Article: Spanish Verbs That Translate 'To Take'

If you don't know a foreign language very well, translating from your native language to the other language using a dictionary can be challenging and fraught with the risk that you will make a serious mistake. That is because there is seldom a one-to-one correspondence between words in different languages, except sometimes where one language has borrowed from another or where certain technical terms are used.

For this reason, it normally isn't a good idea to learn, for example, that one word in English "means" a certain word in Spanish. This is especially true with terms such as "to take," the focus of this lesson, which can be translated to Spanish in a variety of ways, depending on how it is used. Instead, your focus in learning should be based on meaning, not word-for-word translation. The verb in the phrase "to take a walk" doesn't have the same meaning at all as the verb in the phrase "to take pity on," even though they're represented by the same word in English. So it shouldn't be surprising that the verbs used in Spanish are different.

Here, then, are some common uses (certainly not all!) of the verb "to take" in English along with possible translations to Spanish. Of course, the Spanish verbs listed aren't the only ones available, and the choice you make will often depend on the context in which it is used.

English phrase	English synonyms or meaning	Possible translations	Sample sentence
to take	to get possession of	*tomar*	Tomó el libro y fue a la biblioteca . He took the book and went to the library.
to take	to transport (something) and give possession to someone else	*llevar*	Le llevo el libro a Susana. I'm taking the book to Susana.
to take	to transport (a person)	*llevar*	Llevó a Susana al aeropuerto. She took Susana to the airport.
to take	to remove, to pick	*coger*	Cogieron las manzanas del árbol. The took the apples off the tree.
to take	to snatch (from someone)	*arrebatar*	¿Te arrebató el sombrero? Did he take your hat?
to take	to steal	*robar, quitar*	A Susana le robaron mucho dinero. They took a lot of money from Susana.
to take	to accept	*aceptar*	¿Aceptan los cheques? Do they take checks?
to take	to subscribe to (a newspaper or magazine)	*suscribirse, abonarse*	Me suscribo al Wall Street Journal. I take the Wall Street Journal.
to take	to hold	*coger*	Déjeme que le coja el sombrero. Let me take your hat.
to take	to travel by	*coger, tomar, ir en*	Tomaré el autobus. I will take the bus.
to take	to require	*necesitar, requerir, llevar*	Necesita mucho coraje. It takes a lot of courage.
to take	to require or wear (a certain size or type of clothing)	*calzar* (said of shoes), *usar* (said of clothing)	Calzo los de tamaño 12. I take size 12 shoes.
to take	to last, to use time	*durar*	No durará mucho. It won't take long.
to take	to study	*estudiar*	Estudio la sicología. I'm taking psychology.
to take a bath (shower)	to bathe (shower)	*bañarse (ducharse)*	No me baño los lunes. I don't take bathe on Mondays.
to take a break, to take a rest	to suspend activity in order to rest	*tomarse un descanso*	Vamos a tomarnos un descanso a las dos. We're going to take a break at 2.
to take after	to chase, to go after	*perseguir*	El policía persiguió el ladrón. The policeman took after the thief.
to take after	to resemble	*parecerse*	María se parace a su madre. María takes after he mother.
to take apart	to disassemble	*desmontar*	Desmontó el carro. She took the car apart.
to take away, to take from, to take off	to remove	*quitar*	Les quitaron los sombreros. They took their hats off.
to take away, to take off	to subtract	*sustraer, restar*	Va a sustraer dos euros de la cuenta. He is going to take two euros off the bill.
to take back	to return	*devolver*	No le he devuelto el coche. I haven't taken back the car to him.
to take cover	to hide	*esconderse, ocultrse*	Se escondió de la policía. He hid from the police.
to take down	to dismantle	*desmontar*	Desmontaron la valla publicitaria. They took the billboard down.
to take down, to take notes	to write down	*anotar, escribir, tomar apuntes*	Quiero que lo anote. I want you to take it down.
to take (someone) for	to believe (someone) to be	*tomar por*	Ud. no me tomaría por un chef. You wouldn't take me for a chef.
to take in	to deceive	*engañar*	Me engañé por el farsante. I was taken in by liar.
to take in	to understand	*comprender*	No pudo comprenderlo. He couldn't take it in.
to take in	to include	*incluir, abarcar*	El parque incluye dos lagos. The park takes in two lakes.
to take in	to provide lodging for	*acoger*	My madre acoge a muchos gatos. My mother takes in many cats.
to take off	to go away	*irse*	Se fue como un múrcielago. He took off like a bat.
to take on	to accept or assume (responsibilities)	*aceptar, asumir*	No puedo aceptar la responsibilidad. I can't accept the responsibility.
to take on	to employ	*emplear, coger*	Empleamos dos trabajadores. We took on wo workers.
to take one's word for it	to believe	*creer*	No voy a creerte. I'm not going to take your word for it.
to take out	to remove	*sacar*	El dentista me sacó dos muelas. The dentist took out two of my teeth.
to take over	to assume operations	*absorber, adquirir, apoderarse*	El gobierno se apoderó el ferrocarril. The government took over the railroad.
to take a picture		*tomar una foto, hacer una foto*	Tomé tres fotos. I took three pictures.
to take pity on	to pity, to have pity on	*compadecerse de*	Me compadecé los pobres. I took pity on the poor people.
to take prisoner		*capturar, tomar priso*	El policía le capturó el ladrón. The policeman took the thief prisoner.
to take up	to begin	*dedicarse a*	Se dedicó a nadar. She took up swimming.
to take a walk	to go for a walk	*dar un paseo*	Voy a dar un paseo. I'm going to go for a walk.

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