I think it is CONCRETE that is setting.
CEMENT is a component of the cement.

Cement in english is pegamento (glue) in spanih. o no?

Right, it is also a glue.

Thanks MrShoval :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concrete
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hormigon

http://www.britannica.com/EBche...9/Setting-time

I can't judge the English usage of the words, but the physical facts are: the cement is setting, this is a chemical process in which the aggregat (sand and crushed rock) is not directly involve. Of course they are affected of the process of the setting and hardening of cement, because, of course, the cement is gluing these components together. And in the end all components together provide the strength of the concrete.

( > involved)
I know that in several language the word "cement" is used where "concrete" is meant. I can't say if this is only done by the general public or by the specialists too. Maybe somebody will tell us.

In Hebrew (and so in Polish) cement is a component of concrete. It is the formal language.
Now I understand that BOTH can settle.
Thank you all :)

Im not sure if you made a little mistake: Maybe you mixed up setting and settlement. But frankly speaking and if a bit of exaggeration maybe permitted; sometimes I have the impression im English almost every word may mean almost everything, so I'm not sure. By the way in German we call this process "ABBINDEN" which remembers the BINDING FORCES developping during the setting process.

In that case, the binding forces develop in the final product: concrete/beton.
Thanks.

Speaking carefully I should say that dry cement is mixed with water. The resulting mixture, which is pourable and may have sand or aggregate added (not too much!) is still cement and remains cement after pouring, which may be done over steel mesh or rebar. Then the cement sets. Most careful speakers will then call it concrete, although (I'm guessing) some specialists may consider it cement until it has fully dried or cured. Nonetheless I should not object to "He scratched his initials in this concrete ten years ago, when it was still wet."

I have the impression that beton is always reinforced with steel. Is that correct?

> I have the impression that beton is always reinforced with steel.

Not necessary so. If we put reinforcement bars into beton (concrete) we'll get reinforced beton but if we don't we'll still get the beton provided we mixed all necessary components (including cement, of course). It seems that "cement" is a colloquial synonym for beton the people far from construction business use. This is true for Russia, at least. We often use цемент (cement) instead of бетон (beton).

sharptoothed - precisely so.