Tengo fresco?

Question

Hi gang.

I know I can validly answer, assuming I were hot or cold:

Sí, tengo calor, OR Sí, tengo frio.

But what if I just have a bit of a chill? Can I answer, Sí, tengo fresco.

Or is Hace fresco reserved only for general weather comments?

Gracias Roger

Answer 1

I know there are people that use the expression, "Hace fresco" but this doesn't really sounds rightl. The expression should be, "está fresco el día, or hace un día fresco". However, this is the closest expression to "chilly" but it is not quite the same. Chilly in English is colder than fresco in Spanish. Fresco is much closer to "cool"

• An expression that I grew up with is "Está haciendo friíto" or "Está haciendo friecito" which is colder than cool, but warmer than cold.

Thanks for taking time for the detailed reply! Very helpful. - rogspax, May 2, 2012

You are very welcome! - farallon7, May 2, 2012

"sounds well" should be "sound right." :) - missy8888, May 2, 2012

Thanks missy! - farallon7, May 2, 2012

I completely agree. I am a native speaker and I don't understand why the internet and various Spanish textbooks have this phrase, "Hace fresco". Before becoming a Spanish teacher, I had never hear of this. We always say, "Está fresco". - ccarpent2003, Nov 15, 2016

Answer 2

"Hace fresco" is related to the weather, "tengo fresco" is not correct. You can say "tengo un poco de frío"

Thanks much! - rogspax, May 2, 2012

Answer 3

Thanks much. I knew we´d used Hace Fresco for cool weather, and Tengo Frio for cold weather, but realized we hadn´t properly learned to express feel ´kinda´cool.

Tengo un poco de frio.

Entiendo, y muchas gracias.

Roger

back to the books (studying for the oral exam is much harder than for the written, I´m noticing)