Posts tagged w/ polysemy

More meanings of common words

Posted by adir ferreira

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 humor. = He has a pronounced sense of humor.

Alterar – to alter, to change
Este niño me altera los nervios. = This kid gets on my nerves.

Amasar – to amass
El panadero amasó la masa. = The baker kneaded the dough.

Apostar – to bet
Aposto al mayordomo en la puerta. = I am positioning the butler at the door.

Colonia – colony (of settlers)
Se echó colonia. = She put on some cologne.

Competencia – competency
Hubo competencia por el primer puesto. = There was competition for the first place.

Compromiso – commitment
Llegar a un compromiso = to reach an agreement
No puedo ir esta noche, tengo otro compromiso. = I can’t go tonight. I have another engagement.
Se puso en un compromiso. = He put himself in an awkward position.

Concentración – concentration
La selección francesa ha iniciado su concentración. = The French national squad has set up its training camp.

Copia - copy (of paper, etc.)
Copy (of a book) = ejemplar

Dependencia – dependence
Una dependencia de la granja = a farm outbuilding

Descubrir = to discover
Descubrirse = to take one’s hat off. (Se descubrió al entrar en la iglesia.)

Diligencia = diligence
Hizo el trabajo con mucha diligencia. (He did the work very diligently)
El juez instruyó las diligencias para … = The judge started the proceedings for …
Los bandidos atacaron la diligencia. = The bandits attacked the stagecoach.

Discutir – to discuss
Se les oyó discutiendo en el patio. = You could hear them arguing in the yard.

Facilitar – to facilitate
Esta empresa facilita ropa al ejército. = This company provides clothing for the army.

Fallo – failure, weakness
El juez emitió su fallo. = The judge passed sentence.

Ignorar – to ignore
Ignoraban su paradero. = They did not know his whereabouts.

Ilustración – illustration
La Ilustración = the Enlightenment

Nos vemos prontito!

 

I take it you’re taking this too seriously, so don’t take it out on me, ok?

Posted by adir ferreira

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 a la escuela - to take the children to school
llevar conmigo - to take with me
llevar ropa - to wear clothing
llevar una cosa - to take/carry a thing
llevar una vida de perros - to lead a dog’s life

QUITAR - to remove, take off/away
quitar el polvo - to dust, remove dust
quitar la nieve - to shovel/remove snow
quitar la pintura - to strip/remove the paint
quitar la ropa – to take off one’s clothes

SACAR - to take (out)
sacar a bailar - to ask for a dance
sacar a paseo - to take (out) for a walk
sacar agua - to get/draw water
sacar algo de la caja - to take something from (out of) the box
sacar una foto - to take a picture

TOMAR - to take, drink, eat
tomar apuntes - to take notes
tomar el sol - to sunbathe, to lie in the sun
tomar en cuenta - to consider
tomar leche - to drink milk
tomar lugar - to take place
tomar parte en - to take part in
tomar una comida - to have a meal

So take your time and learn these expressions! ¡Nos vemos prontito!