What does “tinaco” mean in Spanish?

Luisito y el baño sucio sin agua ni luz

WhatsAppGmailTelegramEmail

A2 Spanish listening practice · Mexican Spanish · Picked for people who know a little

💡 Did you know?
tinaco
Everyday Mexican home word
The water tank on a Mexican rooftop that feeds the taps in the house.

A tinaco is the water storage tank on the roof of most Mexican homes. A pump pushes water up to fill it, and gravity feeds the taps below. When the power goes out, the pump stops, the tinaco empties, and every tap in the house runs dry. So when someone says “no hay agua” at home, they often mean the tinaco is empty — not that the water supply is cut.

Spoken line: “lo que no hay es luz para que la bomba suba el agua al tinaco” — “what we don’t have is power for the pump to push the water up to the tank.” A tinaco is the water tank you see on the roof of most Mexican homes. A pump fills it, then gravity feeds the taps below. Examples: “Se acabó el agua del tinaco” (The tank ran out of water). “Hay que lavar el tinaco” (We need to clean the tank). “Sin luz, el tinaco no se llena” (With no power, the tank doesn’t fill). Day to day, when someone says “no hay agua” at home, they often mean the tinaco is empty.

From ViX↗ on YouTube.Watch original

How common are the words?

How common are the words in this A2 Spanish listening practice video?

95.5%
of words are in the top 2,000 most common Spanish words
Most of the words in this video are common Spanish words.

How common in written Spanish

88.6%
Top 1,000
95.5%
Top 2,000
97.7%
Top 5,000

How common in spoken Spanish

98.8%
Top 1,000
100%
Top 2,000
100%
Top 5,000

Harder words in this video

These words are harder than A2. Here is what they mean.

cochinadotas
1×
Not in top 5,000
big mess (slang)
tinaco
1×
Not in top 5,000
water tank
urge
1×
Not in top 5,000
urgent
al fin de que
1×
finally needing to do something

Source: wordfreq 3.1.1 (general) · SUBTLEX-ESP 2011 (spoken). These numbers are close, not perfect.

See Mexican Spanish Videos You Can Understand on Reelang

Open Spanish page