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Tag Archives: polysemy

What’s the translation of “poner” Posted by on Sep 12, 2011

Poner means basically to put or to place: Pedro puso una manzana en la cesta. – Pedro put an apple in the basket. Tus bromas me ponen de mal humor. – Your jokes put me in a bad mood. It can also mean to turn something on (appliances, etc.): Pon la lavadora en marcha. –…

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Alternatives for the use of “coger” Posted by on Aug 23, 2011

The verb coger has a somewhat vulgar meaning in some countries in Latin America so today I’m going to give you some other choices. 1. Esta fecha nos coge muy mal. (va) This date is not very good for us. 2. Este lugar coge muy lejos. (queda) This place is very far. 3. Nunca coge…

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The several meanings of the verb “hacer” Posted by on May 24, 2011

All right, we know that hacer means “to do” or “to make”, but this verb has several other meanings that are not so obvious like desempeñar, representar, interpretar, cometer, armar, conseguir, lograr, resolver, efectuar, componer, construir, levantar, formar, cumplir, amasar and acumular. Check out these sentences and an alternative meaning for the verb hacer. 1…

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The several uses of the verb “sonar” Posted by on May 10, 2011

Sonar is a very useful verb in Spanish and before I start explaining what it means, take a look at this dialog and see how this verb is used. Cierto día, cerca de las 12 (at around 12), sonó el teléfono (the phone rang). Rodrigo atendió (answered). Al otro lado de la línea (at the…

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More meanings of common words Posted by on May 14, 2009

Aqui están algunas palabras muy comunes en español con sus significados adicionales. Abandonar – to abandon. Abandonado = scruffy, sloppy (said of a person) Abusar – to abuse Abusar de la comida = to eat too much Acusar – to accuse Él acusaba cansancio. = He showed signs of tiredness. Tiene un acusado sentido del…

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I take it you’re taking this too seriously, so don’t take it out on me, ok? Posted by on Apr 9, 2009

You must have noticed by now that learning a foreign language is not easy job, because so many words have different uses and meanings. Let’s take a look at several verbs with multiple meanings. LLEVAR – to take/carry, take a person (somewhere), wear llevar a cabo – to carry through, accomplish llevar a los niños…

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