follow

seguir

follow(fa-lo)

transitive verb

1. (to pursue)

a. seguir

The security vehicles followed his car.

Los vehículos de seguridad siguieron su coche.

2. (to obey)

a. seguir

I made a real mess of the desk because I didn't follow the instructions.

Hice una chapuza del escritorio porque no seguí las instrucciones.

b. obedecer

She gets into trouble because she doesn't follow the rules in school.

Se mete en problemas porque no obedece las reglas en la escuela.

c. cumplir

The soldier was punished for not following orders.

El soldado fue castigado por no cumplir las órdenes.

3. (to happen after)

a. seguir

The events that followed the war were truly unexpected.

Los sucesos que siguieron la guerra fueron verdaderamente inesperados.

4. (to continue)

a. seguir

If you follow that street, you'll find it there at the end.

Si sigues esa calle, lo encuentras allí al final.

5. (to imitate)

a. seguir

I'm going to follow in my father's footsteps; I'm going to be a doctor.

Voy a seguir los pasos de mi padre, voy a ser médico.

6. (to work in)

a. trabajar de

You have to study a lot to follow the medical profession.

Tienes que estudiar mucho para trabajar de médico.

7. (to understand)

a. seguir

Tell me again. I'm not following you.

Cuéntamelo otra vez que no te sigo.

b. entender

I still don't follow the plan for the presentation.

Sigo sin entender el plan para la presentación.

8. (to take an interest in)

a. mantenerse al tanto

I've been following the situation on TV, and it's not looking so good.

Me he mantenido al tanto de la situación en la tele y no tiene buena pinta.

b. seguir

I followed the first three seasons, and then I got bored.

Seguí las primeras tres temporadas y después me aburrí.

9. (social media)

a. seguir

Do you follow Ashton Kutcher on Instagram?

¿Sigues a Ashton Kutcher en Instagram?

intransitive verb

10. (to happen after)

a.

no direct translation

I'd like the salad, and the steak to follow.

Me gustaría la ensalada y el bistec como segundo.

What followed was quite unpleasant.

Lo que vino a continuación fue bastante desagradable.

11. (to understand)

a. entender

Wait, what? I don't follow.

Espera, ¿qué? No entiendo.

impersonal verb

12. (to be a logical consequence of)

a. deducirse

If you want to work there, it follows that you should learn about what they do.

Si quieres trabajar allí, se deduce que debes aprender sobre lo que hacen.

follow

transitive verb

1. (person, path, route)

a. seguir

I think we're being followedcreo que nos están siguiendo

the road follows the coastla carretera va a lo largo de la costa

to follow one's noseseguir todo recto

to follow suitseguir el ejemplo

2. (example, pattern, fashion, instructions)

a. seguir

3. (career)

a. hacer, seguir

4. (understand)

a. seguir

I don't quite follow youno te sigo bien

5. (pay attention to)

a. seguir

intransitive verb

6. (come after)

a. seguir

proceed as followsproceda de la siguiente forma

7. (result)

a.

it follows that…se sigue or deduce que…

it follows from X that Yde X se deduce que Y

8. (understand)

a. entender

I don't followno (lo) entiendo

Copyright © 2006 Harrap Publishers Limited

follow [ˈfɒləʊ]

transitive verb

1 (come, go after) seguir

follow that car! ¡siga a ese coche!; follow me sígame; she arrived first, followed by the ambassador ella llegó primero, seguida del embajador

the child follows him everywhere a bodyguard follows the president everywhere he followed Janice to New York two weeks later

to follow sb about or around seguir a algn a todas partes

to follow sb [in]/[out] the dog's not mine - /it just followed me in/ to follow sb into a room

he followed me into the room entró en la habitación detrás de mí

I followed her out into the garden salí al jardín detrás de ella

we followed her up the steps la seguimos escaleras arriba; subimos (las escaleras) detrás de ella

to follow one's nose (go straight on) ir todo seguido; (use one's instinct) dejarse guiar por el instinto

