Pocket dictionaries will generally give you simple, one-word equivalents for Spanish verbs. Better dictionaries will give you a list of other possible meanings and maybe some examples. But rarely is the dictionary reader given guidance on what usages are common—i.e., worth the bother of learning—and which are poetic or archaic and thus irrelevant. And besides, who wants to read a dictionary?
What follows is a pared-down list of sixty-four Spanish verbs whose basic meaning you probably already know, but whose inner secrets and common usage go far beyond that. The list cuts through the clutter and highlights unexpected usages that a native English speaker may not be on the lookout for or that are “out of character” for a given verb. Each section also explains a chosen few idiomatic expressions, selected for their frequency in everyday spoken Spanish. There’s a lot to absorb here, but the alphabetical listing will allow for hour after hour of repeated consultation. Take heart—it could be worse. You could be reading the dictionary!
This is a synonym for terminar and, like that word, is a good equivalent for most uses of “to end” and “to finish” in English. Used with con as an intensifier, both verbs work well for “to finish off”: Acabé con la leche. Often you will hear acabarse in the reflexive to mean “to run out of.” Se nos acabó el dinero = “We’ve run out of money.” Se acabó by itself, meanwhile, means either “It’s over” or “I’m out of it.” You’ll hear it a lot in stores, at newsstands, and the like when what you want to buy is no longer in stock. Terminar is likewise used this way; agotar is also heard, especially in the phrase Está agotado (“We’re out of it”). Está acabado usually isn’t used in this sense, since its meaning is closer to “It’s finished” or, colloquially, “He’s washed up.” Acabar has one other very common use that terminar doesn’t have: in the present tense, with de, it means “to have just,” as in Acabo de comer (“I’ve just eaten”). Used in the imperfect, it becomes “had just.” Acababa de comer cuando llegaste = “I had just eaten when you arrived.”
This somewhat uncommon word, which means “to dawn,” is included here because of one expression that has perplexed generations of language students, especially those who live for a time with a Spanish-speaking family when studying abroad. The expression is ¿Cómo amaneciste?—which translates literally as “How did you dawn?” but which means “How did you sleep?” The answer is (usually) Bien, gracias. A fun Spanish expression for “to die in one’s sleep” uses this verb: Amaneció muerto; if it translates at all, it would have to be rendered “He woke up all dead.”
Dictionaries say it means “to walk,” which of course it does, but that won’t help you when you hear anda corriendo or anda en coche for the first time. In English we would probably be inclined to say “go around” for most uses of andar. Pedro anda gritando tu nombre = “Pedro’s going around shouting your name.” Andar also covers slangy expressions like “to hang out” or “to hang around.” Ya no ando con ellos = “I don’t hang around with them anymore.” ¿Por dónde andas? works well for “Whereabouts are you?” or the colloquial “Where are you at?” And in some countries anda lends itself to the common idiomatic expressions ¡Ándale! and ¡Anda! Said with vigor, they mean “Let’s get a move on!” or “Way to go!” Said in passing, they mean the same as “okay” or “all right.” In Mexico, for instance, you’ll hear ándale all the time for “that’s fine,” “that’s right,” and even “good-bye”: Nos vemos mañana. Ándale. Throw a pues on the end and you’ll be saying nothing at all but will sound very fluent: Ándale pues (“Have a nice day”). Remember as well the use of andar for “to run” or “to work” in reference to objects. ¿Qué tal anda tu coche? = “How’s your car running?” (literally, “How’s your car walking?”). Some wags have even argued that the different conception of time in Spanish-speaking countries is due to the fact that in Spanish clocks walk rather than run!
Used generally as a reflexive (antojarse), this is an exceptionally common verb and one that you should get to know well. To translate it, dictionaries offer “to long for” or “to desire earnestly,” but its use in Spanish covers a lot more ground than that. Closer to the mark would be “to get a hankering for” or simply “to feel like.” An antojo is a “craving” or an “urge” and covers both intense longings (like the kind that make pregnant women eat pickles) and simpler pleasures. You’ll probably run across the verb frequently in these same situations. Some examples: Se me antoja una pizza = “I’m dying for (could go for) a pizza.” ¿Por qué no vas a ir al cine? Porque no se me antoja. = “Why aren’t you going to the movies?” “Because I don’t feel like it.” Déjame una dona; luego se me va a antojar = “Leave me a doughnut; I’ll probably feel like having one later.”
This verb means “to go down,” “to put down,” “to get off,” and so on. Most of its uses are predictable, but a few that may not be include “to go downstairs,” “to get out of a car (bus, train, etc.),” and “to lose weight” (bajar de peso). It also means “to get (something) down,” as when you ask someone to get your suitcase down off the rack (¿Me baja la maleta, por favor?). Bájale, by itself, is usually “Turn it down,” referring to the volume or the general noise level; in the right context, it can also mean “Slow down.”
An irregular verb that you should learn. It means “to fit,” but only in the sense of “fit into” or “fit onto.” It is not used for clothing. In the first-person present, it’s quepo, and you’re likely to hear it in ¿Quepo yo?—meaning “Will I fit?” or “Is there room for one more?” Otherwise, you may run into it in set expressions like cabe decir (“it’s worth mentioning”) and no cabe duda (“there’s no doubt”).
It means “to fall,” of course, and “to drop” when used reflexively (caerse): Se me cayó el vaso = “I dropped the glass.” It’s also very frequently heard in the phrases caer bien and caer mal to express likes and dislikes (see Chapter 4). You may also run across caer for “to visit unexpectedly” or “to drop in on.” Te caigo en la tarde is an informal way of saying “I’ll drop in on you in the afternoon.” Sometimes it’s used to suggest that someone’s arrival was not only unexpected but also unwelcome. “What are your in-laws doing here?” might be answered by Es que me cayeron (“They just kind of showed up”).
Meaning “to change” as well as “to make change” in the sense of “Can you change a twenty?”(¿Me puede cambiar un billete de a veinte?), cambiar also crops up in a number of common expressions. These include cambiar de idea or cambiar de opinión (“to change one’s mind”), cambiar de ropa (“to change one’s clothes”), and cambiar de casa (“to move”).
This is one of those words that many dictionaries handle with more discretion than clarity. The simple fact is that coger is a vulgar term for “to fornicate” in several countries (Argentina, Mexico, Uruguay, and others), where as a result it is rarely used in proper company (see Chapter 10). That said, it is also one of the most commonly used verbs in some other countries (especially Spain). What’s a poor student to do when faced with the choice? That will depend on where you are learning the language and with whom you expect to be communicating. But if you want to use substitutes for coger right from the start—in the sense of “to get,” “to take,” “to grab”—it may not be such a bad idea. The word that usually replaces it is tomar, as in tomar el tren. In Mexico, particularly, agarrar is often heard. Both substitutes are understood even where coger is used, and both can save you considerable embarrassment.
