How to say ’to become’ in Spanish? (Specific Languages) Language Learning Forum

How to say ’to become’ in Spanish?
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13 messages over 2 pages: 1 2

anamsc
Triglot
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Andorra
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Studies: Arabic (Levantine), Arabic (Written), French

Message 9 of 13

20 January 2012 at 4:24pm | IP Logged

Kat0 wrote:

What about "devenir"? That was the first that came to my mind but it's probably not the most common...

While "devenir" exists in Spanish, I think it is far less common that its cognates in French or Catalan. I get the impression that it is quite literary in its usage. More common would be other verbs already mentioned here like hacerse, ponerse, volverse, llegar a ser, convertirse en ...
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Vos
Diglot
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Australia
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Message 10 of 13

21 January 2012 at 2:16am | IP Logged

Indeed, the Spanish 'to become' is very contextual. For example:

Ponerse o caer with becoming ill (and other things) - me puse muy enfermo - caí enfermo (I
became/got/fell I'll)

Volverse seems to be used quite frequently when talking about short term changes or becomings - se
volvió loca (she became/went crazy)

convertirse en to be used for changes of a longer character - El edificio se convirtió en una escuela para la
aldea (the building became/was converted into a school for the village)

Hacerse from what I've seen is used with professions and things of that ilk - Me haré periodista (I'll become
a journalist)

Llegar a ser to express something that has happened after a length of time (o llegar a + inf = to end up +
inf) - Llegó a ser el alcalde del pueblo (he ended up becoming/being the mayor of the town)

There's a few other ways of expressing 'to become' for other situations but those are the main ones. You'll
undoubtedly pick the others up as you go along.
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Serpent
Octoglot
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serpent-849.livejour
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Message 11 of 13

21 January 2012 at 8:08am | IP Logged

fabriciocarraro wrote:

In Portuguese it's more common "tornar-se" (also a reflexive verb). I think "virar" is spoken language.

:O do you guys ever use anything but ficar? :P
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Camundonguinho
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Message 12 of 13

21 January 2012 at 11:05am | IP Logged

fabriciocarraro wrote:

In Portuguese it's more common "tornar-se" (also a reflexive verb). I think "virar" is spoken language.

VIRAR is not spoken language, but general,
according to:

1. Aurélio Dictionary
2. Michäelis Dictionary
3. Houaiss Dictionary
4. Aulete Dictionary
5. DUP (Dicionário de Usos de Português; F. Borba)

All these dictionaries have a solid sociolinguistic approach (using labels like: slang, informal, familiar and so on), and none of them labels this usage as anything but standard Brazilian Portuguese. VIRAR as ''verbo predicativo'' that is, being used in the sense of English to become, Italian diventare, German werden, French devenir.
It is not VIRAR that is informal, but it is TRANSFORMAR-SE and TORNAR-SE which are somewhat formal, especially the former

Compare: ''O príncipe vira sapo'' (neutral)
O príncipe torna-se sapo (formal)
O príncipe transforma-se em sapo. (formal).

An interesting link, TO BECOME in many languages:
http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/definitions/become ?cx=partner-pub-0939450753529744%3Av0qd01-tdlq&cof=FORID%3A9 &ie=UTF-8&q=become&sa=Search#906

Edited by Camundonguinho on 21 January 2012 at 11:11am
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matzi
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Denmark
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Speaks: English^A2

Message 13 of 13

21 January 2012 at 12:59pm | IP Logged

In order to advance what VOS already posted. Ponerse /quedarse is used in relation to
estar, whereas hacerse volverse where they could be substituted with ser.

Estoy enfermo, me he puesto enfermo.

Es religioso. Se ha hecho religioso.

And so on...

I can't say whether it always works like that, a native Spanish speaker should come up
with any exceptions.

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