butaca
nounCEFR B1
What does “butaca” mean in English?
1.upholstered seat in a theatre or cinema
upholstered seat in a theatre or cinema (reserved auditorium seat)
2.armchair in a domestic setting
armchair in a domestic setting (la butaca del salón) — a comfortable upholstered seat for one person
Example sentences
Reservé dos butacas en primera fila porque quería que mi madre pudiera ver bien el escenario sin necesidad de estirarse.
I reserved two front-row seats because I wanted my mother to be able to see the stage clearly without having to stretch.
Cuando llegamos, encontramos nuestras butacas ocupadas y tuvimos que pedirle al acomodador que les pidiera a los otros que se movieran.
When we arrived, we found our seats taken and had to ask the usher to ask the others to move.
Prefiero las butacas del anfiteatro a las del patio de butacas porque desde arriba se ve todo el escenario sin obstrucciones.
I prefer the circle seats to the stalls because from up there you can see the whole stage without obstructions.
How to use it
Butaca is a feminine noun (la butaca, las butacas) meaning a seat in a theatre, cinema, or concert hall — specifically a fixed upholstered seat in an auditorium. It contrasts with silla (a plain chair) in that butaca implies a purpose-built venue seat. Butaca also means an armchair in domestic contexts (la butaca del salón — the armchair in the living room), but the theatre/cinema sense dominates at B1 in the leisure-and-arts domain. Common collocations: reservar una butaca, ocupar su butaca, una butaca en primera fila, las butacas están ocupadas.
Common mistake
Butaca is venue-specific: use it for theatres and cinemas (not for chairs in a classroom or restaurant). El patio de butacas is the stalls (ground floor of a theatre) — a compound noun using butaca. In cinema contexts in Latin America, la butaca is more common than la localidad (seat).