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"Taken" in Spanish | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| SiHH Newbie United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4521 days ago 28 posts - 30 votes | Message 1 of 12 18 December 2012 at 9:22pm | IP Logged | ||
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Assimil - Spanish with Ease Lesson 19:
(Q) I have taken the newspaper. My answer: /He tomado el periodico/ Assimil has it down as: /He cogido el periodico/ I understand 'Cogido' to mean 'caught' ? Am confused (but think im right!) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Javi Senior Member Spain Joined 5983 days ago 419 posts - 548 votes  Speaks: Spanish* | Message 2 of 12 18 December 2012 at 10:42pm | IP Logged | ||
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Assimil is mostly geared towards European Spanish learners, so no wonder it uses coger where tomar or agarrar would be used in many places in Latin America. Besides, as you may know, coger can be used in many different ways, but the most obvious one is to take or pick up, like in that Assimil example. One of the other possible meanings is indeed to catch, like for example:
I caught a cold = cogí/pillé un resfriado I got caught in the downpour = me cogió/pilló el chaparrón Edited by Javi on 18 December 2012 at 10:48pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| stelingo Hexaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5834 days ago 722 posts - 1076 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Czech, Polish, Greek, Mandarin | Message 3 of 12 19 December 2012 at 12:38am | IP Logged | ||
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Avoid using coger in Latin America. It may cause offense! Edited by stelingo on 20 December 2012 at 1:13am 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Juаn Senior Member Colombia Joined 5347 days ago 727 posts - 1830 votes Speaks: Spanish* | Message 4 of 12 19 December 2012 at 3:04am | IP Logged | ||
I think you have that backwards. As far as I know, it is Spaniards who make use of that word as an euphemism for sex. Here in Colombia coger means to take or to grab, e.g., coger el bus "to take the bus", or coger lo que hay sobre la mesa "to take what is on the table". Regarding the original question from the first post, both forms are perfectly fine and sound natural to me. Edited by Juаn on 19 December 2012 at 3:05am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| caam_imt Triglot Senior Member Mexico Joined 4864 days ago 232 posts - 357 votes Speaks: Spanish*, EnglishC2, Finnish Studies: German, Swedish | Message 5 of 12 19 December 2012 at 4:27am | IP Logged | ||
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Then you can put the blame on us :)
In Mexico it usually means intercourse, and tomar/agarrar is preferred as Javi says. However, not everybody thinks the same and even if you use the word people still would understand you. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6599 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 6 of 12 19 December 2012 at 7:39am | IP Logged | ||
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Somehow, the more basic a word, the harder it is to pinpoint its meaning. take and catch might seem pretty different, but for example in English you can catch a train or take a train. If Assimil wants you to say this, most likely there has already been an example with it.
Don't think too much about the equivalents and "this is translated as X, but I thought it means Y". Most likely, it can mean both, depending on the context. But the good thing about common words is that they are, well, common. Keep going and the differences between the meanings (and also between synonyms) will be clearer eventually:) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tractor Tetraglot Senior Member Norway Joined 5455 days ago 1349 posts - 2292 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, Catalan Studies: French, German, Latin | Message 7 of 12 19 December 2012 at 7:54am | IP Logged | ||
No, I think it's the Mexicans and Argentinians (and probably some more). Edited by tractor on 19 December 2012 at 7:54am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| hrhenry Octoglot Senior Member United States languagehopper.blogs Joined 5132 days ago 1871 posts - 3642 votes Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, ItalianC2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe | Message 8 of 12 19 December 2012 at 8:49am | IP Logged | ||
If you are a non-native Spanish speaker, using this word won't cause offence. It'll cause some laughter, maybe. But you'll be informed of the right way to say what you're trying to say, when and where you're trying to say it. All Latin American Spanish speakers know the various meanings of the word "coger" throughout the Spanish speaking world. R. == Edited by hrhenry on 19 December 2012 at 8:50am 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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