If you don't know a foreign language very well, translating from your native language to the other language using a dictionary can be challenging and fraught with the risk that you will make a serious mistake. That is because there is seldom a one-to-one correspondence between words in different languages, except sometimes where one language has borrowed from another or where certain technical terms are used.

For this reason, it normally isn't a good idea to learn, for example, that one word in English "means" a certain word in Spanish. This is especially true with terms such as "to take," the focus of this lesson, which can be translated to Spanish in a variety of ways, depending on how it is used. Instead, your focus in learning should be based on meaning, not word-for-word translation. The verb in the phrase "to take a walk" doesn't have the same meaning at all as the verb in the phrase "to take pity on," even though they're represented by the same word in English. So it shouldn't be surprising that the verbs used in Spanish are different.

Here, then, are some common uses (certainly not all!) of the verb "to take" in English along with possible translations to Spanish. Of course, the Spanish verbs listed aren't the only ones available, and the choice you make will often depend on the context in which it is used.