Just follow your nose and you'll be fine

2 (succeed)

the days following her death los días que siguieron a su muerte; the dinner will be followed by a concert después de la cena habrá un concierto; he followed his father into the business siguió los pasos de su padre en el negocio; they followed this with threats tras esto empezaron a amenazarnos; the bombing follows a series of recent attacks los bombardeos se han producido tras una serie de ataques recientes; following our meeting I spoke to the director tras nuestra reunión hablé con el director

this was followed by a request for ... he was arrested in the confusion which followed the problems that followed her resignation potatoes are the most popular food, followed by white bread

as sure(ly) as night follows day como dos y dos son cuatro

act

3 (pursue) seguir

we're being followed nos están siguiendo; nos vienen siguiendo; she could feel his eyes following her sentía que la seguía con la mirada

he was following me with his eyes his eye followed the bird's flight I followed him with my eyes until he turned the corner police may follow a suspect for days before he leads them to any evidence

to have sb followed mandar seguir a algn

he had his wife followed because he suspected she was seeing someone else the police had the man followed to see if he would lead them to anyone involved in the crime

to follow a lead seguir una pista

4 (keep to) [+road, river] seguir; ir por

the road follows the coast la carretera sigue la costa or va por la costa

the river follows a winding course

5 (observe) [+instructions, advice, example, fashion] seguir; [+rules] obedecer; cumplir

I wouldn't advise you to follow that course of action no le aconsejo que tome ese camino or esas medidas

take care to follow the instructions carefully no two chefs follow the same recipe all we had to do was follow the map the best thing to do in this job is follow the rules and keep out of the boss's way I was only following the rules and look what's happened I would follow your doctor's advice if I were you He did his best to follow that advice all his life listen to her and follow her advice they look down on people who don't follow the latest fashion they wore Western clothes, followed Western fashions Helen never follows fashion trends I followed fashion and back-combed my hair to follow sb's [example] follow your father's example and you can't go far wrong

pattern suit

6 (engage in) [+career] emprender; [+profession] ejercer; [+trade] dedicarse a; [+religion] profesar; ser seguidor de

course of study on leaving university she decided to follow a career in advertising America showed itself to be suspicious of a married woman who followed a career independently they advised him to follow another career before thinking of entering politics he trained in Britain as an engineer and followed that profession, along with business interests, in Singapore in the 1960s if he'd been honest and followed his trade he could have made fifty quid a week si se hubiese dedicado a su oficio a lo suyo do you follow any particular religion? my uncle suggested I follow a course of study in a more useful subject

7 (be interested in) [+news] seguir; mantenerse al corriente de; [+TV serial] seguir; [+sb's progress] seguir

do you follow football? ¿eres aficionado al fútbol?; which team do you follow? ¿de qué equipo eres?

we follow Borchester in my job as a press officer I have to follow the news they've been following the news about Somalia very closely have you been following the news? she follows all the soap operas on TV are you following that series of programmes on antiques? she was following Laura's progress closely their uncle always followed the childrens' progress at school the film follows the fortunes of two women

8 (understand) [+person, argument] seguir; entender

do you follow me? ¿me sigue?; ¿me entiende?; I don't quite follow you no te acabo de entender

I couldn't follow the plot he mumbled so much I couldn't follow what he was saying

it was a difficult plot to follow era un trama difícil de seguir

I didn't quite follow the plot

intransitive verb

1 (come after)

they led her in and I followed la llevaron dentro y yo entré detrás; to follow, there was roast lamb de segundo había cordero asado; roast chicken, with apple pie to follow pollo asado y después de postre un pastel de manzana; what follows is an eye-witness account lo que viene a continuación es la versión de un testigo presencial; further price rises are sure to follow no cabe duda de que tras esto los precios subirán aún más

where eastern Germany goes the rest will surely follow cinemas have put their prices up and cigarette and alcohol manufacturers are sure to follow

as follows

the text reads as follows el texto dice lo siguiente; el texto dice así; the winners are as follows los ganadores son los siguientes

he answered as follows this can be achieved if you proceed as follows the book can be summed up as follows to follow (hard) on sb's heels the man left the pub with the inspector following hard on his heels the cutbacks follow hard on the heels of 2,400 redundancies announced last Friday the Polynesians were the first to do this, with the Europeans following hard on their heels

heel footstep

2 (result, ensue) deducirse

that doesn't follow eso no cuadra; de ahí no se puede deducir eso

"they can't get on with each other that badly if they were having dinner together" "that doesn't follow - someone else could have arranged the meal"

it follows that ... (de lo cual) se deduce que ...; se deduce pues que ...

It therefore follows that diets should be tailored to individual needs it follows that if we speed up the rate at which cells are being shed, we will speed up the rate at which new cells are formed to replace them it follows that, since our death is useless, we might as well save our lives As shareholders are unlikely to accept a cut in profits it follows that this increase will be passed on to shoppers in the form of higher prices

it doesn't follow that ... no significa que ...

just because we are making investigations it does not necessarily follow that a crime has been committed just because a bird does not breed one year, it does not follow that it will fail the next

3 (understand) entender

I don't quite follow no lo sigo del todo; no lo acabo de entender

I did my best to follow but the technical jargon was totally beyond me