  tree

  “La falta de árboles influye en el calor.”— The lack of trees influences the heat.

  Pattern falta de árboles lack of trees

  Plural árboles

  💡 Note that the plural adds -es, and the stress remains on the first syllable.

• vegetaciónf.

  vegetation

  “El informe propone más vegetación.”— The report proposes more vegetation.

  Pattern más vegetación more vegetation

  Compare plantas plants

  Plural vegetaciones

  💡 From Latin vegetare (to grow), cognate with vegetariano.

• superficief.

  surface, area

  “España tiene poca superficie urbana con árboles.”— Spain has little urban surface with trees.

  Pattern superficie urbana urban area

  Compare área area

  Plural superficies

  💡 super- (above) + ficie (surface), literally 'upper surface', extended to mean surface.

Grammar spotlight

Sentence patterns to steal

• En España, el calor mata cada vez más.

  In Spain, heat kills more and more people.

  En + place, + subject + verb + cada vez más.The place and subject can be swapped, e.g. En mi ciudad, el tráfico aumenta cada vez más. (In my city, traffic is increasing more and more.)

• Granada es una 'trampa de calor'.

  Granada is a 'heat trap'.

  Subject + es una 'trampa de + noun'.trampa de calor can be replaced with other metaphors, e.g. trampa de pobreza (poverty trap).

• El asfalto y los edificios absorben el calor y lo liberan después.

  Asphalt and buildings absorb heat and release it afterwards.

  Subject + absorben + object + y + lo/la + liberan después.The subject and object can be swapped, e.g. Las plantas absorben agua y la liberan después. (Plants absorb water and release it afterwards.)