This verb is often confused with saber by students of Spanish; both mean “to know,” but conocer is used in the sense of “to be familiar with.” A limited rule of thumb: use conocer for proper nouns and all specific people, places, and things; use saber for everything else. Do you know Paris? Conocer. Do you know the French Quarter? Conocer. Do you know the old lady there who sells flowers on the street? Conocer. Do you know her name? Saber. Do you know what flowers she sells? Saber. Do you know what she’s saying about you? Saber.
Conocer also means “to meet,” but keep in mind that it only works for the first time you meet someone. English speakers use “to meet” to describe routine encounters, such as “I met my mother at the train station.” They also tend to say la primera vez que lo conocí to convey “the first time I met him” (instead of the less redundant cuando lo conocí). In Spanish you can only conocer someone once, and needless to say it would be difficult (not to mention dramatic) to conocer your mother at a train station. Finding the right Spanish word for “to meet” in these other situations will give you an idea of how overworked this poor verb is in English. When you are referring to a first meeting, as noted, use conocer. Lo conocí en París = “I met him (for the first time) in Paris.” All chance encounters after that are handled by encontrar. La encontré en el cine = “I met (ran into) her at the movies.” Meeting a plane or a train would be covered by recibir. Me recibieron en la estación = “They met me at the station.” For a planned get-together you would use quedar en verse con or quedar en encontrarse con: Quedé en verme con unos amigos en el centro = “I met (up with) some friends downtown.”
It means “to believe,” but it is also almost always the word you want for “to think.” Beginning students, incorrectly, often prefer pensar (see below). The distinction is subtle, but it works out roughly as follows: if the emphasis is specifically on the thought process or the act of thinking, use pensar. If you’re stating a personal belief or opinion, use creer. Thus Creo que tienes la razón = “I think you’re right.” Creer is also used in many interjections and phrases, such as ¿Qué crees? (“Guess what?”), Créeme (“Trust me”), ¿Tú crees? (“You really think so?”), and so on. A good phrase to learn is ni creas, which could be translated as “don’t expect” or “no way.” Ni creas que te voy a ayudar = “You’re crazy if you think I’m going to help you” or “Don’t expect me to help you.” Creo que sí and Creo que no, finally, should be on the tip of your tongue for “I think so” and “I don’t think so.”
Technically, this means “to care for,” though in English we would generally use some other word to translate it. Ana se quedó para cuidar a los niños = “Ana stayed home to watch (take care of) the kids.” Cuide su cartera en ese barrio = “Watch your wallet in that neighborhood.” Cuídate is “Take care of yourself” or, slangily, “Take it easy”; it is sometimes used as a parting comment. Cuidar in general is the word you want for asking someone to “watch over” or “to keep an eye on” something, as when you want to leave your luggage in the bus station for a few minutes (not a recommended practice). ¿Me puede cuidar la maleta unos minutos? = “Can you keep an eye on my bag for a few minutes?” See also guardar.
“To give” and much more. A common additional meaning of dar is “to hit,” giving rise to a number of expressions. Dar en el blanco is “to hit the bull’s-eye” and is often heard for “to guess right,” “to hit the nail on the head.” Dar en la torre is a common idiomatic expression that covers physical beatings as well as more metaphorical thrashings. “How did the Cubs do against the Mets?” Le dieron en la torre (“They beat the pants off ’em”). Dále, by itself, is “Hit it” (or “Hit him,” “Hit her”); you can let off steam by shouting it at boxing matches. More metaphorically, it means “Give it your best” or “Give ’em hell.” Often, in this sense, it’s paired with duro and said to give encouragement: ¡Dále duro, Juan! (“Give ’em hell, Juan!”). By the same token, you can use dándole duro to convey the intensity of an action or an effort. “How are you coming with the term paper?” ¡Dándole duro!
Here are other dar expressions you’ll want to know:
dar a la calle (al patio, a la alberca, etc.) = “to face the street (the patio, the pool, etc.)”
da igual or da lo mismo = “it’s all the same to me” or “it doesn’t matter”
dar (la) lata = “to pester” or “to be a pain”
Dar is also used in some parts of the Spanish-speaking world for “what’s on”—in the sense of showings on television or at the movie theater. Están dando la segunda parte de Arma Mortal = “They’re showing the second part of Lethal Weapon.” (See also pasar.) Finally, though you won’t find it in the dictionary, an increasingly common expression in American Spanish is dar chance for “to give a break.” Vamos, official, dénos chance = “Come on, officer, give us a break.” Purists will tell you that this is a horrible barbarism and that you should say denos una oportunidad instead. But purists should consider cutting their losses, since more and more speakers of slang are already bypassing dar chance in favor of dar un break, which is more barbaric yet.
Darse, the reflexive form, is also used for a few handy phrases, such as darse cuenta de, which means “to realize.” Perdón, no me di cuenta de que estaba estacionado en su pie = “Sorry, I didn’t realize I was parked on your foot.” Darse por vencido is the phrase you want for “to give up,” “to surrender.” To say “I give up” in response to a riddle, for instance, you can even use Me doy (more formally, Me rindo) all by itself.
“To tell” or “to say.” You’ll probably also be using it a lot in the phrase querer decir, or “to mean.” ¿Qué quiere decir esa palabra? = “What does that word mean?” Decir also pops up in a lot of cute little phrases, such as No me digas (“You don’t say”), Dime (“Tell me” or simply “Yes?”), and ¿Qué decías? (“What were you saying?”—after an interruption). You should also be alert to Dile (and Dígale) as a typical preface to an indirect command, and thus the subjunctive. Dile que venga = “Tell him to come here.” If you’re stating a fact instead of issuing a command, it takes the indicative. Dile que estamos aquí = “Tell him (or her) we’re here.”
Meaning “to leave” or “to let,” this verb is often found in other expressions and is not always a reliable vehicle for English “let” phrases. For example, Déjenos entrar means “Let us in,” but Entremos (or Vamos a entrar) means “Let’s go in.” Dejar is heard in such phrases as Déjame en paz (“Leave me alone”), Déjalo (“Leave it” or “Drop it” or “Skip it,” often referring to a sensitive topic or one best dealt with later), and Deja ver or Déjame ver = “Let me see.”
“To enjoy.” Only mentioned here to dissuade you from saying Disfrútense for “Enjoy yourselves.” It does mean this, but probably not in the way you intend. “Have fun with yourselves” or “Take pleasure in yourselves” would probably be a more accurate translation. Instead, you should say Que lo disfruten, usually in reference to a specific event. For the best translation of “Enjoy yourselves,” forget about disfrutar altogether and use divertirse: Diviértanse or Que se diviertan.
Dormir is “to sleep” while dormirse is “to fall asleep.” Just a reminder: “sleep,” the noun, has to be expressed by sueño (see soñar).
This is one of the words you will need to ask how long things take (movies, bus rides, flights, speeches, etc.). You can think of durar as a generally safe translation of “to last.” La fiesta duró toda la noche = “The party lasted all night.” Generally durar is used for things that have a specific duration—or duration, if it helps you remember. (See also tardar and hacer.)
