Estoy en la casa y sentado a pesar de estar en la escuela y sudado  ¿Qué soy?

I am in the house (casa) and seated (sentado) despite being in school (escuela) and sweaty (sudado). Who am I?

English reasoning: The riddle uses wordplay related to the Spanish words "casa" (house) "sentado" (seated) "school" (escuela), and "sweaty" (sudado), which, if taken at face value, seem as if someone is in two places at the same time, but the letter "S" is what appears in all these words: "caSa," "Sentado," "eScuela," "Sudado", Thus the letter "S" being present in each of those words is the answer.

English Final Answer: Letter S (Letra S)


He venido a una competencia de la universidad que han hecho para conmemorar la apertura de una nueva cátedra de literatura. Mi amigo Jackson ha decidido participar en uno de los concursos, el cual consiste en escribir la mayor cantidad de diptongos e hiatos en un tiempo determinado. Me dio mucha curiosidad porque se enfrentaba a Sara, la chica más lista de la universidad, así que decidí presenciar la competición.
Antes de empezar, se asignó la categoría que le correspondía a cada uno. A Jackson le tocó escribir diptongos y a Sara le tocó escribir hiatos. A continuación te dejo lo que escribió cada uno de ellos.
Jackson:
"Yo soy un aviador que ama volar porque cuando estoy en el cielo veo las nubes pasar. La tierra es mi hogar y el aire el lugar donde puedo soñar".
Sara:
"Ayer fue un día lleno de alegría, con mis hermanos estuve en el zoológico en la mañana y por la tarde me senté a leer en un parque. A lo lejos vi que en un árbol había una oruga que se iba a caer al suelo, pero no lo hizo. Finalmente, fui en la noche al teatro".
Aún no han dicho quién es el ganador, pero la curiosidad me mata. Cuenta el número de palabras que cada uno de los participantes escribió y que pertenecen a la categoría que se les asignó y dime quién de los dos terminó ganando y con cuantos puntos.

I have come to a university competition that they have held to commemorate the opening of a new chair of literature. My friend Jackson has decided to participate in one of the contests, which consists of writing the most diphthongs and hiatuses in a given amount of time. I was very curious because he was up against Sara, the smartest girl at the university, so I decided to watch the competition.
Before we started, everyone was assigned their category. Jackson got to write diphthongs and Sara got to write hiatuses. Below I leave you with what each of them wrote.
Jackson:
"I am an aviator who loves to fly because when I am in the sky I watch the clouds go by. The earth is my home and the air the place where I can dream."
(Spanish translation: "Yo soy un aviador que ama volar porque cuando estoy en el cielo veo las nubes pasar. La tierra es mi hogar y el aire el lugar donde puedo soñar").
Sara:
"Yesterday was a day full of joy, with my brothers I was at the zoo in the morning and in the afternoon I sat reading in a park. In the distance I saw that in a tree there was a caterpillar that was going to fall to the ground, but it did not. Finally, I went in the evening to the theater."
(Spanish translation: "Ayer fue un día lleno de energía, con mis hermanos estuve en el zoológico en la mañana y por la tarde me senté a leer en un parque. A lo lejos vi que en un árbol había una oruga que se iba a caer al suelo, pero no lo hizo. Finalmente, fui en la noche al teatro").
They haven't said who the winner is yet, but curiosity is killing me. Count the number of words each of the participants wrote that belong to the category they were assigned and tell me who of the two ended up winning and with how many points.

English Reasoning: To determine the winner, we need to count the number of words written by Jackson that contain diphthongs and the number of words written by Sara that contain hiatuses.
Jackson's task was to write words with diphthongs. A diphthong is a combination of two vowels pronounced in a single syllable.
Words with diphthongs in Jackson's text are:
1. Am ("soy", o+y).
2. Aviator ("aviador", i+a).
3. When ("cuando", u+a).
4. Am ("estoy", o+y).
5. Sky ("cielo", i+e).
6. Earth ("tierra", i+e).
7. Air ("aire", a+i).
8. Can ("puedo", u+e).
Jackson wrote 8 words with diphthongs.

