The Spanish verb echar can be used in many different ways and appears in a host of different Spanish idiomatic expressions. Let's explore the many meanings and uses of the Spanish verb echar.
While the first definition of echar in dictionaries is typically "to throw," it can refer to any literal or figurative movement from one point to another and can thus be translated in many fashions depending upon the context. Let's take a look at several of its most common meanings with examples from our Yabla Spanish library.
Although the Spanish verb echar can literally mean "to throw," "toss," or "hurl" something, it is probably more common to hear verbs like tirar, lanzar, or arrojar used with this meaning. That said, let's take a look at an example where echar means to physically throw something:
y le echas harina y se lo pones en el pelo y... ¡Chwak!
and you throw flour on her and you put it in her hair and... Bam!
Caption 17, Club 10 Capítulo 1 - Part 1
Play Caption
The Spanish verb echar can also be used in the way we use the verbs "to throw" something "out" or "away," whether literally or figuratively. Let's look at an example of each:
Por lo general, tenemos cuatro contenedores: el azul, donde echamos el papel, cartón, revistas,
Generally, we have four trash bins: the blue one, where we throw away paper, cardboard, magazines,
Captions 3-4, Rosa Reciclar
Play Caption
Todo estaba tranquilo y lo echaste a la basura
Everything was calm and you threw it in the garbage
Caption 3, Sondulo Que te vaya mal
Play Caption
The verb echar in Spanish often appears in recipes and other contexts when talking about "adding" or "putting in" some ingredient, etc. Let's take a look:
Le voy a echar un poco de nata...
I'm going to add a bit of cream to it...
Caption 47, Cómetelo Crema de brócoli - Part 9
Play Caption
Bueno, también le podemos echar diferentes clases de condimentos.
Well, we can also put in different kinds of seasoning.
Caption 24, Cocinando con Miguelito Pollo sudado - Part 2
Play Caption
Along these same lines, echar can also be used to mean to pour something into something else:
Solo falta echarla en el molde
We just need to pour it into the mold
Caption 38, Cleer y Lía El día de la madre
Play Caption
The verb echar in Spanish may also refer to getting rid of someone in the sense of throwing or kicking them out, temporarily or permanently:
No sé qué hace este señor todavía acá, lo eché esta misma tarde.
I don't know what this gentleman is still doing here. I threw him out this very afternoon.
Caption 33, Muñeca Brava 3 Nueva Casa - Part 4
Play Caption
Se mueren por saber por qué echó a la chirusa.
They're dying to know why she fired the vulgar girl.
Caption 42, Carlos y Cyndy Comentario sobre Muñeca Brava
Play Caption
And speaking of "expelling" and "fire," the verb echar in Spanish can also mean to "expel," "emit," "give off," or "spew" fire or smoke, for example:
Pero eso no lo iba a entender un dragón al que solo le interesaba rugir y echar fuego por la boca.
But a dragon who was only interested in roaring and spewing fire from his mouth wasn't going to get it.
Caption 49, Los Años Maravillosos Capítulo 1 - Part 7
Play Caption
And, to conclude with our more standard uses of the Spanish verb echar, the formula echar + infinitive means "to start" [doing something]:
y ven la batidora, echan a correr.
and they see the blender, they start to run.
Caption 31, Cómetelo Crema de brócoli - Part 8
Play Caption
This meaning might also be seen with the reflexive version of the verb, echarse.
Pero ya las lágrimas se echaban a correr
But the tears were starting to fall
Caption 8, Jeremías Uno y uno igual a tres
Play Caption
Let's take a look at some additional uses of the reflexive verb echarse.
The reflexive verb echarse can be used to talk about "lying down" as in Me voy a echar en la cama (I'm going to lie down in bed) or generally "throwing oneself" or "getting down":
Los hombres que cuando se les dicen de echarse al suelo es que no quieren ninguno.
When men are told to get down on the ground, the thing is that no one wants to.
Captions 52-53, 75 minutos Del campo a la mesa - Part 8
Play Caption
The reflexive verb echarse can additionally have the connotation of moving from one place to another, as in the first example, and is therefore heard often in songs, as in the second, with various translations to tell people how they should move.
donde el pueblo se echa a la calle junto a miles de visitantes
where the town goes out onto the street along with thousands of visitors
Caption 57, Viajando con Fermín Frigiliana, Málaga
Play Caption
Échate pa' un lado
Move aside
Caption 8, Javier García EPK - Part 2
Play Caption
Now, let's look at several Spanish idioms that involve the Spanish verbs echar or echarse with examples in context:
¡Y me echó la culpa de todo!
And she blamed everything on me!
Caption 13, Guillermina y Candelario La Peluqueria del Mar - Part 1
Play Caption
El marido se echó a reír al ver la cara de sorpresa de su esposa.
The husband burst out laughing when he saw his wife's surprised face.
Caption 32, Cleer El espejo de Matsuyama
Play Caption
Después de haberse marchado todos, estaba sola en casa y se echó a llorar.
After everyone had left, she was alone in the house and burst out crying.