Echar is one of those words that take up about three pages in the dictionary. Not all of those expressions are that common or useful, though. Almost all of them have to do with a forcible casting out or expulsion. File away this division of labor: meter is for putting in, sacar for taking out, and echar for kicking out, more or less. Buses echan smoke, teachers echan students, and so on. An unexpected use of echar is for “to pour,” as with a liquid into a glass or from a pitcher. Some of the idiomatic expressions using echar are very handy. Echar de menos a is “to miss (someone)” (though in the Americas you are more likely to hear extrañar). Echar a perder is “to spoil,” be it children or food in your refrigerator. Echar ganas is a very common expression for “to show enthusiasm” or “to give it a good effort: “Mom, I can’t understand my math homework.” Vamos, échale ganas, hijo. Echar una mano is the expression you will need for “to lend a hand,” and Échame la mano is “Gimme a hand.” Echar un ojo is “to have a quick look,” and echar la culpa is “to blame.”
This verb, meaning “to entrust” or “to commission,” is far more common than these awkward English translations suggest. Almost always it conveys some notion of “charge”—to take charge, to be in charge, to charge, and so on. With de, for instance, it means “to take charge of” or “to put someone in charge of” something: Yo me encargo de la ensalada = “I’ll be in charge of (take care of) the salad.” El encargado is the all-purpose word for “the guy in charge.” Without the de, encargar means “to entrust” but often with more colloquial English equivalents. For example, if someone’s going off to the store, you might say ¿Te encargo unas aspirinas? (“Can you get me some aspirin?”). Many usages could almost be translated “to order.” Le encargué dos litros al lechero = “I ordered two liters from the milkman.” Sometimes, what you’re ordering or entrusting is not spelled out, and “to count on” would make for a better fit. If someone offers to fix your car by nightfall and you plan to leave town that very night, you might say to the mechanic, Se lo encargo mucho (“I’m really counting on you”).
Used as a reflexive (equivocarse), this is the common verb for “to make a mistake” (although estár equivocado works as well). Usually used with the preposition de, it means “to get something wrong.” For instance, when you’ve dialed the wrong number, you would say, Perdón, me equivoqué de teléfono (or número). If Pedro shows up on the wrong day for a party, you would tell him, Te equivocaste de día. And so on. As a subtle distinction, estar equivocado generally suggests someone is mistaken; equivocarse means he or she has made a mistake.
Meaning both “to hope” and “to wait,” the verb will usually take the subjunctive in both senses. Espero que venga = “I hope he (or she) comes.” Estoy esperando que regrese = “I’m waiting for him (or her) to get back.” Unless the context makes it clear, you would use the preposition a with esperar to say “to wait for.” Thus, Espero a que regrese = “I’ll wait for him (or her) to get back.” (Esperar por or esperar para should never be used for “to wait for.”) Esperar is frequently heard in the imperative for “Wait a minute” or “Hold on.” Espérese, por favor is the form you’re most likely to hear. In familiar usage it’s Espérate, which often comes out sounding like ’pérate.
The other verb for “to be”—the one that covers transitory states. The ser versus estar confrontation was covered in detail in Chapter 5. So here it’s enough to glance at one use of the verb you might not have been expecting—about the only one that is out of character for it from the standpoint of an English speaker—estar when used to ask “What’s today’s date?”: ¿A qué estamos hoy? or ¿A cuántos estamos? The answer is phrased Estamos a and the number: Estamos a 25, for example. Remember too that estar + de is used for moods and inclinations. El está de malas = “He’s in a bad mood.” (This use is covered in Chapter 4.)
This is not the commonest of verbs, nor is it one that you desperately need to learn. It means to use or display something for the first time—to “debut” something, as it were. Juan está estrenando su nuevo coche = “Juan is trying out his new car.” Voy a estrenar la camisa que me regalaste = “I’m going to wear (for the first time) the shirt that you gave me.” Un estreno, referring to films and theater, is a “premiere” or “opening”; referring to an artist, it would be a “debut.”
Meaning “to guard” or “to save,” this is the common verb to use for telling someone to “hold on to” something or “put (something) away.” Guardar is usually used when you give someone something that you want them to put away until you need it again. If you’re going swimming and don’t want to take your traveler’s checks into the pool with you, you might hand them to a friend and say ¿Me los guardas? Guardar is also commonly used by parents to tell their children, “Put it away” (Guárdalo), be it in their closet or in their pocket. Guárdame un poco is “Save a little for me,” said of a favorite foodstuff, for instance. (See also “Save” in Chapter 11.) The word is a little tricky to use in the sense of its English cognate. ¿Me guarda la maleta? could be “Keep an eye on my suitcase” but also something like “Put my suitcase away”; so if you tell someone to “guard” it and they walk off with it, you’ll know why. Use cuidar (see above) for “to keep an eye on,” “to watch.”
This is one of the megaverbs, with more uses than you might ever be inclined to learn. Some are indispensable, though. Hay, of course, is the way to say “There is . . .” and “There are . . . .” Say it with a lilt and it becomes the questions “Are there . . . ?” and “Is there . . . ?” No hay is the typical curt response to questions about availability: ¿Hay café? No hay. ¿Hay cuartos? No hay. Hay que is the impersonal way of saying “to have to”—that is, when it’s not obvious exactly who has to do something. Hay que ir a España para aprender español = “One has to go to Spain to learn Spanish.” The imperfect and preterit forms of haber are había and hubo, respectively. Había is the more commonly used of the two. Había veinte personas en el coche = “There were twenty people in the car.” Hubo is for something that was there all at once or not for long. Hubo un choque en la carretera = “There was an accident on the highway.” Remember never to use habían or hubieron for “there were,” regardless of the number of persons or things involved: Había una monja en la lancha and Había dos monjas en la lancha.
A straightforward word for “to talk” or “to speak,” but keep it in mind for use on the telephone, where its use is rampant. It’s not hard to imagine a phone conversation going something like this: (R-i-i-i-ing.) Hola. ¿Quién habla? ¿Con quién quiere hablar? Habla Juan. ¿Puedo hablar con Fred? El habla. ¡Ah! ¡Hablas español! Of these, the El habla (or Ella habla) response is the most important to get straight. It will spare you countless episodes of saying Soy él (or ella) or Hablando, both of which are incorrect when you mean “This is he (or she)” or “Speaking.”
Hacer means “to make” or “to do,” but you know that already. Where English speakers have to remember to use hacer is in the many weather-related expressions that in. English are covered by “to be.” Some of the things that “make” in Spanish are frío, calor, viento, and sol (“cold,” “hot,” “windy,” “sunny”). Hacer is also the way to say “ago” in Spanish: Hace dos años nació mi hijo (“My son was born two years ago”). When did they leave? Hace un rato (“A little while ago”). To say “We did it!” or “We made it!” in Spanish, you say ¡Lo hicimos! With la instead of lo and intensified with ya, it becomes a colloquial ¡Ya la hicimos! (“We’ve got it made!”). Don’t trouble your mind searching for an antecedent to la—there is none. A very useful phrase with hacer, finally, is Hazte de cuenta (or Haz de cuenta), which introduces a thought with “Pretend . . .” or “Let’s say . . . .” (See also Chapter 8 under “Haz de cuenta que.”)
