📖LearnModule 13 · Lesson 22 of 30Proficient User · CEFR C2, first halfUnit 5 · Las figuras retóricas
La lítote
Module 13 of the free Spanish course (CEFR C2, first half), lesson 22 of 30: Understatement by negation is a Spanish habit and a C2 trap. On this page: 9 words with their genders and respellings, the rule, a watch-out line, the conjugation table and the audio — the study notes behind the workbook's QR.
The words
Spanish
English
Say it
no es tonto
he is far from stupid
noh ehs TOHN-toh
no está mal
that is rather good
noh ehs-TAH mahl
no diría que no
I would not say no
noh dee-REE-ah keh noh
la lítote
understatement
lah LEE-toh-teh
odiar
to hate
oh-DYAR
tonto
stupid (m)
TOHN-toh
invertir la negación
to reverse the negative
een-behr-TEER lah neh-gah-SYOHN
célebre
famous (well known)
SEH-leh-breh
ellos odian esperar
they hate waiting
EH-yohs OH-dyahn ehs-peh-RAR
Respellings follow the course’s say-it key; the stressed syllable is in capitals. Print this lesson’s flashcards (PDF) — the words on the front, the English and respelling on the back.
La regla · The rule
Understatement by negation is a Spanish habit and a C2 trap. No es tonto means he is clever. No está mal means it is good. No diría que no means yes, please.
Y también · And also
No es ninguna tontería — it is no trifle — means it is serious. Read the negative and reverse it. The figure is older than Spanish itself, and it is the polite way to praise without gushing.
Ojo · Watch out
no es tonto means he is clever; no está mal means it is good; no diría que no means yes. Read the negative and reverse it — that is lítote. odiar is regular: odio, odias, odia.
odiar, presente — the table
yo odio · tú odias · él/ella/usted odia · nosotros odiamos · ustedes odian · ellos/ellas odian
Do it now — on paper
Say all 9 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the Spanish spelling alone — begin with no es tonto.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the Spanish.
Write out odiar, presente in full from memory, every person, and check each form against the table above.
This free course is the reading half. The writing half — write-in lessons, daily practice pages with built-in review, self-checks and a full answer key — is the companion workbook series, The Spanish Ladder: one workbook per module, fifteen in all, released band by band with the Basic band (Modules 1–5) first.
Keep these words
Turn this lesson’s words into flashcards, then space your reviews — the two habits the research behind our study guides backs hardest.