Updated on November 4, 2022
A beginner’s guide to Spanish collocations
Part of learning Spanish online is getting the chance to try out new phrases during your online Spanish classes. When you learn Spanish at home, your instructor can help you use Spanish idioms correctly so that you feel confident before saying them in real life. The best way to learn Spanish phrases is to watch Spanish movies and hear native Spanish speakers speak in a natural way. A Spanish collocation is a special type of phrase that is extremely useful for sounding fluent in Spanish.
A collocation is a grammatical term for certain words that go together for no special reason. They just sound right together because they are commonly combined. If you learn Spanish at home or study online Spanish lessons, knowing collocations can come in handy. They are a main reason that direct translations don’t often work. See the examples below.
The English and Spanish phrases above have the same meanings, but the word choice is slightly different. By using Spanish collocations, or word combinations, you will sound more natural.
If you hear somebody say, “I have thirty-one years and it’s time for me to take a decision over my job” it sounds odd. In fact, you can guess the person is not a native English speaker. That phrase translated into Spanish sounds 100% natural though. Here are some collocations to watch for in Spanish.
In English we get on a boat, into a car, get off the bus, and go down to the underground. In Spanish, you subir (go up) onto all forms of transport and bajar (go down) to get off.
In English we have a variety of words to describe doing, making, and having. In Spanish, most of these phrases use just one verb. Hacer (to do/make) can be used for many Spanish idioms. As a collocation, it appears in some of the most common word combinations in the Spanish language.
The Spanish verb dar (to give) appears in many Spanish idioms as well.
The English translation of echar means to throw. For example in a cake recipe you would echar azucar (throw in sugar) to the mixing bowl. Echar is also used in Spanish collocations. It helps to remember these Spanish idioms by thinking of old-fashioned English phrase “in the throes” meaning a hard or painful struggle. Most collocations using echar involve intense emotional reactions.
From taking public transport to throwing parties to missing your sweetheart, Spanish collocations help you to speak naturally about daily life. What other collocations do you know?
Practise your Spanish collocations by video chat this week. Enrol in a 7-day free trial with Lingoda’s native speaking Spanish teachers today.