Hacerse, in the reflexive, also turns up in a lot of unexpected expressions. It’s a common way of translating “to become” and is also common idiomatically for “to make like” or “to act like.” El se hace el payaso = “He’s acting like a clown.” Se hace el loco para no ir a la cárcel = “He’s pretending to be crazy to avoid going to prison.” You’ll often encounter this expression in the negative as an exhortation. No te hagas tonto = “Don’t play stupid.” No te hagas la víctima = “Don’t play the victim.” In Mexico especially you’ll encounter No te hagas all by itself, with the predicate understood. This is a good translation for common interjections like “Come off it!” or “Don’t gimme that!” or “Cut it out!”
The verb for “to go” comes into play in many situations that parallel English usages, but you’ll have to be on the lookout for them to learn to use them well. It’s widely used, for instance, for negative imperatives, otherwise known as warnings, equating approximately with the English “Don’t go . . . “: No te vayas a meter en líos = “Don’t go getting yourself in trouble.” No le vayas a decir = “Now don’t go telling him” or just “Don’t tell him.” In many compound verb forms, ir is extremely useful to get your point across. It’s used, as in English, in the future (Voy a llamar = “I’m going to call”) and in the imperfect (Iba a llamar = “I was going to call”). And Vamos a means “Let’s . . . .” Other common expressions with ir include irle a (“to root for,” as in Yo le voy a los Orioles), ir por (“to go get” or “to go for,” as in Voy por el coche), and Ahí te va (meaning “Catch” or “Your turn”). Vaya by itself is “All right” or “Omigosh,” depending on tone and context. Vaya, vaya, vaya is the common way to say “Well, well, well,” as in “What have we here?” Vaya plus a noun is the equivalent of the sarcastic comment “Some ... !” If you return home to find the plumber has managed to flood the entire basement, you might say sarcastically ¡Vaya plomero! (“Some plumber!”).
This is the word you want for “to manage” when used with another verb in the infinitive. Logré reparar la tele = “I managed to fix the television.” Si logro salir de esta reunión, estaré en casa en media hora = “If I manage to get out of this meeting, I’ll be home in half an hour.”
Llevar means “to carry” or “to take” and is often used for “to bring,” as we saw in Chapter 5. Here we’ll concern ourselves with llevar in those expressions you’ll want to have handy in your daily doings. One common one is llevar for expressions of time. A good way to answer the inevitable question heard abroad, “How long have you been here,” is to say Llevo + the number + meses (años, días) aquí. The question, in fact, will often be phrased ¿Cuánto tiempo lleva (usted) aquí? Once you get a feel for this usage, you’ll find yourself needing it more and more. Llevo dos días en cama is much smoother and more colloquial than He estado en cama durante (or desde hace) dos días for “I’ve spent two days in bed.” Llevar is also useful for “to wear” or “to have on.” Es el señor que lleva lentes = “He’s the man with the glasses on.”
Llevarse, the reflexive, is also handy for a couple of expressions. A common one is for “to get along.” Ella y yo no nos llevamos = “She and I don’t get along.” No me llevo con ellos = “I don’t get along with them.” Another one you’ll need, especially for shopping, is llevarse for “to take” something (after paying for it, naturally). It means the same as llevar essentially, but the reflexive is added for emphasis. ¿Dos mil pesos? Me lo llevo = “Two thousand pesos? It’s a deal.” Me llevo dos = “I’ll take two.” Llévatelo is “Take it,” pure and simple. Any usage that translates as “to take along” gets the reflexive as well: Me llevo un suéter por si hace frío = “I’ll take a sweater in case it gets cold.”
Meaning “to send” or “to order,” this word can cause problems because of other words that can get the same message across. Most uses of “to send,” for instance, work better with enviar, and “to order” in a restaurant is pedir or (increasingly) ordenar. Mandar is used for real orders, of the sort that generals and bosses give, and you’ll come across it a lot in conjunction with a second verb. In these cases it works as “to send out for” or “to have done.” Manda hacer unas copias = “Have some copies made.” It usually implies an order to an underling, so don’t use it freely unless you are in a position either to give orders or to take orders. If you go to Mexico, your first encounter with mandar may be the ubiquitous expression ¿Mande? for “What?” or “You called?” It’s considered polite, but many foreigners (especially from other Spanish-speaking countries) seem to think it servile and demeaning. If you feel that way, you can substitute ¿Cómo? or even the brusque ¿Qué?—but you’ll hear ¿Mande? just the same.
Meter, meaning “to put (something) in,” is used in a far wider range of circumstances. It’s the common way of saying “to go inside” (Vamos a meternos = “Let’s go inside”) or “to go in” (Vamos a meternos al agua = “Let’s go in the water”). It can even be used for “to get in” a car (as in Métete al coche), but subirse is preferred. The reflexive form meterse is also a good translation for “to get involved in” or “to get mixed up with.” No te metas = “Don’t get involved.” No te metas con mi hermana = “Don’t mess around with my sister.” Meterse en líos takes the idea further and means “to get mixed up in problems,” “to get into trouble.” If you get caught in the middle of a family squabble and find opposing sides of the squabble looking to you for support, you might throw up your hands and say Yo no me meto (“I’m not getting involved in this”).
This verb is worth learning in the reflexive form (notarse) to express “I can see that” or “It shows.” It’s a nice, dry comment that says that you, too, can perceive the obvious. If someone in the midst of a downpour reminds you that it’s the rainy season, you might respond Se nota (“I figured that out” or “But of course”). Adding the personal pronouns me, te, or se personalizes the phrase. Your friend, screaming, tells you she’s angry. You say, Se te nota (“So I see,” literally “One notes that in you.”) Notar, incidentally, is not a good word for “to note something down” or “to make a note of.” For that, use anotar or apuntar.
“To stop.” Pare el mundo, quiero bajarme = “Stop the world, I want to get off.” ¿Dónde para el tren? = “Where does the train stop?” And so on. Párale is sometimes employed to say “Stop it” or “Cut it out,” as when someone is talking too much or the kids are screaming. In most of the Americas (and even parts of Spain), the reflexive pararse means “to stand up,” and parado is “standing up.” Travelers will sometimes ask if there is room on a train or bus and be told Si quiere ir parado (“If you want to travel standing up”). Párate que nos vamos would be a colloquial way of saying “Get up, we’re going.” Learn to distinguish between parar and pararse for “to stop.” The reflexive form is appropriate for stopping unassisted, whereas parar suggests something stopping something else. Paré el coche is “I stopped the car.” El coche se paró is “The car stopped.”
