novela
nounCEFR B1
What does “novela” mean in English?
novel — a long prose fiction work; NOT 'news'
novel — a long prose fiction work; NOT 'news' (false friend; news = noticias)
Example sentences
Tardé dos semanas en terminar la novela porque era tan larga y tan compleja que tenía que releer algunos capítulos para seguir la trama.
It took me two weeks to finish the novel because it was so long and complex that I had to reread some chapters to follow the plot.
La novela histórica ha vivido un boom impresionante en los últimos años: cada mes se publican decenas de títulos en lengua española.
The historical novel has experienced an impressive boom in recent years: dozens of titles in Spanish are published every month.
Le regalé una novela policíaca a mi padre porque sé que le encantan los misterios que se desarrollan en ciudades europeas del siglo XX.
I gave my father a crime novel because I know he loves mysteries set in twentieth-century European cities.
How to use it
Novela is a feminine noun (la novela, las novelas) meaning 'novel' — a long prose fiction. CRITICAL false friend alert: novela does NOT mean 'news' (that is las noticias). Near-related nouns: el cuento (short story), el relato (narrative/story, shorter than a novel), el ensayo (essay). Key collocations: leer una novela, escribir una novela, una novela policíaca/de aventuras/histórica/negra (crime novel / adventure / historical fiction / noir), una novela de cabecera (bedside novel — favourite reading). In Latin American culture, the novela also refers to a telenovela (soap opera), but that sense is contextually distinct.
Common mistake
Novela ≠ news (noticias). This is one of the most common false friends for English-speaking learners. Novela = novel (long fictional prose). The word appears in compound genres: novela policíaca (crime), novela histórica (historical fiction), novela negra (noir/hard-boiled), novela rosa (romance). The verb escribir una novela (to write a novel) — the author is el/la novelista.