Different Uses of the word "Look" in Espanol
I know that busar and mirar are the spanish verbs for "look" and for the most part, I understand when to use each. I am confused because as I read more I see things that throw me off. I have been seeing the verb "ver" used in the context of "look" a couple of times. Por ejemplo, "Por que puede ver el dictionario." The sitio web gave the translation as "why don't you look at the dictionary" I took it to mean in the dictionary, but that is another matter of discussion. I know that buscar would not be used here, but would mirar be okay?
While I am asking this question. I started out asking to "know" something. There are two words for that verb. Would the correct one to use be "conocer" in my opening sentence?
I hope that I am not offensive in asking these questions. I research but I still am uncertain after reading explanations, and I value the responses I get from this forum. They are always informative.
6 Answers
'buscar' - to look for, to seek, to search for/after
'ver' has to do with the physical act of 'seeing' (visual perception). By extension/metaphor, it can be extended to 'perception' in a mental sense e.g. "Vamos a ver lo que sucede."
Conocer is used to mean to know as in the sense of being familiar with something and is only applied to people and places Saber is know a fact and is the verb you want
The first part of your question:
Ver and Mirar sometimes are interchangable; ie: Estoy mirando la tele...... Estoy viendo la tele.... I"m watching TV.
But for vision, for example, they are not interchangable;ie: "I can't see. I'm blind." "No puedo ver. Estoy ciego."
Ver can also mean "To take into account;" ie: "Has de ver que mi amor fue sincero".... "You should know that my love was sincere."
You can also say:
¿Qué me ves / miras? When you are angry with someone watching you and you say, What are you looking at?
Sorry. I just now got the other responses and they make my follow up moot.
Thanks for the help Julian
Using the example - to look in the dictionary wouldn't it be "Ud puede mirar en el dictionario" not .. ver? -
