Let’s talk about Pitfall Spanish Verbs That Look and Sound Like English Verbs. You may remember a blog post where I mentioned that an American friend asked me to go to the home of the parents of his “novia” (girlfriend/finacée). He didn’t feel comfortable with his Spanish and he wanted me to be there to help him with his Spanish while he made a good first impression when meeting his future “suegros” (in-laws).
Since his future “esposa” (wife) is much younger than him (more than 20 years younger) he felt the need to assure her parents that he was going to help and
support her.
How To Say To Support In Spanish
He was doing really well with his Spanish. And then he made — what I considered — a very funny mistake . . . .He looked at his future “suegros” (in-laws) and said:
“Voy a soportar a su hija.”
He was trying to express that he was going to support and help his future “esposa” (wife). But he actually said that he was going to TOLERATE her. The word “soportar” means to tolerate, to stand, or to bear.
After that blog post, one customer emailed me and said:
“Patrick, why didn’t your friend just say:
Voy a mantener a su hija.
Isn’t that what he wanted to say?”
Well, that was actually the opposite of what he was trying to express.
The verb “mantener” means to “maintain.” As the English verb “maintain” implies
economic support, the Spanish verb “mantener” also implies economic support. My friend did NOT want to imply that we was “comprando” (buying) his future wife’s love. And that it was “amor sincero” (true love).
He wanted to express that he would be at her side to support her spiritually, emotionally, etc. That’s why he should have used the verb “apoyar.”
Voy a apoyar a su hija.
I am going to support your daughter.
I did say that I received two interesting emails. The other email said:
“Patrick, it appears that you are using a regional definition of the verb ‘soportar.’ When I looked in my dictionary the first definition that I saw for the verb ‘soportar’ is ‘to support.'”
In response to that email, this is what I have to say . . . .
A common mistake that many intermediate and advanced students of Spanish make is to continue to use the same dictionary that they used when they first started learning Spanish.
If you want to become fluent in Spanish, then you MUST use a dictionary that is entirely in Spanish.
I have several Spanish-only dictionaries. The one that I highly recommend has an online version that is completely “gratis” (free). Here’s the link to the online dictionary of the Real Academia Española:
http://www.rae.es/rae.html
The Real Academia Española (Royal Spanish Academy) is the official royal institution responsible for regulating the Spanish language.
By the way, here’s the definition that I found in Real Academia Española (Royal Spanish Academy) for “soportar”
1. Sostener o llevar sobre sí una carga o peso.
2. Sufrir (aguantar, tolerar).
In other words, the English translations for “soportar” are:
1. to sustain, to hold
2. to tolerate
