Can you push someone to do something with empujar?

Question

EX

No quiero empujarte hacerlo pero...... es solo que......

Gracias.

"No quiero empujarte a hacerlo..." - 002067fe, Apr 2, 2011

Answer 1

I guess you can use empujar, but I have been told by native speakers that esforzar is the better verb for 'pushing someone' to do something. I'm sure it's correct and all that to use empujar, but I only use it when I'm talking about pushing my car out of the road. When I'm talking about pushing myself to learn Spanish, I use esforzar.

like urge would be better than push in English. (urge is also a definition of empujar) - 0074b507, Apr 2, 2011

I don't urge myself to do better, I push myself :~) Am I misunderstanding? - Jack-OBrien, Apr 2, 2011

Answer 2

empujar

empujar a alguien a que haga algo -> to push somebody into doing something

Other options are forzar & obligar.. - Deanski, Apr 3, 2011

Answer 3

Hey Jeezle it doesn't worry me as your questions often make me look things up which means I learn, but if you ever want a quick answer - as Gekko often points out, RAE is a good place to start for questions like this or I know you don't like them for some reason but I still like Wordreference.com:

Word Reference:

empujar (conjugate?) verbo transitivo ‹coche/columpio› to push; ¡empújame! give me a push! (incitar, presionar) to spur … on; (obligar) to force; no tenía ganas, pero yo la empujé un poco she didn't feel like it, but I gave her a bit of a push (colloq) (Tec) to drive verbo intransitivo (hacer presión) to push; un actor que viene empujando fuerte (period) an up-and-coming actor (dar empellones) to push, shove; ¡sin ~! stop pushing!

RAE

empujar. (Quizá del b. lat. impuls?re). 1. tr. Hacer fuerza contra alguien o algo para moverlo, sostenerlo o rechazarlo. 2. tr. Hacer que alguien salga del puesto, empleo u oficio en que se halla. 3. tr. Hacer presión, influir, intrigar para conseguir o para dificultar o impedir algo.