"Padre" can also mean teacher??

Question

I am using Rosetta Stone and I am confused with the term "padre" with the options given: First is shows a student at a desk " Yo era alumna" [I am a student.] To match with this picture and sentence the next line is: "Ahora es padre." Now, the picture shows the same woman standing in front of a classroom as a teacher. Can "padre" mean teacher as well? Confused...

"Yo era alumna" is "I was (imperfect tense) a student", *not* "I am a student". - Pajaro44, Jun 9, 2010

I just had the same slide. I believe this was confusing because the woman spoke the sentence instead of the man. - Brain2000, Apr 6, 2016

Answer 1

The world is full of mothers / madres and fathers / padres ( fathers plural ) that never spent a day raising their children so my question is, if padres is plural for parents, and padre is singular, does that not mean a female can also be called be a padre as in a parent ? ( somebody please enlighten me ) I'll try to enlighten you Albert, since padre (singular) is father and padres (plural) is father and mother it is not possible that 'un padre' could be a female. It is in the plural that they dump in the female of the species, just as in 'los niños' there could be a stray girl somewhere but you can't then say that the singular word 'niño' could be a girl. You were not joking, right?

Answer 2

I know this would spoil the fun but would it not be simpler to ask someone at Rosetta Stone (Rosetta herself jeje) what they mean to say?

Good idea - but can one do that? One has already "stumped up" the cash. - ian-hill, Jun 9, 2010

You are making me smile this AM, thank you! (Ms. Stone!) haha - margaretbl, Jun 9, 2010

Ian - sadly one has no idea but it seemed a possible suggestion. - geofc, Jun 9, 2010

Well this one thinks they have a website. With a forum. Maybe there's a "contact us" link? - Valerie, Jun 9, 2010

Answer 3

padre means father. So it has nothing to do with teacher.

Answer 4

If they are talking about the religious sense of father, then yes, maybe it would work... but other than that I'm not so sure... I'VE never heard of it being used as "teacher" anyways..

Answer 5

Yo era alumna"

"I was a student" "Now he's a father" I imagine it was trying to make sure you got the tenses right. I'm assuming the person was male?

You mention a woman... she cannot be a padre

Answer 6

Our Father that art in heaven...

Padre nuestro que estás en los cielos...

Answer 7

Can "padre" mean teacher as well? Confused...

Padre = father

madre = mother

in Spanish the masculine form/gender is used to form the plural

so.... los padres = the parents

However, that does not mean to say that the woman has become a man or that you would use the word padre to speak of a woman

Padre has never meant teacher . Although fathers can teach their children many things in life the two words do not mean the same thing in Spanish

What sometimes confuses people is that the catholic church amongst others uses the term 'padre' as a title to refer to a priest who may in the course of their responsibilities teach their congregation.( I used to work in a catholic primary school but I am not a catholic.)

Answer 8

If padres means parents plural, would this not make a madre a padre also.

"Ahora es padre." - lagartijaverde, Jun 9, 2010

"She was a student, now she is a parent." Padre means parent in this context, not teacher. Maybe it's supposed to be her kid the classroom? Quin sabe. - llego, Jun 9, 2010

Mis padres son dos...mi madre y mi padre. - 00813f2a, Jun 9, 2010

Answer 9

I have only heard profesora/maestra as teacher. Never padre. But it could be right if it was a religious school.

Answer 10

Perhaps in a religious school, because in Spain the priest are also theacher. We called the priest "padre"