venir vs llegar

Question

I know that venir is to come and I have never seen it used for to arrive until the lessons in 2.8. Is there any time in the real world when you would replace llegar with venir?

Answer 1

When you say

¿Ya vienes? = Are you on your way here?

¿Ya vas llegando? = Are you almost here?

Answers:

Ya voy = I'm coming

Ya estoy llegando = I'm almost there

It's not a replacement but both of them can be used for the same purpous sometimes.

-> Venir = To come

-> Llegar = To be getting there

Una respuesta muy buena :) - FELIZ77, Oct 2, 2012

Answer 2

This is the same as "arrive" and "come" in English. "Venir" is used when the speaker is at the destination. "Llegar" can be used when the speaker is either at the destination or at another place while speaking about the arrival, ie: "Ella llegó a casa mientras estaba yo en el trabajo." "Cuando ella vino / llegó a casa, le di un beso."

Answer 3

I do not think that they are totally interchangeable but I think that there may be occasions when either could be used.

However, I have seen llegar = to arrive, used much more frequently than venir = to come.Although the meanings are similar in English they are used in different ways in Spanish.

An example where it would better to use venir:

“¡Ven aquí! ’’ = Come here! You wouldn’t say to a child: “Arrive here!’’ you would say: “Come here! in English and the verb venir in Spanish would be used in preference to llegar

An example when it would be correct to use llegar:

¿A qué hora llega el próximo tren para Madrid? = At what time will the next train for Madrid arrive?

It sounds better translated as arrive rather than come in English but this could be argued either way.

I hope this helps

On reflection, the verb arrive in my last example is much more common in English :) - FELIZ77, Sep 25, 2012

Answer 4

What about just to say we arrived? Would llegamos takes precedence over vinimos?

Yes, I would say: Hemos llegado = We have arrived... o otro ejemplo: Llegaron en casa, anoche = They arrived home last night. I hope this helps ::) - FELIZ77, Sep 25, 2012

'Ya estámos por aquí' also works. - annierats, Sep 25, 2012

Llegaron "a" casa - francobollo, Sep 25, 2012

Gracias, Franco :) - FELIZ77, Sep 27, 2012

Answer 5

Note that in airports there are only llegadas!

And, I agree with Feliz , the imperative uses venir :: ¡Ven! to your dog.