Click here to read the previous post, Adjusting to Life in Spain: Medieval Town Buitrago del Lozoya
I’m not sure why I struggle so much to find the right words in Spanish considering that, when in doubt, “llevar” is probably the correct choice. It seems that whenever I ask a Spaniard “What’s the word for…?” there’s a 50% chance that the answer is llevar.
I’m almost not kidding.
The verb llevar has numerous meanings depending on context and region, but at least 15 distinct uses, ranging from literal actions (carrying objects) to abstract concepts (coping with emotions).
Llevar
Here’s an overview of its primary uses.
Core Meanings
To carry/take:
Physical objects: ¿Qué lleva Miguel en esa bolsa? (What does Miguel carry in that bag?)
Transporting people: Papá, ¿me llevas a casa de Juan? (Dad, can you take me to Juan’s house?)
To wear clothing/accessories:
Siempre lleva esos vaqueros. (He/she always wears those jeans.)
To lead:
Directing actions or lifestyles: Llevar una vida sana. (To lead a healthy life.)
Guiding to outcomes: Ese evento llevó a su familia a una situación difícil. (That event led his family to a difficult situation.)
To take time:
Arreglar un ordenador lleva mucho tiempo. (Fixing a computer takes a lot of time.)
To get along (with someone):
Me llevo bien con ella. (I get along well with her.)
To include (ingredients or components):
¿Qué lleva la paella? (What’s in the paella?)
Extended Uses
Expressing duration:
With gerund: Llevo limpiando toda la mañana. (I’ve been cleaning all morning.)
Without gerund: Llevo aquí una hora. (I’ve been here for an hour.)
To have done something:
Llevo visto dos episodios. (I have watched two episodes.)
To take/steal:
Me llevé un collar. (I took a necklace.)
To be in fashion:
Se llevan las faldas vaqueras. (Denim skirts are in fashion.)
To cope with:
¿Cómo estás llevando la muerte de tu padre? (How are you coping with your dad’s death?)
Idiomatic expressions:
Dejarse llevar. (To go with the flow.)
Llevar a cabo. (To carry out a project.)
Additional Contextual Meanings
To head in a direction:
¿Qué dirección llevaban? (Which direction were they heading?)
To manage/operate:
Marcos lleva el nuevo hotel. (Marcos manages the new hotel.)
To destroy (with llevarse):
La tormenta se llevó decenas de casas. (The storm destroyed dozens of houses.)
To be ahead / To lead by a certain amount (in time, score, age, etc.)
Te llevo cinco minutos. (I’m five minutes ahead of you.)
Mi equipo lleva dos goles de ventaja. (My team is two goals ahead.)
There may be more specific or regional uses, but these cover the most common meanings. So, as you can see, when a Spaniard responds with “llevar” to my “What’s the word for…?” question, it’s not without merit.
But then I got curious and looked up which Spanish word has the most meanings. The Diccionario de la lengua española published by the Real Academia Española (RAE) lists 64 distinct definitions for the word "pasar." Joder! Talk about a linguistic Swiss Army knife! This verb can be used in contexts ranging from physical motion to abstract experiences.
Pasar
Some of the main meanings of pasar include:
To pass (by a place) – Pasé por tu casa ayer. (I passed by your house yesterday.)
To happen – ¿Qué pasó? (What happened?)
To spend time – Pasamos el día en la playa. (We spent the day at the beach.)
To cross (a barrier or threshold) – No puedes pasar la línea. (You can't cross the line.)
To hand over – Pásame la sal, por favor. (Pass me the salt, please.)
To overcome or exceed – Pasó sus propios límites. (He/she/they exceeded their own limits.)
To be accepted (in an exam, test or selection) – Pasé el examen con buena nota. (I passed the exam with a good grade.)
To transfer (a call or message) – Te paso con mi jefe. (I'll transfer you to my boss.)
To tolerate or forgive – Te lo paso esta vez. (I’ll let it slide this time.)
To be indifferent or unconcerned ("pasar de algo") – Paso de problemas. (I don't care about problems.)
To go bad (food or drink) – La leche se pasó. (The milk went bad.)
To miss out (on something) – No quiero pasar esta oportunidad. (I don’t want to miss this opportunity.)
To occur in a movie, book, or show – ¿Qué pasa en la película? (What happens in the movie?)
To enter or be allowed in – Pasa, siéntate. (Come in, sit down.)
To be excessive (colloquially, "pasarse") – Te pasaste con el comentario. (You went too far with that comment.)
To have a good/bad time (idiom, "pasárselo bien/mal") – Me lo pasé bien ayer. (I had a good time yesterday.)
