Whenever I teach my students vocabulary, I always tell them to take notes using real and meaningful examples and to learn fixed expressions. Let’s take for example the verb “to take”. If we look it up in an English-Spanish dictionary, dozens of entries will crop up and if we´re not very familiar with the language yet we won´t know what to choose, right? Right! So, learning fixed phrases is the way to go, people! Let´s check out some expressions with the verb “to take”.

1. tomar – Tomó el cuaderno y fue a estudiar. (He took the notebook and went to study.)

2. llevar – Le llevo el libro a mi hermana. – (I’m taking the book to my sister.) / Llevó a su esposa al aeropuerto. (He took his wife to the airport.)

3. coger – Cogieron las maletas en el hotel. (They took the luggage in the hotel.). NB: The verb coger also has a sexual connotation in some Latin American countries.

4. arrebatar – ¿Te arrebató el sombrero? (Did he take your hat?)

5. robar, quitar – A Laura le robaron mucho dinero. (They took a lot of money from Laura.)

6. aceptar – No quisieron aceptar su cheque. (They didn’t want to take her check.)

7. coger, tomar, ir en – Tomaré un taxi. (I will take a taxi.)

8. necesitar, requerir, hacer falta – Hace falta mucho coraje para hacer eso. (It takes a lot of courage to do that.)

10. durar – La película no durará mucho. (The movie won’t take long.)

11. estudiar – Estudio psicología. (I’m taking psychology.)

12. to take a bath (shower) – bañarse (ducharse) – Los hijos de María siempre se bañan en la tarde. (María’s children always take a shower in the afternoon.)

13. to take a break, to take a rest – tomarse un descanso, descansar – Vamos a tomarnos un descanso a las tres. (We’re going to take a break at 3.)

14. to take after – 1. perseguir – El policía persiguió el ladrón. (The policeman took after the thief.) 2. parecerse – Juan se parece a su papá. (Juan takes after his dad.)

15. to take apart – desmontar – Desmontó el equipo de sonido. (He took the stereo apart.)