Sara's task was to write words with hiatuses. A hiatus is a combination of two vowels pronounced in separate syllables.
Words with hiatuses in Sara's text are:
1. Day ("día", í-a).
2. Joy ("alegría", í-a).
3. Zoo ("zoológico", o-o).
4. Reading ("leer", e-e).
5. There was ("había", í-a).
6. Fall ("caer", a-e).
7. Theater ("teatro", e-a).
Sara wrote 7 words with hiatuses.
Comparing their scores: Jackson has 8 points, and Sara has 7 points.

English Final Answer: Jackson wins with 8 points.

Linguistic Reasoning with Cultural Significance


Fui a un grupo de apoyo emocional para personas con distintos problemas. Al inicio cada persona tuvo que presentarse:
—Milena es una pobre viuda.
—Luciana es una viuda pobre.
—Carlos es un bombero rico.
—Mike es un rico abogado.
Todas se veían de diferentes clases sociales. Tomando en cuenta la descripción de cada uno ¿Quién tiene menos dinero y quién es más adinerado?

Luciana tiene menos dinero.
Carlos es el más adinerado.

I went to an emotional support group for people with different problems. At the beginning, each person had to introduce themselves:
—Milena is a poor widow ("pobre viuda", a person who is unfortunate).
—Luciana is a poor widow ("viuda pobre", a person who lacks money).
—Carlos is a rich firefighter ("bombero rico", a person with a lot of money).
—Mike is an attractive lawyer ("rico abogado", a very beautiful person).
They all looked from different social classes. Taking into account the description of each one, who has less money and who is wealthier?

English Reasoning: In Spanish, the position of the adjective relative to the noun changes the meaning. When an adjective comes before the noun, it often has a more subjective or metaphorical meaning, while after the noun it has a more literal meaning. In this case, "Pobre viuda" suggests Milena is unfortunate but not necessarily financially poor, while "viuda pobre" means Luciana is literally poor financially.
Similarly, "bombero rico" means Carlos is wealthy and he has a lot of money, while "rico abogado" suggests Mike is a very attractive person, but not necessarily wealthy—In Spanish, "rico" usually means "rich" or "wealthy," and when describing food, it means "tasty" or "delicious," but "rico" can also be used with people to mean "lovely," "cute," or "sexy."
To get a correct answer, it's important to consider two aspects. The first is the word order, since the meaning depends on it. The second is to take into account that in many Latin American countries, the word "rico" can be used to describe something or someone who is very physically attractive, especially when the word is used before the noun.

English Final Answer:
—Luciana has the least money.
—Carlos is the wealthiest.


A veces somos grandes, a veces somos pequeñas, pero siempre somos las que comenzamos. ¿Quiénes somos?

Sometimes (a veces) we are big, sometimes (a veces) we are small, but we are always the ones at the beginning. Who are we?

The riddle describes something varying in size from "big" to "small" consistently. This describes the use of letters since they can be capital letters and lowercase letters. There is a clue in the part of the riddle that says "we are always the ones at the beginning," suggesting that it's referring to the initial letters, and what shows that its the initial letters in the alphabet is the wordplay with the word "aveces" (sometimes) because its phonetically almost identical to the pronunciation of the letters A B C "a-ve-ces" which are the initial letters of the alphabet. So the riddle refers to the 3 initial letters of the alphabet, A, B, C.

English Final Answers: The letters A, B, and C.

Wordplay & Riddles with Cultural Context


En el salón de clases de mi hijo, hay niños con diferentes estatus sociales. Están los niños de la familia Rico, Ana Rico y Pedro Rico, son muy amigos de mi hijo. Están los pobres hijos de la viuda Agustina, ellos son Pedrito y Carlos. Y los niños pobres que viven en el edificio frente a la escuela, María y Javi.

¿Quiénes son los niños que tienen un estatus social más bajo?

