Monte vs Montaña

Ray O.C1Kwiziq community member

Monte vs Montaña

Not a huge deal, but I learned monte = hill and montaña = mountain and not the other way around. Maybe I'm wrong.

Asked 1 year ago
Clara M.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Hi Ray, I think you're right, monte is a hill or a small elevation in the ground and montaña would be much bigger, i.e. a mountain. Colina= hill. So, maybe it's, Colina=small hill, monte= medium hill/mountain and montaña= large mountain. ⛰️😊

David M.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

"Monte" can sometimes be used as part of a name; e.g. -

Monte Perdido - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monte_Perdido

InmaKwiziq team member

Hola Ray

I don't think there's any difference and the RAE gives the same definition for both: Gran elevación natural del terreno.

As David mentioned, there are some specific mountains that have the word "Monte ..." in their name, like Monte Perdido, Monte Grande..., not so usual with the word montaña though.

I also think that the word monte is often used (pretty sure this happens more in the North of Spain) when you want to use it in a more generic way (to refer to an area where there are hills, vegetation, some elevations..), so you can say for example: "Este fin de semana nos vamos al monte."

Saludos

Monte vs Montaña

Not a huge deal, but I learned monte = hill and montaña = mountain and not the other way around. Maybe I'm wrong.

Sign in to submit your answer

Don't have an account yet? Join today

Ask a question

Find your Spanish level for FREE

Test your Spanish to the CEFR standard

Find your Spanish level
Let me take a look at that...