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The 200 most common verbs in Spanish 🇪🇸

Spanish verbs ranked by how often they appear, each with its translation and an example sentence. Press the speaker to hear a word.

#	Spanish	English	Example
1	ser	to be	¿Qué voy a ser si te he dado lo que soy?What am I going to be if I've given you what I am?
2	haber	to have	He trabajado muy duro durante este mes.I have worked very hard during this month.
3	poder	to be able, can	¿Puedes acompañarme mañana?Could you come with me tomorrow?
4	tener	to have, possess	El estadio es enorme. Puede tener una capacidad de hasta cien mil espectadores.The stadium is huge. It can hold up to one hundred thousand spectators.
5	estar	to be	¿Dónde estás?Where are you?
6	hacer	to do	¿Qué haces?What are you doing?
7	decir	to say, to tell	Es un mentiroso. Nunca dice la verdad.He's a liar. He never tells the truth.
8	deber	to owe	Debo mucho dinero.I owe a lot of money.
9	dar	to give, to give out	Me han dado en la cabeza.They hit me on my head.
10	ver	to see, to spot	Vine, vi, vencí.I came, I saw, I conquered.
11	querer	to desire, to want, to want to	Yo quiero leer ese libro.I want to read that book.
12	pasar	to pass, to hand, to slip	¿Cómo pasaste la seguridad?How did you get past security?
13	encontrar	to meet	María y Gertrudis se escondieron cerca de las flores, y los chicos las encontraron a las chicas.Mary and Gertrude hid themselves near the flowers, and the boys found the girls.
14	saber	to know , to wit	Sabe hablar español.He knows how to speak Spanish.
15	llegar	to arrive, get	Cuando llegues a casa, mándame un mensaje.When you get home, send me a message.
16	seguir	to follow	Este tío sigue hablando sin parar.This guy keeps talking nonstop.
17	poner	to put, to put up, to place, to lay	Pon eso en su lugar.Put that in its place.
18	parecer	to seem, to see fit	¿Qué te parece si vamos al bar?What do you think about going to a bar?
19	llevar	to take, to carry, to take away, to carry away, to carry around, to bring, to bear, to lug	Le llevaré un regalo a Rosa para su cumpleaños.I will take a present to Rosa for her birthday.
20	tratar	to treat	No se trata de ti todo el tiempo.It's not about you all the time.
21	dejar	to leave	Dejé la cerveza arriba.I left the beer upstairs.
22	conocer	to know , to be familiar with, to be acquainted with	Mucho gusto en conocerlaNice to meet you.
23	realizar	to carry out, to perform, to conduct, to implement
24	hablar	to talk, to speak, to communicate using words	Hablamos del proyecto.We talk about the project.
25	existir	to exist
26	escribir	to write	Escribe todas sus ideas en un cuaderno.She writes all her ideas in a notebook.
27	quedar	to be	Quedo contento con el coche.I am pleased with the car .
28	permitir	to allow, permit	No les permitieron ir.They were not allowed to go.
29	pensar	to think	Pienso, luego existo.I think, therefore I am.
30	llamar	to summon, to call	Te estuve llamando a voces.I was summoning you by voice.
31	vivir	to live, to be alive	Vive de migas, nada más.He lives on crumbs, nothing more.
32	utilizar	to use, to make use of, to utilize
33	considerar	to consider, to regard, to see, to look, to view
34	tomar	to take	Los niños toman clases de inglésThe children take English classes
35	producir	to produce
36	presentar	to present, to submit
37	volver	to return, to revert, to get back	Si realmente estás pensando en volver a aquel lugar sucio, debes haberte enloquecido totalmente.If you're really thinking about going back to that filthy place, you must have gone totally crazy.
38	venir	to come
39	buscar	to seek, search for, look for, try to find, to scour	Lo siento, pero te lo buscaste.I am sorry, but you brought this on yourself.
40	establecer	to establish
41	incluir	to include, to enclose, to contain	Esta lista es solo una muestra, si considera que deberíamos incluir a algún autor inclúyalo en los comentarios.This list just a sample, if you think we should include an author, please include them in the comments.
42	recibir	to receive, get
43	crear	to create	Un imán en reposo crea un campo magnético y si se mueve crea además un campo eléctrico.A magnet at rest creates a magnetic field and if it moves it also creates an electric field.
44	trabajar	to work
45	leer	to read	Quiero leer el periódico.I want to read the newspaper.
