atar o hacer

Question

Do you say tie a knot or make a knot in spanish?

¿Cómo se dice en español, atar un nudo o hacer un nudo?

Answer 1

It's much more common "hacer un nudo".

It's common to say :"atar" los cordones de los zapatos.
"atar " las dos puntas de una cinta
"atar" las cintas de los dos colores
There is the fixed expression "atar los cabos" Another is "estar loco/a de atar" (really crazy)

The opposite could be
Deshacer un nudo, desatar los cordones, desatar las dos puntas etc.

Tie the knot meaning to get married is not used in Spanish except maybe in US , where latinos adapt Spanish to English. In Spanish we could have the expression "dar el sí" or others.

Examples. Juan carlos y Mariela dieron el sí ayer a las 5 de la tarde en las oficinas del Registro Civil.

Muchas gracias, polenta1 - frike, Aug 21, 2017

A tí. - polenta1, Aug 21, 2017

Answer 2

Hello!

This link from wordreference might be the answer to your question. hacer o atar el nudo

Also, I would like to add that:

1. to tie a knot - atar or hacer un nudo is common on shoelace or piece of string
2. to tie/untie a knot - atar/desatar un nudo, hacer/deshacer un nudo is common in ribbon
3. anudar is common in tying a rope
4. to tie the knot - casarse is colloquial common in the States to get married

Hope this helps.

Regards!

Yes thank you very much. - frike, Aug 21, 2017

You're welcome! - NKM1974, Aug 21, 2017