How to say "to get" In Spanish

Question

When confronted with how to translate "to get", replace this all-purpose verb with a synonym. If the synonym is not colloquial, but rather technical (especially if it sounds Latin or Greek), it will be much easier to translate. Examples:

• to get sick = to fall ill = caer enfermo
• to get sick = to contract a disease = contraer una enfermedad
• to get sick = to sicken = enfermar
• to get better = to improve = mejorar
• to get there = to arrive there = llegar allí
• to get a degree = to obtain a degree = obtener un título
• to get the phone = to answer the phone = contestar el teléfono
• I got a prize = I received a prize = Recibí un premio
• I didn't get the joke = I didn't catch the joke = No pillé la broma
• Get me some cigarettes = Buy me... = Cómprame tabaco
• Get the doctor = Call the doctor = Llama al médico
• They got the thief = They caught/captured the thief = Pillaron/capturaron al ladrón
• Get the dinner ready = Prepare the dinner = Prepara la cena

A few synonyms of to get to "get you started":

to access	to accomplish	to achieve	to acquire
to advance	to annex	to apprehend	to arrest
to attain	to bag	to be afflicted with	to be given
to be smitten by	to beat	to become	to become infected with
to blow in	to bring	to bring in	to build up
to buy into	to buy off	to buy out	to capture
to cash in on	to catch	to catch on to	to chalk up
to clean up	to clear	to collar	to come
to come by	to come down with	to come over	to come to
to compass	to comprehend	to contract	to converge
to cop	to defeat	to develop into	to draw
to draw near	to earn	to educe	to effect
to elicit	to evoke	to extort	to extract
to fathom	to fetch	to figure out	to follow
to gain	to get hands on	to get into one's head	to get sick
to glean	to go	to grab	to grow
to have	to hear	to hustle	to inherit
to know	to land	to lay hold of	to lay one's hands on
to learn	to lock up	to look at	to make
to make a buy	to make a killing	to make it	to memorize
to nab	to nail	to net	to notice
to obtain	to occupy	to overcome	to overpower
to parlay	to perceive	to pick up	to procure
to pull	to rack up	to reach	to realize
to reap	to receive	to run	to score
to secure	to see	to show	to show up
to sicken	to snag	to snap up	to snowball
to succeed to	to succumb	to take	to take in
to trap	to turn	to turn up	to wangle
to wax	to win	to work out

Why don't you contribute to this thread by providing more examples?

Thank you lazarus!!! very usefull infomation :) - Miro74, Jun 30, 2011

Excellent analysis, as usual - Izanoni1, Jun 30, 2011

Gracias, Laz. - danrivera, Jun 30, 2011

I get the impression that English can be too flexible. It gets me every time. :) - pesta, Jun 30, 2011

great thread mate - billygoat, Jun 30, 2011

thank you - patch, Jun 30, 2011

brilliant - I get the idea! :) - pintor, Jun 30, 2011

Thank you Lazarus This spanish is always a challenge for me in this issue - pacofinkler, Jun 30, 2011

awesome! - Rikko, Jun 30, 2011

addition option: to get up= to arise - wendy_1, Dec 3, 2011

Indeed these are the kind of things that make me think. " what is actually happen here" . get a degree is the same as obtain a degree - Tasear, Dec 25, 2011

Great, thanks :) - Joydeep_Singh, Feb 18, 2015

Answer 1

Should this be included in the Reference section?

Good idea! - SonrisaDelSol, Jun 30, 2011

Yes please. - MaryMcc, Jun 30, 2011

Oh yeah ! - heliotropeman, Dec 25, 2011

Por supuesto - Tasear, Dec 25, 2011

Answer 2

This list is a perfect example of why so many contemporary native English speakers suffer from a constantly shrinking vocabulary. Ask most of them to replace the word "get" with the corresponding verb and it taxes their memory.

In my experience of teaching EFL / ESL, students of the language can do this task much easier than the natives. So if you happen to be taking on English as an additional language, there is is no need to lose sleep over learning all of the "get" usages. Once you start using the language, "get" will naturally infect your vocabulary as your language skills become more native-like. My advice is to retain your vocabulary as long as you can by avoiding "get" as much as you can.

Good point Julian. - Nicole-B, Jun 30, 2011

Answer 3

Thank you so much, Lazarus

l always wondered how to translate ''get'' but never found a good answer!

Answer 4

This has been included here, gracias

thank you Heidi! - billygoat, Jun 30, 2011

¿Ha visto tambien "devenir"? - 0000000, Dec 25, 2011

Excelente ! - heliotropeman, Dec 25, 2011

Answer 5

Get!!!! this in the reference section

Actually, this is great timing because today I have been reviewing some of the stuff in Paralee's lessons. Module 3, Lesson 14 talks about verbs 'to become' (or to get), ie Ponerse, volverse, hacerse and convertirse.

This thread ties in very well.

---

My example:

Cuando hablo en público me pongo nervioso.

When I speak in public I get nervous.