46	aparecer	to appear, to turn up, to pop up, to come up
47	mantener	to keep	Mantenga la tapa cerrada, por favor.Keep the lid closed, please.
48	usar	to use
49	entender	to understand, to fathom
50	resultar	to result, to turn out, to end up, to prove	Todo resultó bien.Everything came out okay in the end.
51	desarrollar	to develop	La empresa está desarrollando un nuevo lenguaje de programación.The company is developing a new programming language.
52	ofrecer	to offer, to offer up, to provide	de eso no ofrece dudathere's no doubt about that
53	publicar	to publish
54	esperar	to hope for, hope to	Espera que no sea necesario.He hopes it won't be necessary.
55	necesitar	to need
56	perder	to lose	No quiero perderme nada.I don't want to miss anything.
57	mostrar	to show	Quiero mostrarte el jardínI want to show you the garden.
58	contar	to count, to tally	Cuando contaba treinta años.When he was thirty years of age
59	empezar	to start, begin, to get started	Hace poco que empezó a comer vegetales.He recently started eating vegetables.
60	comenzar	to begin, to commence	Yo me senté sobre un banco en el jardín, y comencé a leer un libro interesante.I sat on a bench in the garden, and I started to read an interesting book.
61	contener	to contain	contener el alientohold one's breath
62	formar	to form, to create
63	obtener	to obtain
64	cambiar	to change, to shift, to switch, to alter	La marea ha cambiado.The tide has turned / shifted.
65	convertir	to convert
66	salir	to go out, to leave, to depart, to head out	Solo espero que el gran evento salga sin problemas.I just hope that the big event goes off without a hitch.
67	suponer	to suppose, to surmise, to assume, to guess, to imagine, to figure, to say, to take it	Supongamos que no quiere ser encontrado. ¿Entonces qué?Let's say he doesn't want to be found. What then?
68	servir	to serve	Es una empresa que sirve a los discapacitados.It's a business that serves the disabled.
69	pedir	to ask for something	Él le pidió agua al camarero.He asked the waiter for water.
70	recordar	to remember, to recollect	¿Recuerdas a aquella mujer que no dejaba de tocar las ventanas, aunque se lo pedimos repetidamente?Do you remember that woman who wouldn't stop touching the windows, even though we kept asking her [not to]?
71	conseguir	to achieve, succeed in, reach, accomplish, attain
72	entrar	to enter
73	ocurrir	to happen, to occur	Se me ocurrió una idea.I came up with an idea.
74	referir	to report	¿A qué te refieres?What are you referring to?
75	reconocer	to recognize
76	explicar	to explain
77	ayudar	to help	¿Puedo ayudarle en algo?Can I help you in any way?
78	constituir	to constitute
79	lograr	to get, to obtain
80	enviar	to send	Me gustaría enviarles flores.I would like to send them flowers.
81	acabar	to finish, to end	Acabarás haciendo lo que él diga.You'll end up doing what he says.
82	intentar	to try, to attempt, especially: to strain or put forth effort in so doing	Intento correr pero me canso mucho.I try to run, but I get very tired.
83	disponer	to prepare, arrange
84	mirar	to look at	Estábamos mirando la televisión.We were watching TV.
85	representar	to represent
86	gustar	to be pleasing to	Me gusta esta manzanaI like this apple.
87	alcanzar	to reach, to attain or achieve, to catch up with
88	responder	to answer, to reply
89	dirigir	to direct
90	señalar	to signal
91	afectar	to affect, to have an effect on, to influence	El alcohol puede afectar su juicio.Alcohol can impair your judgment.
92	decidir	to decide, to make up one's mind, to determine, to choose to	El juez podría decidir que fue muerte accidental.The judge could rule it an accidental death.
93	visitar	to visit
94	indicar	to indicate, to bespeak
95	relacionar	to relate
96	significar	to signify
97	cumplir	to fulfil, to fulfill, to meet, to deliver	No prometas lo que no puedas cumplir.Do not promise what you cannot deliver.
98	participar	to participate, to take part, to partake
99	evitar	to avoid, to bypass, to evade, to circumvent, to dodge, to shun, to eschew	Después de haberlo evitado muchas horas, acabó por decirnos la verdad.After having avoided it for several hours, he ended up telling us the truth.