In my son's classroom, there are children with different social statuses. There are the children from the Rico family, Ana Rico and Pedro Rico; they are very good friends of my son. There are the "poor children" ("pobres niños" expression of compassion) of the widow Agustina; they are Pedrito and Carlos. And the "poor children" ("niños pobres" description of socioeconomic status) who live in the building opposite the school, María and Javi. Who are the children with the lowest social status?

English Reasoning: In the analysis of the language used to describe the different children in the classroom, not only the content but also the position of certain words influences their interpretation. A key case is the adjective "poor."

Three groups of children are presented. Ana and Pedro carry the surname "Rico" (rich)m which could suggest wealth, but it is only a surname, unrelated to their economic situation.

In the second group, reference is made to "the poor children of the widow Agustina" ("los pobres niños de la viuda Agustina"). Here, the word "poor" ("pobres") is found before the noun "children" ("niños"). This position is usually used in Spanish to express compassion or pity rather than an economic description. Thus, in the context, "pobres" (poor) conveys empathy for the children for having lost their father, not necessarily a condition of material scarcity.

In contrast, when describing Maria and Javi as "the poor children who live in the building across the street from the school" ("los niños pobres que viven en el edificio frente a la escuela") the adjective "poor" ("pobres") appears after the noun "children" ("niños"). In Spanish, this position is often used to literally indicate a lack of economic resources.

English Final Answer: María and Javi.


En la clase sobre la Vía Láctea en el planetario, Marcia no tomó el autobús a la escuela y por eso Marcia no llegó, por lo que Marcia no pudo observar las estrellas y su madre sonrió.

In the Milk Way class at the planetarium, Marcia didn't (Marcia no) take the bus to school, and so Marcia didn't (Marcia no) arrived, so Marcia couldn't (Marcia no pudo) look at the stars, and her mother smiled.

In Spanish, the words Marcia and no, form the word "Marciano" or "Martian".

English Reasoning:This is a riddle with a characteristic Spanish wordplay, It consists of guessing the hidden word. In this case, it's between the words "Marcia" and "no." When put together phonetically, in Spanish, it sounds like "Martian" (Marciano). The mother is smiling because Martian (Marciano) did that he was supposed to do: take the bus, get to the planetarium for class, and look at the stars. That's why his mother smiled. Yes, they are Martians, and that's the funny part.

English Final Response: Martian man (In Spanish mean, "El marciano").


"Aquí manda Rina" le dijo José a su hija, mientras observaba a su esposa Rina. Pedro, que tenía hambre, fue hasta donde estaba su padre corriendo. ¿Por qué se acercó Pedro con tanta prisa?

"Rina is in charge here" (Aquí manda Rina), José said to his daughter while looking at his wife Rina. Pedro, who was hungry, ran to his father. Why did Pedro approach with such haste?

Hint: "Mandarina" means tangerine in Spanish.

English Reasoning: José states that "Rina is in charge here". This phrase in Spanish is said as "Aquí manda Rina". "Manda Rina" sounds like "mandarina," which is the Spanish word for tangerine. Also, the word "aquí" means "here" in Spanish. Since Pedro was hungry, he went quickly to where his father was because he thought that "Rina is in charge here" (Aquí manda Rina) meant "Tangerine here" (Aquí Mandarina).

English Final Answer: Pedro heard the word tangerine (In Spanish, Mandarina).


Dicen las gallinas que cacarear es alegría y dicen los gatos que escarbar bajo es para un atajo y un relajo ¿Qué insecto soy?

The hens say that clucking is joy, and the cats say that digging (escarbar) is low (bajo) for a shortcut and relaxation. What insect am I?

In Spanish, the words  "escarbar" (digging) and "bajo" (low) are perceived as "escarabajo", which corresponds to the name of the insect "beetle" in English.

English Reasoning: This riddle uses wordplay with the terms "escarbar" (to dig) and "bajo" (low), which, when combined phonetically, form the word "escarabajo" (beetle). The key to the riddle lies in how both words intertwine to create a sound similar to the name of the insect.