Billygoat, also «devenir», to become. - 0000000, Dec 25, 2011

Answer 6

Very well stated. Good advice.

What would we do without you, Lazarus?! I just don't know...

Get real! Just kidding... :) - cristalino, Jun 30, 2011

:) - SonrisaDelSol, Jun 30, 2011

Something in this image tag alters the font through the rest of this page. Tried to fix that. - pesta, Jun 30, 2011

Fixed. There was an unpaired "bold" tag following the image. - pesta, Jun 30, 2011

Answer 7

Lazarus, thank you again for a great reference!!

Answer 8

Wow fantastic resource Lazarus Thank you soooo much for all your hard work in compiling this !)

Could you arrange to have this included in the reference section, please? I think that making this available there would mean that it would be easily accesible to all at any time it might be needed and should hopefully lessen the chances that a new member might ask a get related question again Well, We can always dream can't we!

Dream on! - samdie, Jun 30, 2011

Answer 9

If only I could not only 'get it' but 'keep it'. '

I assume this is a bump. It certainly looks worth reading. ;) - jrschenk, Jan 5, 2016

It is an incognito bump mate , not good at it am I . ;) - ray76, Jan 5, 2016

:) - ian-hill, Jan 5, 2016

Answer 10

Great Thread. How about - "To collect" as another example.

Answer 11

Okay, I just used the phrase "to get away with" and now wonder how I translate that. This is as opposed to "get away" which is easily converted to escape.

Escape without getting in trouble (or without getting caught) adds another "get" phrase. Escape without punishment- well maybe. Escape unscathed?

Our dictionary actually has the phrase: Get away with

salir impune de

So I assume that is the answer.

I can't seem to make the link work. - Stadt, Jul 1, 2011

"Salir impune" is to aboid a punishment; otherwise, the idiom "salirse con la suya" works well. - lazarus1907, Jul 1, 2011

Thanks, I was looking for something that didn't imply punishment necessarily; also @ pesta, thanks for fixing my link. - Stadt, Jul 1, 2011

Answer 12

Lazarus, that is fantastic. Get is one that I always wonder about. I have also heard Heidita mention coger for getting things but don't see it in your list. Am I mistaken? Thanks

The list in English is rather comprehensive, but my examples are only a few. - lazarus1907, Jun 30, 2011

I meant in your examples above the list. - Yeser007, Jun 30, 2011

Dear Yeser007, coger es palabrota en Sud America, copular. But then again you're right. It's an indispensable word, and nice if they hadn't ruined it. They are very loathe to say there it in polite company. I received a serious admonition. - 0000000, Dec 26, 2011

Answer 13

I have a lot of examples in my mind, but as a beginner, I don't know how to translate them.

1. get a shock
2. get free
3. get promotion
4. get lost
5. get it meaning understand
6. all phrasal verbs with get

Try "receive a shock/a promotion" and "escape" instead of "get free". "To get lost" must be phrasal: "perderse". - lazarus1907, Jun 30, 2011

recibir or obtener un calambrazo/ascenso? - ianta, Jun 30, 2011

Answer 14

Maybe it is here and I am missing it, but what would be the accepted way to say "I went to get it/him/her" Example: "I went to get my friend and bring him to my house." Fui a conseguirle ??? Fui a traerle ???

Try putting your question into a new thread, Pinolero. It might be a faster way to "get" a response! ;) - territurtle, Dec 26, 2011

Answer 15

English, all Indo-European languages for that matter, have "ruined our reality" by using possessives, even for conjugation of verbs. Haber. Have. Get. It's a world of things, otherness, separation. Even beings are possessions for resource management. Organisms are PATENTED. Yep. And these societies have no idea that this thing world is completely synthetic, and individuals do not realize they are synthesizing it every moment by the internal dialogue...and it is a terrible imposition / superimposition / deceit. Reality is one mutually-adapted conscious and energetic process.

By way of contrast, the American Indians use process languages, based on verbs, not nouns. Indians can talk all day long without using a noun even once, and yet paradoxically have no adjectives and use nouns as symbols to represent qualities. Chinese too is said to be an "action" language, and Chinese or Euro-American people have to actually enter a new cognitive FIELD, a new existence (or "reality" susodicho, aforesaid), like infants, to learn the other language.

'All the major 20th Century breakthroughs of human awareness were already built into the Algonquin family of languages," said the magnificent physicist, Profesor David Bohm. He referred to Einstein's Relativity, the obliteration of absolute time and absolute space, quantum mechanics, and quantum logic, that violates deductive logic!, superstring hyperspace and superforce domains, so on. The Algonquin tribes are many, Cheyenne, Blackfoot, Ojibwe, on and on. They have known the PHYSICS for thousands of years. It's a much deeper immersion in the real.

"Get" is not high English, although common, sometimes used by well-educated authors who haven't quite noticed, though often enough taste intervenes and they say "become" or the explicit verb. Habituating this practice takes deliberate effort. See there?? "Takes". I've done it myself.

May all beings be happy.

Excellent post! - territurtle, Dec 26, 2011