¿Que tipo de calor es 'caliente'? Estoy confundido.

Me gusta sus preguntas. Me parece que caliente es más para explicar una condicion. Por ejemplo: La sopa está caliente. o ¡Ten cuidado! la olla está caliente. Con la clima posible: Hace calor o hace caluroso. Ahora, ¿Que te parece?

I also find "caliente" to be a confusing word. I used it once to describe a spicy salsa that was being sold on the street as "muy caliente" and was immediately corrected by the seller (a native Spanish speaking woman) in that the salsa was "picante" (spicy hot) and was definately not "caliente". I agree with Patrice that "caliente" is not so much used to describe climate or air temperature "hace calor" but is better used as an adjective in qualifying particular nouns such as "agua caliente" or agua sopa, etc but I've no idea how the exceptions work..... Wonder if "perro caliente" works in the food sense? sorta doubt it.... Likley it is slang but it also seems that "caliente" is sometimes applied to a person the same way that "hot" is used in English to mean attractive sort of like "Ella es una mujer muy caliente". This learning a new language is all very confusing to me...but very interesting and trying it out in real life is, for sure a fun thing to do...Voy a Cuba la proxima semana para mas practicar.

Just remembered that there is some clarification on how to use caliente in the Beginners Book. Page 80 explains how it can be applied to people depending on verb usage. OK, so now I searched through this forum and found that there are several other posts that help clarify. Just search on "caliente".

The only thing I really use caliente would be for a hot water bottle, "Quiero un bolsa de aqua caliente."

Caliente is used for hot chocolate, hot water, etc. I have never seen it used instead of Calor to mean heat (e.g. I have not seen "Hace Caliente" or "Tengo Caliente"). The major difference between Caliente and Calor is that Caliente is an adjective while Calor is a noun. Adjectives need to modify some kind of noun, while a noun can stand alone. Thus, Calor can be used to say "heat" while Caliente needs to modify something ("Noun" + "Caliente").

I agree with Random1, in addition in english we use the adjective "hot" to mean both a temperature as well as "spicy". I think caliente is really refering to temperature.

sí hay perritos calientes que se puede comprar en españa.

Carlene, "calor" is also used to refer to temperature (e.g. "Hace calor" to say "It is hot" or "Tengo calor" to say "I am hot"). I have not seen calor or caliente used to refer to anything as spicy. Rather, I think "picante" can be used to refer to food being spicy/chilli hot. In English, words like hot or spicy have multiple meanings. What does one mean by spicy? Flavorful due to spices? Or chilli hot? One needs context to be able to determine what spicy means. The same applies to "hot" as well. Moreover, cultural or regional differences likely also impact the use of these and other words. As non-native Spanish speakers, or in my case a fairly new Spanish learner, distinguishing these differences can be hard. I just try and use different words for each scenario. For instance, I use picante to refer to spicy hot/chilli hot food (e.g. La comida es picante), caliente when referring to heat in food or beverages (e.g. agua caliente), and calor when it comes to temperature (e.g. hace calor). I am sure there are instances where these words can be used interchangeably. However, the rules are unlikely to be the same as in English.

It's fine to say "Perro Caliente" for Hot-Dog - It's in the dictionary!

"Caliente" refers to hot to the touch such as a hot stove, hot water, or the hot sun (El sol caliente). Never use caliente referring to your body temperature, because if you say "Yo estoy caliente" you are saying that you are horney. In a crowd of people, that may be embarrassing. "Calor" refers to the air temperature or your body tempetrature. example- "tango calor" I am hot or I am warm. "Picante" means spicy hot as in pepper, like in food or jalapeños. "Perro Caliente" for Hot-Dog, is correct.

Hola !!