Meaning “to seem,” this verb is more frequently encountered than its English equivalent. One of the most common ways of conveying likes and dislikes in Spanish, in fact, is with parecer. Here are some typical usages: ¿Qué te parece? = “What do you think?” or “How does that strike you?” ¿Te parece? = “Is that okay with you?” No me parece = “I don’t like it.” Me parece bien = “Fine with me.” The reflexive parecerse is “to look like” or “to resemble.” Me parezco a mi madre = “I take after my mother.” “To look like” in the sense of “to look as if” requires parece que, not the reflexive. Parece que va a llover = “It looks like (as if) it’s going to rain.”
One of several options for “to happen” (see Chapter 11), pasar is also usually safe for most uses of “to pass,” although it’s a bit slangy at the dinner table (Pásame la sal). One use you may not be expecting: in some Latin American countries, pasar is the verb to use when asking “what’s on” television or at the local theater. ¿Qué están pasando en el 8? = “What’s on Channel 8?” Están pasando la nueva película de De Niro en el Cine Colón = “They’re showing the new De Niro movie at the Cine Colon.” In South American countries the verb of choice here would be dar, usually in the phrase estar dando.
As a colloquial greeting, both ¿Qué pasa? and ¿Qué pasó? are used, though individual countries tend to have a preferred form. In most situations, ¿Qué pasa? implies that something is wrong or abnormal; this is the question to ask when there are police cars parked in front of your house. In Mexico, where ¿Qué pasó? is the preferred greeting, saluting someone with ¿Qué pasa? may prompt raised eyebrows and the question ¿Por qué? So much for starting a pleasant conversation.
Using pasar con conveys “to happen to” in the sense of “to become of.” ¿Qué pasó con Juan? = “What’s become of Juan?”—that is, why is he late? In the present tense ¿Qué pasa? with an indirect object pronoun (me, te, le, nos, or les) is like asking “What’s (my, your, his, her, our, their) problem?” In fact, ¿Qué te pasa? is roughly equivalent to “What’s bugging you?” In the past tense, this same construction means “What happened to (me, you, him, her, us, them)?”: ¿Qué le pasó? = “What happened to him?”—for example, why are they carrying him off on a stretcher?
Pasarse, the reflexive form, plus the preposition de is very handy in expressions meaning “to go too far,” figuratively speaking. Se pasó de listo means someone “was too clever” or “was too sneaky,” and implies that the person got caught at it. Sometimes it can be translated as “to get carried away.” When a person se pasa de listo (lista) with another person, it can mean that he or she is making unwelcome sexual advances. Ese señor se pasó de listo con María = “That guy made a (rude) pass at María.” The formula pasarse de can be used with almost any adjective or quality, positive or negative. Usted se pasa de generosa = “You are being overly generous.” Te pasaste de imbécil = “You were even stupider than usual.”
“To ask,” “to ask for,” and the correct verb for “to order” in a restaurant (although ordenar is gaining ground). Pedir should make you think of indirect commands and the subjunctive: Pídele que se vaya (“Ask him to leave”). It is also used in a number of stock phrases, quite a few of which you are liable to need in the course of your dealings in Spanish. Some common ones include pedir permiso (“to ask permission”), pedir perdón (“to apologize”), pedir informes (“to ask for information”), and pedir ayuda (“to ask for help”). Pedir prestado is the correct phrase for “to borrow,” but you’ll often find prestar (see below) handier. A rule of life for some in the Spanish-speaking world is Es más fácil pedir perdón que pedir permiso, or “It’s easier to ask forgiveness than permission.”
The verb for “to think,” though often creer (see above) is preferred. To the extent that there is a rule for distinguishing them, use pensar when you might use “to have been thinking” or “to be thinking about” in English. If it’s just a simple statement of opinion, use creer. Pienso que debes irte = “It is my feeling that you should go.” Creo que debes irte = “You should probably go.” Sometimes the two are interchangeable. A usage of pensar you should become very familiar with is pensar plus the infinitive to mean “to plan on” or “to intend.” Pienso irme mañana = “I plan to go tomorrow.” Pienso quedarme unos días = “I intend to stay a couple of days.” Pensar + en is “to think of” or “to have in mind.” Pensar + sobre (or acerca de) works as “to think about” or “to consider” something. Pensar + de is “to think of,” in the sense of an opinion, and is a lot like creer. Estoy pensando en nuestras vacaciones = “I’m thinking of (remembering, daydreaming about) our vacation.” Todavía estoy pensando sobre (or acerca de) nuestras vacaciones = “I’m still thinking about (considering, analyzing) our vacation.” ¿Qué piensas de nuestras vacaciones? = “What do you think of our vacation (so far)? Stock phrases with pensar include ¡ni pensarlo! (“no way,” “it’s out of the question”), pensándolo bien (“on second thought”), and sin pensar (“without thinking,” “unintentionally”).
Meaning “to be able,” this is in general a predictable word. Aside from its quirks in the past tenses (see Chapter 5), it’s just a matter of mastering a few stock phrases to get a hold on poder. One such phrase is poder + con, which means something like “to handle” or “to deal with.” Examples will be useful here. A student who has trouble learning biology might lament, No puedo con la biología. In the sports pages, you’ll often come across headlines saying things like Los Leones No Pudieron con Los Toros (“The Lions Couldn’t Handle the Bulls”—that is, the Bulls beat the Lions, pure and simple). A Cuban postrevolutionary chant intones Fidel, Fidel, ¿qué tiene Fidel, que los americanos no pueden con él?, which means “Fidel, Fidel, what does Fidel have, that the Americans can’t handle (defeat) him?” Depending on the context, poder + con can also mean “to tolerate,” and in this sense is nearly synonymous with the verb aguantar. ¡Ay, no puedo con mi hermano! = “Arrgh, I just can’t stand my brother!” A fun way of describing an extremely irritating person is to say No puede ni consigo mismo (“He can’t even stand himself”). Other phrases using poder that you’ll want on the tip of your tongue: ¿Se puede? (“May I?”), Puede ser (“Could be” or “Maybe”), and Puede que plus the subjunctive (“It could be that . . .” or “Maybe . . . “).
Prestar, “to lend,” works for just about anything you might want to borrow, just as “to lend” does in English. Thus Préstame tu pluma = “Lend me your pen.” (For “lending a hand,” though, you would probably use dar or echar: Oye, échame una mano.) What is difficult for many English speakers is to switch between “borrow” phrases and “lend” phrases in Spanish. This sometimes leads to convoluted constructions with pedir prestado, like ¿Puedo pedir prestada tu pluma? Much more natural in Spanish is to turn it around (i.e., saying “you lend” instead of “I borrow”) and use prestar by itself. If Préstame is too tactless for your tastes, say ¿Me presta? or ¿Me prestas?: ¿Me prestas tu pluma? In very slangy speech you might hear Presta para acá or Presta pa’cá for “Hand it over” or “Give it up.” The latter example has sexual overtones, as it does in English.
