Spanish / Portuguese word for an inferno

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freshcoffee
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Spanish / Portuguese word for an inferno

Postby freshcoffee » Fri Mar 15, 2019 12:20 am

Hi All

I'm trying to find out what the Spanish or Portuguese word is for an inferno, in the English sense meaning large fire, not "hell". How would these languages translate something like - "the building was engulfed in a blazing inferno?" If they use the word "Inferno", how would they distinguish in a sentence like, "a blazing inferno burned in hell"

etc

Thanks very much!
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zenmonkey
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Re: Spanish / Portuguese word for an inferno

Postby zenmonkey » Fri Mar 15, 2019 12:45 pm

El edificio era un infierno.
El enorme fuego ardiente en el infierno.
Era un infierno.

To avoid using the same word twice in a sentence you'd use a descriptive construct like above.
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Querneus
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Re: Spanish / Portuguese word for an inferno

Postby Querneus » Fri Mar 15, 2019 2:42 pm

"incendio infernal" (an infernal fire) is a phrase you can find many results of in the form of news reports.

"El edificio fue devorado en un incendio infernal".
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白田龍
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Re: Spanish / Portuguese word for an inferno

Postby 白田龍 » Fri Mar 15, 2019 3:26 pm

I'm native Brazilian and I think you could probably say in Portuguese that a place was an "inferno em chamas", or that "ardia um fogo infernal".... We also have the word "fogaréu", to describe a great fire, but it sounds dated and you'd probably not use it in the same context.
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freshcoffee
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Re: Spanish / Portuguese word for an inferno

Postby freshcoffee » Thu Mar 21, 2019 6:41 am

Thank you to each one of you! This is really helpful and what an amazing resource this site is. :D :D
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