The reference to hens serves as a distraction because the real clue comes from the cats and their association with "escarbar" and "bajo." When pronounced aloud, this combination sounds like "escarabajo" (beetle).

English Final answer: Beetle (In Spanish, escarabajo).


Si yo viera, quizás entenderías por qué no tengo agua en mi casa.
¿Por qué no tengo agua en mi casa?

If I could see (si yo viera), maybe you would understand why I don't have water in my house.
Why don't I have water in my house?

In Spanish, the combination of the last 2 words from “Si yo viera” (If I could see) sounds as “lloviera” (rained).

English Reasoning: The riddle describes a person who has no water at home. The clue "Si yo viera" (If I could see) is a wordplay that reveals the answer when the last two words are joined: "yoviera", which in Spanish sounds the same as "lloviera" (rained), forming the phrase "si lloviera" (if it rained). All together, “If it rained, maybe you would understand why I don't have water in my house. Why don't I have water in my house?”.

English Final Answer: It doesn’t rain (In Spanish, if it rained is said "Si lloviera").


Sergio en la tarde llega a buscar trabajo y en la esquina una señora se observa. Esta le dice: ¿Le interesa de jardinero? Y Sergio solo se aleja. ¿Por qué se fue Sergio?

Sergio arrives in the afternoon looking for work, and notices a lady on the corner. She asks him, "Are you interested in being a gardener?" (¿Le interesa de jardinero?) and Sergio just walks away. Why did Sergio leave?

In Spanish, the sentence "¿Le interesa de jardinero?" (Are you interested as a gardener?) sounds as "¿Le interesa dejar dinero?" (Are you interested in leaving/giving money?)

English reasoning: The riddle works since the sentence "¿Le interesa de jardinero?" (are you interested as a gardener?) can be heard as "Le interesa dejar dinero" (are you interested in leaving/giving money?). Sergio understood that the lady was asking him for a donation, but he was not interested in it, since he was looking for a job.

English Final Answer: He understood "¿Le interesa dejar dinero? (Are you interested in giving money?).


¿Quién soy? Te la digo y no me entiendes, te la repito y no me comprendes.

Who am I? I tell it to you, and you don't understand me; I repeat it to you, and you don't understand me.
The phrase "te la digo" in English means "I tell you." When we say it in Sapinish, "te la" sounds exactly the same as "tela" (in English fabric).

English Reasoning: This is a classic Spanish riddle, where the key is in the phrases "te la digo" (I tell it to you) and "te la repito" (I repeat it to you). The words "te" and "la" are the key here. When spoken aloud, "te la" sounds like "tela," which means fabric or cloth in Spanish. The riddle cleverly uses this phonetic play, hiding the word "tela" within the sentence. The repetition of "te la" leads directly to the hidden word "tela," making it the answer.

English Final Answer: Fabric (in Spanish, tela)


Ya no es, ya no es, tan fácil que es y no me la adivinas de aquí a un mes.

It's not anymore (ya no es), it's not anymore (ya no es), it's so easy, and yet you won't guess it even in a month.

The phrase "ya no es" (it's not anymore), in Spanish, sounds exactly the same as "llano es" which means "plain is" in English.

English Reasoning: The riddle plays with sound rather than meaning to conceal its answer. The phrase "ya no es, ya no es" ("it's not anymore, it's not anymore") is key, not because of what it means, but because of how it sounds when spoken aloud in Spanish. Phonetically, "ya no es" closely resembles "llano es," which means "plain is." By repeating it, the riddle hides the word "llano" in plain hearing, using rhythm and repetition as misdirection. The line "tan fácil que es y no me la adivinas de aquí a un mes" ("so easy it is, yet you won't guess it in a month") adds irony, it's calling the answer obvious, even though it's cleverly disguised in the sound of the words.

English Final Answer: Plain (in Spanish, "llano")