Prestar is also used for “to pay attention,” which, if you think about it, is much more realistic than the English concept (we don’t really “pay” attention, we just lend it out). ¡Niños, presten atención! = “Children, pay attention!” Prestarse, the reflexive form, can be quite useful for “to lend oneself,” though it sounds much more idiomatic in Spanish than in English. ¿Tú crees que Juan nos deje copiar en el examen? No, él no se presta a eso. = “Do you think Juan will let us copy his exam?” “No, he doesn’t lend himself to that.”
A megaverb that you’ll want to have on your side as quickly as possible. Its most straightforward uses revolve around “to stay” or “to remain.” Aquí me quedo is “I’m staying here” and is sometimes used as a name for cantinas. Quédate aquí = “Stay here.” Other uses require “to have left” in English. Sólo me quedan treinta dólares = “I only have thirty dollars left.”
A host of other expressions with quedarse, the reflexive, are better covered in English by “to keep.” Me quedé con treinta dólares = “I kept thirty dollars.” Quédese con el cambio would be “Keep the change.” Quédatelo = “Keep it.” For use in shopping, quedarse is a lot like llevarse (see above). Me quedo con el azul = “I’ll take the blue one.” Often quedarse suggests a final or resultant state of affairs. Me quedé helado is, literally, “I was left frozen” and suggests you were frozen with fear. Me quedé en blanco is to say “I ended up blank” or “I didn’t understand that at all.” If someone asks you whether you understood an explanation of the theory of relativity, you could answer, Para nada. Me quedé en blanco. In English slang the equivalent might even be “I spaced.” A stock phrase you should remember for personal dealings is ¿En qué quedamos? to mean something like “What’s the agreement, then?” or “So what’s the deal?” Use it toward the end of conversations to establish clearly the next step, be it the signing of a multimillion-dollar merger agreement or a date to sip margaritas under the stars.
Along these same lines of final or resultant states are the everyday expressions quedar bien and quedar mal. Like many of the expressions using quedar, these seem to defy a simple English translation, but the idea is “to end up well (or badly) with someone.” Their use is similar to caer bien and caer mal, and often they can be translated with “impress,” though that’s a little strong. “To get on someone’s good side” might come closer for quedar bien. Se puso corbata para quedar bien con los suegros = “He put on a tie to get on his in-laws’ good side.” For quedar mal, an example will be more helpful than an English equivalent. Quedé mal con él porque no lo saludé = “I’ve gotten on his bad side (i.e., he’s mad at me) because I didn’t say hello to him.”
Finally, quedar has a couple of common uses that you should be alert to since they don’t fall into the “stay” or “remain” categories. It is the common word for “to fit,” for clothes and everything else. Remember to use it with the indirect object pronouns me, te, le, etc. Este saco no me queda = “This coat doesn’t fit.” Also, and more natural to a Spanish speaker, Este saco me queda grande (or chico) = “This coat is too big (or small) for me.” Quedar also comes into play for describing locations. As a tourist, especially, you will hear it (and can even use it!) a lot. Perdón, ¿dónde queda la plaza? Adelante, a tres cuadras. = “Excuse me, where is the plaza?” “Three blocks up.” Queda cerca and queda lejos are both handy phrases for travelers. ¿Queda cerca la plaza? No, queda lejos.
An absolutely vital word, and one this book gives a lot of space to so you can get it right. It means “to like” or “to want” and, with people, “to love” or “to want” (see Chapter 4). Like poder and saber, this verb acts a little strangely in the past tenses (see Chapter 5). Otherwise it’s trustworthy, though it’s worth rehashing a few tips for using it well. Querer performs many interesting tricks when paired with an adverb and in the subjunctive. Before you faint, remember that we already went over that (Chapter 6) and you survived it quite nicely—cuando quieras, donde quieras, como quieras, and so on. We’ve also gone over how to say you “want” something (using traer) without dragging yo quiero into your speech habits (Chapter 2). Another option is to use quisiera (“I’d like”). Querer is also, in the phrases con querer and sin querer, your best ticket for handling “on purpose” and “by accident” (Chapter 12). Mamá, metí al gato en la piscina. ¿Fue con querer o sin querer? = “Mommy, I put the cat in the swimming pool.” “Was it on purpose or by accident?”
“To repeat,” of course, but also “to burp” or “to provoke burps.” The proper word for “to burp” is eructar, which covers most every burp, while repetir is for those little, barely perceptible, goodeatin’ burps. Just thought you’d want to know.
Remember that romper is “to break intentionally”: Rompí el vaso tirándolo contra la pared = “I broke the glass by throwing it against the wall.” Romperse is “to break” in the sense of an accidental act: Se me rompió el vaso cuando lo estaba lavando = “The glass broke (on me) when I was washing it.” In this construction the literal meaning is “such-and-such broke itself to me (or you, him, her, us, them).” The distinction is not dogma, but you should try to stick to it. Romper con is “to break up with” in the sense of lonely hearts and whatnot.
A sometimes complicated verb, saber bears watching for its trickery in past tenses (Chapter 5) and in contrast to conocer (see above). An imperfect but useful rule of thumb: use conocer with proper and specific nouns and saber or saber de with the rest of them and most clauses. ¿Conoces París? but ¿Sabes dónde comen los parisinos? and ¿Sabes de su historia? An exception to this rule are the names of languages, which take saber: ¿Sabes inglés? Another more sweeping but also far-from-perfect rule: more often than not the word you want for “to know” is saber. Saber is frequently followed by verb infinitives; conocer never is. Saber carries with it the idea of “to know how,” so you don’t have to say saber como. ¿Sabes esquiar? No, pero sé caerme. = “Do you know how to ski?” “No, but I know how to fall down.”
A few of the many stock expressions using saber include ¿Sabes qué? (“Know what?”), No sé (“I don’t know”), ¿Quién sabe? (“Who knows?”), ¡De haberlo sabido! (“If I had only known!”), ¿Yo qué sé? (“What do I know?” or “Don’t ask me!”). Un sabelotodo is “a know-it-all,” and a useful phrase for “as far as I know” is que yo sepa.
Finally, and just possibly to confuse you further, saber is also the word for “to taste,” as in how something tastes to you. La sopa sabe bien is “The soup tastes good.” In the first person (for use after kissing or among cannibals), the correct form is sé, but colloquially you might hear sepo. ¿Qué tal sé (sepo)? Sabes a pepinillos agrios. = “How do I taste?” “You taste like pickles.” For the transitive “to taste”—that is, to taste something—you need to use probar.
“To follow,” yes, but also frequently “to continue” or “to keep (on).” The most common formula is seguir plus the infinitive: Sigue viniendo (“He keeps coming”), Sigues comiendo (“You keep eating”) Sigo llorando (“I keep crying”), and so on. Seguir also works to translate a lot of the uses of “still” in English. In fact, using seguir frequently sounds more natural in Spanish than using todavía, which is what native English speakers tend to resort to: Sigue creyendo en Santa Claus. = “She still believes in Santa Claus.” Sigo enfermo = “I’m still sick.” For the negative, you can use seguir + sin and sound very “Spanish” indeed: ¿Sigues sin creer en Dios? = “Do you still not believe in God?” Seguir sin and seguir con are also useful constructions with a noun tacked on instead of the infinitive. Sigue sin trabajo = “He still doesn’t have a job.” A few odds and ends to take note of: Síguele is a handy phrase for “Keep it up” in both its genuine and ironic senses; ¿Quién sigue? = “Who’s next?”; ¿Cómo sigues? as a greeting means “How are you getting along?” and implies that a person has been sick or afflicted by some sort of trouble, even if it’s only Spanish grammar exercises.