100	dedicar	to dedicate, to spend time
101	terminar	to finish, to end, to terminate, to be over, to wrap up, to finish up, to finish off, to finish out, to complete, to conclude	Si haces eso, ¡hemos terminados! ¡No volvería a hablar contigo nunca más!If you do that, we are through! I would never speak to you again!
102	comprar	to buy
103	aplicar	to use, to apply	El presidente aplicó medidas especiales.The president used special measures.
104	proponer	to propose, to propound, to put forth, to put forward, to bring forward, to suggest	Lo hice casi sin proponérmeloI did it without really putting my mind to it
105	imponer	to impose, impress	Se impone desde el fondo, abriendo ángulos, cada vez que se encuentran en la red para decidir quién es hoy el sheriff[Nadal] is taking control from the baseline, opening up angles whenever they meet at the net to decide who's today's "sheriff"
106	sentir	to feel	Por primera vez en mi vida, yo sentí verdadera paz.For the first time in my life, I felt true peace.
107	creer	to believe	Creo que es mejor así.I believe it's better this way.
108	abrir	to open, open up	Abro la cerradura.I unlock the lock.
109	comprender	to understand, to comprehend	El guerrillero fue reclutado a la fuerza por las FARC -dijo- para cuidar del cristalizadero de la zona comprendida entre el río Cuembí, en la frontera entre Colombia y Ecuador, y el sitio llamado Bellavista, ubicado en una zona mayormente del territorio ecuatoriano.The guerrilla was forcibly recruited by the FARC, he said, to take care of the coke lab in the area included between the Cuembí River, on the border between Colombia and Ecuador, and the site called Bellavista, located in an area mostly from the Ecuadorian territory.
110	aceptar	to accept, to take up, to take up on	La compañía española recibió por la mañana la comunicación oficial de la medida y fue advertida de que dispone de 15 días para aceptarla.The Spanish company received in the morning the official notice of the measure and was warned that it had 15 days to accept it.
111	construir	to build	El año pasado, construyeron muchos apartamentos.They built a lot of apartments last year.
112	pagar	to pay
113	nacer	to be born, to sprout, to begin to grow, to hatch
114	citar	to cite
115	basar	to base on
116	aprender	to learn
117	desear	to wish	Cumpleaños Feliz! Cumpleaños Feliz!Te deseamos todos. Cumpleaños Feliz!Happy birthday ! Happy birthday !We all wish you a happy birthday!
118	demostrar	to show, to demonstrate
119	requerir	to require, need
120	definir	to define
121	expresar	to express	Nos gustaría expresar nuestro agradecimiento al director.We would like to express our appreciation to the director.
122	observar	to observe, to eye
123	continuar	to continue, to carry on	Eso no es mucho para continuar.That's not a lot to go off of.
124	ganar	to gain	La gata se ganó al lado de la chimenea.The cat sat down beside the fireplace.
125	caer	to fall	La lluvia cae más fuerte que antes.The rain is falling heavier than before.
126	olvidar	to forget	Lo olvidé.I forgot it.
127	determinar	to determine
128	plantear	to bring up, to pose, to present
129	soler	to be accustomed to doing something, to do something on a regular basis, to do something usually or often	Por lo general no dice nada que merezca la pena oír, así que suelo simplemente ignorarlo.He generally doesn't say anything worth hearing, so I usually just ignore him.
130	afirmar	to state, assert
131	preguntar	to ask	Me preguntó por su hija.He asked me about his daughter.
132	morir	to die	La caballerosidad no ha muerto.Chivalry is not dead.
133	generar	to generate, to create, to produce, to cause	Una política de Estado para generar riquezaA state policy to generate wealth
134	ocupar	to occupy
135	reducir	to reduce, to lower, to cut, to scale back
136	sufrir	to suffer
137	pretender	to intend, to aim	Juan pretende tener su casa propia en tres años.Juan intends to have his own house in three years.
138	estudiar	to study
139	aumentar	to increase, grow
140	noticiar	to notify
141	depender	to depend, to be subject to	No me mires así. No depende de mí.Don't look at me like that. It isn't up to me.
142	suceder	to happen, to befall, to occur
143	destacar	to emphasize, to highlight, to stress, to point out, to single out, to underline, to underscore, to bring out, to note	En música cabe destacar figuras como el compositor Isaac Albéniz, o el cellista Pau Casals, o al nivel de la cultura popular el grupo de la “Nova Cançó” catalana , que reivindicó la canción en catalán en los últimos años de la dictadura.In music, it is worth highlighting people such as the composer Isaac Albéniz, or the cellist Pau Casals, or at the level of popular culture the circle of the Catalan Nova Cançó which reestablished the value of Catalan songs in the later years of the dictatorship.
