juntosCarpeta is a folder. Carpet is alfombra.
Tell your landlord the carpeta in the living room is filthy and they'll go looking for your paperwork.
Carpeta sounds like carpet, but it belongs in the office: a folder, a file or a binder. You keep your documents en una carpeta, a Mexican school list asks for una carpeta de argollas (a ring binder), and on a computer a folder is una carpeta too: guárdalo en la carpeta de descargas (save it in the downloads folder). So a dirty carpeta in the living room is somebody's paperwork that needs a wipe.
The thing on the floor is una alfombra. In Mexico, alfombra usually means fitted carpet, the kind that covers the whole room, while a rug you can roll up is un tapete. Tapete also covers a doormat and a bath mat (el tapete del baño). In Spain a rug is una alfombra as well, and fitted carpet is moqueta, a word you won't need in Latin America.
Useful around the house: aspirar la alfombra (to vacuum the carpet), la aspiradora (the vacuum cleaner) and trapear (to mop, in Mexico and Central America). If you can't remember any of them, point and say esto: esto está muy sucio gets the message across. And la alfombra roja is the red carpet, the one place where the word turns up on the news.
Try your own sentence
Type any Spanish sentence and the Juntos tutor grades it out of 100, names the slip and shows the fix. No account.
Also worth knowing
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| ¿Dónde está la aspiradora? | Where's the vacuum cleaner? |
| Guárdalo en esta carpeta. | Keep it in this folder. |
| Quítate los zapatos, acabo de lavar el tapete. | Take your shoes off, I've just washed the rug. |
Think you would catch slips like this one in the moment? Play Spot the slip, a ten-round quiz built from every slip on this site.
Every answer graded, with the fix and why
Grammar, reading, speaking and messaging in one Spanish program, A1 to C1. The tutor catches slips like this one before a person hears them. 7 days free, no card.
Start your free trialQuestions people ask
What does carpeta mean in Spanish?
A folder, file or binder, for paper or on a computer. It never means carpet.
How do you say carpet in Spanish?
Alfombra. In Mexico, alfombra usually means fitted carpet and a rug you can roll up is un tapete. In Spain, fitted carpet is moqueta.
How do you say folder on a computer in Spanish?
Carpeta, the same word: crea una carpeta nueva (create a new folder), guárdalo en esa carpeta (save it in that folder).
More from Juntos: free Spanish grammar checker · Spanish spell and accent checker · AI Spanish tutor · practice Spanish with friends · Spanish games · all grammar courses · all practice scenarios · common Spanish mistakes · Spanish false friends · Spot the slip quiz · Spanish verb conjugations · verb conjugator · best AI Spanish tutors compared · Duolingo alternatives · about Juntos · home