Sentir means “to feel” and is a transitive verb used with direct objects—that is, things you feel. Sentirse, the reflexive, is used with adjectives to express how you feel. Thus Siento frío is “I feel cold” but Me siento bien is “I feel fine.” Siento asco is “I feel nauseous,” and Me siento mal del estómago is “I feel sick to my stomach.” Lo siento, keep in mind, is “I’m sorry,” and Lo siento mucho is “I’m very sorry.” In case you need to explain further, you need only add haber and a past participle, dropping the lo. Try to learn a couple of these by heart and keep them at the ready: Siento haber llegado tarde = “Sorry I’m late.” Siento mucho no haber podido ir = “I’m very sorry I couldn’t come (or go).”
Except when you need estar (Chapter 5), ser is used for “to be.” It is the verb of permanent states, of the way things are, of telling it like it is. There are a billion or so expressions using ser, but most of them are predictable and translate as “to be” in English. A few to watch: ¿De quién es? = “Whose is it?” ¿De qué es? = “What is it made of?” Like querer, ser in its subjunctive forms can be employed to form “-ever” words or to say “any”: cuando sea, donde sea, and so forth. This is covered in Chapter 6, but a few examples here can’t hurt. Usually you employ que sea after someone has already fed you the antecedent. It’s better not to repeat the antecedent but think fast to get the right gender. If someone asks, “What brand of beer do you want?” you can answer La (marca) que sea. “In what restaurant do you want to eat?” En el (restaurante) que sea. It’s worth a little extra work to get these expressions down pat, since otherwise you’ll be inclined to say ghastly things like Cualquier hora que quieres, instead of the pure and lilting Cuando sea, for “Anytime.”
“To serve,” yes, but how often do you say “to serve” in an average day? “After I serve dinner, if it serves you, m’lord, I’ll serve you poisoned coffee and it’ll serve you right!” In Spanish servir is much more commonly heard for “to work” in the sense of “to function.” No sirve mi teléfono is “My phone doesn’t work.” ¿Para qué sirve? is “What is it used for?” or even “What good is it?” When servir is used for “to serve,” it is often dressed up in the stock phrase ¿En qué le puedo servir? (“May I help you?”). Sírvase (or Sírvete), finally, can be used for “Help yourself,” but a Spanish speaker would probably say Tome lo que quiera instead.
There is no English equivalent for this word among the verbs, which is odd considering how often you’ll find yourself needing it. Soler (meaning “to be in the habit of,” “to be accustomed to”) is useful to describe something you usually do and is stuck before another verb in the infinitive, making it a snap to use. Suelo comer a las dos = “I usually eat at two.” Suele ir al cine saliendo del trabajo = “He usually goes to the movies after work.” See Chapter 12 (under “Usually”) for other ways to handle this concept.
“To sound” or “to ring.” Suena el timbre = “The doorbell’s ringing.” Eso suena dudoso = “That sounds dubious.” Sonar is also the verb to use to say “to ring a bell,” as in what happens in your memory when something sounds familiar. “Do you know Juan Pérez?” No, pero el nombre me suena (“No, but the name rings a bell”). Sonarse, incidentally, is “to blow one’s nose,” and sonarse a alguien is “to smack someone.”
Meaning “to dream,” the verb is used with con. Sueño con serpientes = “I dream about snakes.” Here’s something worth remembering: sueño, the noun form, means both “dream” and “sleep.” Una falta de sueño = “A lack of sleep.” Soñado, the adjective form, is a fun word for “dreamy” or “ideal”: la playa soñada = “the beach of your dreams.”
The polar opposite of bajar (see above), subir works conversely for gaining weight, getting on a bus, and so on.
Tardar works well for “to take” in time expressions. Durar (see above), on the other hand, generally works better for “to last.” Tarda el tiempo que quieras = “Take as much time as you want.” ¿Cuánto tardará en venir? = “How long will he take in coming?” Since we sometimes use “to take” and “to last” loosely in English, there can be confusion in the correct Spanish choice. El avión tarda media hora en venir de allá a acá. = “The plane takes half an hour to get here from there.” El vuelo dura media hora = “The flight lasts half an hour.” As a rule, use durar whenever “to last” could work, and use tardar otherwise. Tardar also means “to take time” with the suggestion of “to take too much time,” “to daily,” “to be late.” Tardé en llegar porque había mucho tráfico = “I took a long time getting here (I’m late) because there was a lot of traffic.” El tren está tardando en llegar = “The train is taking too much time (is late) arriving.”
A megaverb, tener is almost worthy of a chapter of its own. Many of its uses are predictable renditions of “to have” in English, including the indispensable tener que for “to have to”: Tengo que irme = “I have to go.” It can also be used by itself in the negative to say “I don’t have any” when the antecedent is understood. Dame dinero. No tengo. = “Give me money.” “I don’t have any.” ¿Dónde está su boleto? No tengo. = “Where’s your ticket?” “I don’t have one.” Another common use of tener with an implied complement is the question ¿Qué tienes? (or ¿Qué tiene?), which can translate as “What’s your (or his, her) problem?” or “What’s the matter with you (or him, her, it)?” Another example: “I don’t like the house they’ve picked out for us.” ¿Qué tiene? (“What’s wrong with it?”)
Where you will have to pay special attention to tener is in the thousand and one expressions in Spanish that use tener plus a noun for what in English would be “to be” plus an adjective. In English, for instance, you “are cold,” whereas in Spanish you “have cold.” Common examples of this construction include tener hambre (“to be hungry”), tener sed (“to be thirsty”), tener frío (“to be cold”), tener calor (“to be hot”), tener sueño (“to be sleepy”), tener paciencia (“to be patient”), tener cuidado (“to be careful”), tener razón (“to be right”), tener prisa (“to be in a hurry”).
There are also another thousand and one expressions, many of them quite colloquial, using no tener. Here are some you should learn:
No tiene sentido. = “It doesn’t make sense.”
No tiene caso. = “There’s no point” or “What’s the point?” (indicating futility)
No tiene chiste. = “It’s boring” or “What’s the point?” (indicating insipidness)
No tiene (nada) que ver. = “That has nothing to do with it” “That’s irrelevant.”
No tiene vergüenza. = “He (or she) is shameless.”
No tiene lógica. = “It’s illogical” or “It doesn’t make sense.” (indicating incredulity)
No tiene ni pies ni cabeza. = “I can’t make heads or tails of it.”
No tiene en donde caerse muerto. = “He (or she) is flat broke.”