144	asegurar	to secure	Te aseguro que haremos todo lo posible.I assure you that we will do everything possible.
145	sacar	to put out, to get out	Vamos a sacar un álbumWe're going to release an album
146	iniciar	to begin, to initiate
147	descubrir	to discover	Construí un túnel entre tú y yo, y fue donde descubrí que se puede encontrar un camino para los dos.I built a tunnel between you and me, and [that] was where I discovered that a path for us both can be found.
148	actuar	to act, to behave	¡Para de tocar todo! Estás actuando como un niño.Stop touching everything! You're acting like a child.
149	elegir	to choose	Elijo vivir contento.I choose to be happy.
150	obligar	to force, to compel, to make	Por favor no me obligues a hacer esto.Please don't make me do this.
151	escuchar	to listen to, to hear out	¿Has escuchado su último disco?Have you listened to her latest record?
152	compartir	to share
153	preparar	to prepare
154	crecer	to grow
155	unir	to unite, join	¡Únete al sindicato!Join up with the union!
156	funcionar	to work, to function
157	surgir	to arise, emerge, surface, crop up, spring up, pop up
158	implicar	to imply, implicate
159	corresponder	to correspond to	Desde punto de vista gramatical, varios usos del infinitivo español corresponden con frecuencia a casos en que se emplearía el gerundio en inglés.From a grammatical perspective, several uses of the Spanish infinitive frequently correspond to cases in which the gerund would be used in English.
160	proceder	to proceed
161	provocar	to cause or provoke, to prompt
162	recoger	to collect, to gather, to pick up, to fetch, to retrieve
163	añadir	to augment
164	exigir	to demand, to require, to call for
165	pertenecer	to belong, to pertain
166	jugar	to play
167	apoyar	to lean, to rest, to lie or lay	Te apoyo.I've got your back.
168	debatir	to debate
169	mejorar	to make better, improve
170	comer	to eat	¿Cómo como? ¿Cómo cómo como? ¡Como como como!How do I eat? What do you mean, how do I eat? I eat like I eat!
171	emplear	to hire, to employ
172	celebrar	to celebrate	El presidente del Gobierno, Pedro Sánchez, ha vuelto a defender su gestión de la crisis del coronavirus en la conferencia de presidentes autonómicos que, por quinto domingo consecutivo, está celebrando esta mañana.The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has once again defended his management of the coronavirus crisis at the conference of regional presidents which is being held this morning for the fifth Sunday in a row.
173	consistir	to consist of	Una oración consiste en un sujeto y un predicado.A sentence consists of a subject and a predicate.
174	interesar	to interest
175	defender	to defend, to protect, to hold down , de )	¿Y quién puede defendernos?And who can defend us?
176	tocar	to touch
177	organizar	to organize
178	adquirir	to acquire
179	describir	to describe
180	proporcionar	to provide, supply	Las viviendas nos proporcionan refugioHouses provide us shelter
181	limitar	to limit
182	novelar	to novelize, to make a novel out of
183	analizar	to analyze
184	avanzar	to advance happen at an earlier time or date)
185	hallar	to find something, deliberately or not	Al final sí lograron hallar dónde comprar el libro.In the end they did manage to find where to buy the book.
186	superar	to surpass, exceed
187	informar	to inform
188	mover	to move	La tierra se movió.The ground shifted.
189	aprobar	to approve, to condone, to permit
190	proteger	to protect, to defend
191	mencionar	to mention
192	poseer	to possess, to own, to hold, to have
193	adoptar	to adopt
194	prever	to foresee
195	situar	to situate, to place, to put, to position
196	enseñar	to teach	¿Puedes enseñarme a cantar?Could you teach me how to sing?
197	acompañar	to accompany, to go with, to join, to tag along	Así que si quieren saber qué están haciendo los elefantes de la india en este preciso momento, acompáñennos.So if you want to know what Indian elephants are doing in this exact moment, come with us.
198	resolver	to resolve, to sort out, to settle, to address, to tackle, to overcome, to iron out
199	manifestar	to manifest, reveal, display, show
200	traer	to bring, to fetch

Spanish frequency word lists

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Most common verbs

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Most common adverbs

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