Piso vs. Apartamento – What’s the diff?

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    • #52657
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Ok. Help me out here as I’m an American and these terms confuse me. What’s the difference between un piso and un apartamento? I figure it’s the same difference between an apartment and a flat, although I don’t know what the diff is there either.

      Thanks in advance. 😀

    • #69461
      Anonymous
      Participant

      Piso = apartamento = flat

      Mark

    • #69462
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      they all mean the same thing? Cause someone was telling me that if a flat reaches a certain size it classifies as an apartment…

    • #69465
      Inez
      Participant

      I think someone was pulling your leg there. As Mark says, that are the same thing.

    • #69469
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      ok. dont think they were intentionally pulling my leg. it was a spaniard and he was referring to the difference between piso and apartamento. i think that often when they adopt english ideas and words they don’t really understand what they mean and use them to signify different things.

    • #69475
      Anonymous
      Participant

      Mark is correct, however when I look in city estate agents windows they seem to refer to city apartments above commercials as piso´s yet if they are resort or coastal apartments in towns they say apartamento! ERA and Remax do this all the time.

    • #69487
      Anonymous
      Participant

      The difference is quite nebulous but I agree with you Paddy – a flat or ‘piso’ is generally located in a city/town & an apartment on a coastal resort. The actual physical differences, then very little…

      This may help – http://www.mianna.es/page4/page12/page12.html

      Andrew.

    • #69489
      Anonymous
      Participant

      According to the Spanish dictionary, the difference would be in the size; an apartment is a small flat. I know this is not always the case in real life. You can always check http://www.rae.es if you are fluent in Spanish.

    • #69490
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      ok. i guess that explains it cause i know that at least some people here think there is a difference between the two. i heard that the difference occurs when it goes to 3 or 4 bedrooms.

      in anycase from my everyday experience that people almost always call them pisos and i rarely hear apartment used.

    • #69542
      Anonymous
      Participant

      Don´t worry, you´re not crazy wynnwill – there is definitely a difference between the two.

      Apartamento is generally one or two beds. Three or more and it becomes a piso.

      If I ever incorrectly refer to my piso as an apartamento I always get strange looks and then the “ah, she’s foreign…she doesn´t know what she’s saying” look.

    • #69545
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      thanks for the confirmation jerez!

      in england there is no diff between the two, right?

    • #69552
      Anonymous
      Participant

      @wynnwill wrote:

      thanks for the confirmation jerez!

      in england there is no diff between the two, right?

      I have never heard of a Piso in England. We would call them apartments or flats I suppose.

      I think the translation for Piso is Floor in the UK so perhaps it could be an apartment that covers a whole floor whereas you can have numerous apartments on a single floor? Complete guess.

      However, direct translations often lose something in err, um … translation? 😕

    • #69554
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      what i mean is that there is no diff between flat and apartment in england

    • #69556
      Anonymous
      Participant

      There is no difference between a Flat and an Apartment in UK terminology. It is more “in vogue” to say you own an apartment!!!

    • #69558
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      cool. us new yorkers just call everything an apartment. a flat would only be used for a true rathole…like a dirty flat filled with winos and bums. 😀

    • #69561
      Anonymous
      Participant

      @wynnwill wrote:

      cool. us new yorkers just call everything an apartment. a flat would only be used for a true rathole…like a dirty flat filled with winos and bums. 😀

      I think I’ve been there but I’m sure it was in LA by the Pier.

      What a night that was 😯 Bloody good fun though (once we realised we were still alive in the morning)

    • #69562
      Anonymous
      Participant

      I always thought ‘apartment’ was an American-ism and ‘flat’ was English.

      America: An apartment building
      England: A block of flats

      Even in the newspapers in England, it was Flats to rent/sale, or ‘flat-mate’.
      But like many things from America, ‘apartment’ eventually crept over here.

      Definitely in my younger days, one always referred to “a flat in Berkeley Square”, didn’t one?????!!!!! 😆

      An “apartment in Berkeley Square” just doesn’t have the same ring to it!.
      What would Lady Caversham have to say about that….. ❗ 🙄

      (I’ve been on the ouzo….)

    • #69563
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      we also say flat to sound all cool and british. lots of university guys trying to get laid. so your things creep over here as well.

    • #69564
      Anonymous
      Participant

      Hi All,

      As its Friday and for a bit of fun I will muddy the waters some more. In my area (south Alicante) the builders and even my own esctirura refer to ground floor apartments as bungalows!!! I have to remind the Spanish staff that when they going to show someone a “nice bungalow”, they mean an apartment, whereas the English client thinks they are now going to see a villa. And it gets more confusing beacuse the Spanish refer to a villa as a chalet !!

      Best wishes

      Bernard

    • #69565
      Anonymous
      Participant

      Charlie – Surely it should be “a nightingale sang in Berkley Square”! Well it is Friday!! 😆

    • #69573
      mariadecastro
      Participant

      In our coloquial language ( also stated in the Dictionary of the Royal Academy) a piso has always been bigger ( standard: 2,3,4 bedrooms and at least 2 bathrooms) than an apartment ( standard: 2 bed as much and 1 bath).

      Have a good weekend.

      M.

    • #69574
      mariadecastro
      Participant

      That ( previous post) is in Spain of course, and in every region of Spain.
      M.

    • #69580
      Anonymous
      Participant

      This thread is resembling a bad news day in Fleet Street!! 😆

    • #69639
      Anonymous
      Participant

      @Claire wrote:

      This thread is resembling a bad news day in Fleet Street!! 😆

      Wapping darling. A bad News day in Wapping. 😉

      (Someone pass the wine please.)

    • #69643
      Anonymous
      Participant

      oops! here in Valencia we consider apartments as vacational flats, probably Valencia is not a good example of a part of Spain, we tend to change vocabulary, i.e. lunch = almuerzo (http://www.rae.es, most honorable Spanish dictionary) but we call almuerzo what English consider a morning tea break – instead we eat a big sandwhich stuffed with tortilla española, calamari and so on; so lunch for us is as simple as “comida”.

      In Southamerica they call “piso” the floor where you step…

      flat or apartment, I hope Wynnwill find a nice place!

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