(literally, “doesn’t even have anywhere to drop dead”)
No tiene remedio. = “There’s no way out” or “There’s nothing to be done.”
No tiene (ni la menor or ni la más mínima) idea. = “He (or she) hasn’t got the faintest idea” or “He (or she) hasn’t got a clue.”
The common verb for “to throw,” though aventar and arrojar are also used quite a lot regionally. Tirar also has the implication of “to throw away” or “to throw out.” Tira esa basura = “Throw that worthless thing out.” It is also used for “to knock over,” as in Tiré el vaso (“I knocked over the glass”). To convey “to toss,” as in “Toss me a pen,” you could use aventar (in the Americas) or echar or even tirar, but mostly you wouldn’t use anything because it’s considered rude in the Spanish-speaking world to toss things (see Chapter 2). Unless you’re especially keen on seeing a particular object in flight, stick to Préstame (see prestar above).
“To touch,” of course, but also “to play” (a musical instrument) and “to knock” or “to ring” (at someone’s door). In Casablanca Bogie would have told the pianist, Tócala, Sam. An extremely common use of tocar that is often glossed over in textbooks is for “to experience” or “to be one’s turn.” A simple and good translation is elusive, but examples will get the point across. Me toca. = “My turn.” ¿A quién le toca? = “Whose turn is it?” A mí no me toca decirle. = “It’s not up to me to tell him.” Al dueño le toca arreglar la casa. = “It’s up to the owner to fix the house.” Sometimes the best translation involves “to get”: ¿A quién le toca la última rebanada? = “Who gets the last slice?” A ti te tocó la más guapa de las hermanas. = “You got the prettiest of the sisters.” A mí me tocó el más feo de los hermanos = “I got (stuck with) the ugliest brother.” No me ha tocado verlo en concierto = “I haven’t had (gotten) a chance to see him in concert.” And so on. A final note on tocar: its past participle, tocado, is a common synonym for loco—as in the English sense of being slightly “touched” in the head. Children often adapt it to toca-toca, translating perhaps as “cuckoo.”
Traer is straightforward for “to bring,” except when “take” and “bring” (llevar and traer) get mixed up (see Chapter 5).
“To treat,” of course, but far more commonly encountered with de and meaning “to try.” For some reason, though, many Spanish-English dictionaries refuse to acknowledge this fact, leaving the student to choose among ensayar, procurar, intentar, and pretender. These are all worthy and acceptable verbs, of course, and someday you might even want to learn them. But for now, remember: tratar de = “to try.” Traté de dormir = “I tried to sleep.” Tratamos de llamarte = “We tried to call you.” Trata de venir antes de las once = “Try to come before eleven.” Only when you’re using “to try” in the sense of “to sample” or “to test” should you abandon tratar de; the correct verb here is probar. An awkward but illustrative example: Trata de probar el vino blanco 1985. = “Try to try (i.e., make an effort to sample) the 1985 white wine.”
Tratarse, the reflexive form, is a useful verb for “to have to do with” or “to be about.” ¿De qué se trata? is the common way of asking “What’s it about?” (in reference to a film, a book, a scuffle, an argument, and the like). “To treat” in the sense of “to pay for someone else” is usually handled by invitar. Yo invito = “I’m treating.”
Meaning “to be worth,” this verb is frequently encountered in the stock phrases vale la pena (“it’s worth it”) and no vale la pena (“it’s not worth it”). In addition, you may find valer handy for asking prices. ¿Cuánto vale? = “How much is it?” Another good use of valer, preceded by más, is to translate English phrases that use “better” or “had better.” Más te vale irte = “You’d better get out of here.” Más vale preguntar = “We’d better ask.” And there’s the old standby Más vale tarde que nunca (“Better late than never”). In Spain and less so elsewhere, vale by itself is a common interjection for “all right” or “okay.” In Mexico, especially, valer with an indirect object pronoun is a somewhat crude way of saying “couldn’t care less.” Me vale = “I couldn’t care less.” Le vale = “He doesn’t give a damn.” Its crudeness comes from the fact that it’s a shortened and therefore euphemistic form of another phrase, which you’ll have to read about in Chapter 10.
Meaning “to come,” naturally, and sometimes difficult to distinguish from “to go” (see Chapter 5). This verb has some common but unexpected uses, as in No viene al caso (“That’s beside the point”). Que viene is especially worth learning in stock phrases like la semana que viene (“next week”) and el año que viene (“next year”). Venirse, the reflexive form, is usually an innocent intensifier for venir, but it has sexual overtones in some countries and should be used with care.
As “to see,” this is a pretty straightforward verb. It can sometimes be confused with mirar, since ver also works as “to look at” in many cases where you might be tempted to use mirar: Ese señor se me queda viendo = “That man keeps looking at me.” Estoy viendo tus discos = “I’m looking at your records.” Mirar would work fine in the first example, but in the second would suggest you are gazing at the records as if waiting for them to do something. An extremely common expression is A ver, which is simply “Let’s see . . .” but which is used mainly to buy time while you think of a clever response. Vamos a ver means the same but is less common as an interjection or “crutch word.” Tener que ver con is the easiest way to translate “to have to do with.” No tengo nada que ver con el asunto = “I have nothing to do with this business.” No tiene que ver = “That’s irrelevant.”
Ver is sometimes used to express an opinion, in the sense of how you “see” or “size up” a problem. Lo veo difícil = “It looks difficult to me.” Verse, the reflexive, covers almost all uses of “to look” that refer to the appearance of something or someone. You should etch the phrase se ve onto the end of your tongue and have it ready for such common utterances as Se ve bien (“It/he/she looks good”), Se ve difícil (“It looks difficult”), Se ve bonito (“It looks nice”), and so on. Se ve que plus a clause is an easy way to communicate “You can tell that . . .” or “It’s obvious that . . . . “Se ve que no han cambiado el agua en la piscina = “You can tell they haven’t changed the water in the pool.” Se ve que son grandes amigos = “You can tell that they’re great friends.”
In the sense of “to return” or “to come back,” volver is interchangeable with regresar. Volver has another common use that you will want to learn, though—one that regresar does not share. Volver plus a plus an infinitive is frequently found as a substitute for “to repeat” or “to do again.” It will take some practice before you start to use it properly—and as an alternative to otra vez—but it’s worth the extra effort. Some typical examples of when to substitute: Gracias, vuelvo a llamar más tarde = “Thanks, I’ll call back (again) later.” Si vuelves a pedírmelo, no te lo voy a dar = “If you ask me for it again, I’m not going to give it to you.” Vuelve a intentar = “Try again.” Volver cannot be used transitively—to “return” a book to the library, for instance, or “to give back” a borrowed item. Use either regresar or devolver in these situations. Devuélveme a mi chica (“Give me back my girl”), for instance, was the name of a pop song and movie of a few seasons ago. Volverse, finally, is one of the common ways to handle “to become” (or “to get”). Skip ahead to Chapter 11 for details.