There are other verbs, like tomar and dar, that also have a wide range of idiomatic and context-specific uses:
Tomar = 20–25 meanings
Dar = 30–40 meanings
Keep in mind that these numbers are of distinct uses; many verbs have even more meanings depending on context and region. Here are the top five as per the Real Academia Española (RAE):
All this is not surprising, I guess, considering that Spanish has a mere 93,000 words while English has 170,000 words, which means Spanish has to double up on their meanings!
Suddenly, my guffaw of semantic superiority screeched to a halt. Wait, what about English? Sure we have more words, but do we also use one word for a gazillion different meanings? So I headed back to the drawing board (i.e. Google) to dig in to the English language for comparison.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), "set" has the most meanings with over 430 (!!!) different meanings across various contexts. (And in case you can’t sleep right now, check this out: It also has the longest entry in the OED at 60,000 words, or 326,000 characters, to describe all 430 meanings. Ooooh.)
However, this is a matter of current debate (worldwide wars? tanking economies? climate destruction? Pshaw! Highest number of meanings for one word should be our top priority!). The word "set" holds a record for this reason in the Guinness Book of World Records, but more recent updates suggest that "run" has surpassed "set" with approximately 645 (whaaaaat?) different meanings, as reported by the OED's chief editor, John Simpson, in 2011. But "run" has not yet been officially recognized by Guinness World Records because the next edition of the OED won’t be updated until 2037. Which means we’ll all be on the edge of our seats for the next twelve years.
For those of you who are actually still reading this, here is a brief comparison of the top English word contenders:
Why does the English word with the most meanings have sooooo many more meanings than the Spanish word with the most meanings?
English is a Germanic language with huge influence from Latin and French, so this mix of Anglo-Saxon roots and Romance language influence means that a single English word often picks up many roles in both casual and formal speech.
English also relies heavily on word order and has relatively little verb conjugation compared to Spanish, so it reuses words like crazy. In other words, English can use one verb form in many situations because the context plus sentence position tells you what’s going on.
To Know
A classic example of this is the verb "to know."
English
In English, know is used broadly:
I know the answer.
I know her.
I know how to swim.
I know that he left.
Spanish
But in Spanish, these all use different verbs depending on the kind of "knowing":
Saber – for knowing facts or how to do something:
Sé la respuesta. (I know the answer.)
Sé nadar. (I know how to swim.)
Conocer – for being familiar with people or places:
Conozco a ella. (I know her.)
Conozco Madrid. (I know Madrid.)
Enterarse or Saber que – for becoming aware of something:
Sé que él se fue. (I know that he left.)
Me enteré de que él se fue. (I found out he left.)
To Become
Another example is one in which I come up against often: “to become”.
Spanish
Again, in Spanish, there are many different verbs depending on how, why or how suddenly the change happens:
Ponerse – for involuntary, temporary change (often physical or emotional):
Me puse triste. (I got sad.)
Se puso enfermo. (He became sick.)
Quedarse – for unexpected or lasting result of a change (often negative, sometimes emotional or physical; in these examples a direct translation would be “became”):
Se quedó ciego. (He went blind.)
Me quedé sin palabras. (I was left speechless.)
Llegar a ser – for gradual change through effort or time (often achievements, social status or professional roles):
Llegó a ser presidente. (He became president (after effort).)
Llegó a ser una experta en su campo. (She became an expert in her field.)
Volverse – for sudden or involuntary change (often of personality or character):
Se volvió loco. (He went crazy.)
Se volvió muy amargado. (He became very bitter.)
Hacerse – for intentional, gradual change or choice (often about ideology, profession, religion, wealth):
Me hice médico. (I became a doctor.)
Se hizo rico trabajando duro. (He became rich through hard work.)
Convertirse en – for a complete or profound transformation into something else (often dramatic or metaphorical):
La rana se convirtió en príncipe. (The frog turned into a prince.)
Se convirtió en un símbolo de resistencia. (She became a symbol of resistance.)
Transformarse en – similar to “convertirse en” but often used for physical or magical changes:
El agua se transforma en vapor. → Water transforms into steam.
El personaje se transforma en un monstruo. → The character turns into a monster.
English
But in English, you use this verb for all the above meanings.
And, the final reason that English has more meanings for a single verb than does Spanish is because the RAE (Real Academia Española) tends to be more conservative with meanings—it filters, refines and standardizes.
But the Oxford English Dictionary catalogs all historical and current uses, even obscure or dying ones. So "run" has 600+ meanings partly because the OED records every last one of them.
And this, dear readers, is how I spent my Saturday evening.
Click here to read the next post, Adjusting to Life in Spain: [TBD]
Note: All photos taken or created (using DALL-E) by Selena Templeton, unless otherwise noted.
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