Captions 29-30, Cuentos de hadas Cenicienta - Part 1
Play Caption
Después de comer, solemos echar la siesta
After eating, we usually take a nap
Caption 20, El Aula Azul Actividades Diarias
Play Caption
Ahora cerramos la puerta, echamos la llave
Now we close the door, we lock it,
Caption 12, Escuela BCNLIP Clase con Javi: el futuro - Part 1
Play Caption
De España echo mucho de menos el clima,
From Spain, I really miss the weather,
Caption 39, Álvaro Arquitecto Español en Londres
Play Caption
para que nos eche una mano y les vamos a dar
so that he can lend us a hand and we are going to give them
Caption 50, Club de las ideas Bioparc
Play Caption
De acuerdo, deje que eche un vistazo.
OK, let me take a look.
Caption 63, Negocios Empezar en un nuevo trabajo - Part 2
Play Caption
Así es y pues aquí mira, trabajando, echándole ganas y...
It's so, and well, [we] are here, [you] see, working, giving it my all and...
Caption 17, Edificio en Construcción Hablando con los trabajadores - Part 2
Play Caption
No puedo, negrita, ya eché a perder como diez laburo'.
I can't, honey. I already messed up like ten jobs.
Caption 3, Muñeca Brava 3 Nueva Casa - Part 5
Play Caption
¡Callate, Rufino! No eches más leña al fuego, ¿querés?
Shut up, Rufino! Don't put more wood into the fire [don't add fuel to the fire], will you?
Caption 23, Yago 8 Descubrimiento - Part 2
Play Caption
Todavía no ha jugado el partido de fútbol y ya está "echando las campanas al vuelo",
He hasn't played the soccer match yet, and he's already "throwing the bells in the air,"
Captions 45-46, Aprendiendo con Silvia Campanas - Part 2
Play Caption
Although the literal meaning is totally different, this Spanish expression is comparable to the English idiom about "counting one's chickens before they are hatched." For more such examples, check out this lesson on Spanish idioms and their (very different) English equivalents.
As there are so many standard and idiomatic ways to use the Spanish verb echar that it would be impossible to name them all, we've provided just a smattering! Don't hesitate to write to us with any more you come across, or with any ideas for future lessons. ¡Hasta la próxima!
Do you remember reflexive verbs? A verb is reflexive when the subject in a sentence performs an action on itself, in other words, when the subject and the object are the same. In Spanish reflexive verbs use reflexive pronouns (me, te,se, nos, etc.), which play the role of direct object in the sentence:
Yo me veo en el espejo.
I look at myself in the mirror.
Since they involve a direct object, reflexive verbs are also transitive verbs (verbs that take a direct object). Many transitive verbs can be transformed into reflexive verbs. Peinar (to comb), for example, is a classic example of a transitive verb:
Yo peino a mi bebé
I comb my baby's hair
Caption 21, Lecciones con Carolina - Verbos reflexivos
Play Caption
that can also be transformed into a reflexive verb, peinarse:
Yo me peino
I comb my hair [literally, "I comb myself"]
Caption 20, Lecciones con Carolina - Verbos reflexivos
Play Caption
On the other hand, intransitive verbs are action verbs that, unlike transitive verbs, don't take a direct object receiving the action. Examples are llegar (to arrive), estornudar (to sneeze), morir (to die), caer (to fall), etc. Consequently, these verbs can't really be transformed into reflexive verbs. So why do we always hear Spanish speakers using reflexive pronouns with these verbs? For example:
Si me caigo, me vuelvo a parar
If I fall, I stand up again
Caption 8, Sondulo - Que te vaya mal
Play Caption
Obviously, me caigo doesn't mean “I fall myself." It just means "I fall," because the verb caer[se] is part of a group of verbs that use reflexive pronouns but are not reflexive verbs. These verbs are called verbos pronominales, verbs that are typically conjugated using a reflexive pronoun that doesn't have any syntactic function. It's just the way these verbs are typically constructed! Another example is the verb morir (to die). Me muero doesn't mean "I die myself"; it just means "I die." The following example uses it as part of an idiomatic expression:
No hablemos más de comida
Let's not talk about food
que me muero de hambre.
since I'm starving hungry [literally, "I'm dying of hunger"].
Captions 40-41, Salvando el planeta Palabra - Llegada
Play Caption
Now, while reflexive verbs like peinarse always need to be used with reflexive pronouns, verbs like caer (to fall) and matar (to kill) can be used either as pronominales (caerse and morirse), or as simple intransitive verbs (caer, morir), that is, without the reflexive pronouns. Therefore, the following expressions are also correct (though maybe just a little less common in everyday speech):
Si caigo, me vuelvo a parar.
If I fall, I stand up again.
No hablemos más de comida que muero de hambre.
Let's not talk about food since I'm starving [literally, "I'm dying of hunger"].
The really tricky aspect of reflexive pronouns is how to use them, either with verbos reflexivos like peinarse or verbos pronominales like caerse and morirse. Typically, you will use the pronoun before the verb, for example me caigo (I fall), te peinas (you comb your hair). But how do you use reflexive pronouns in a sentence that uses more than one verb, for example an auxiliary verb such as the verb ir (to go) combined with a verb in the infinitive?
Voy a caer
I'm going to fall
Juan va a morir
Juan is going to die
Well, the rule is simple. You either use the reflexive pronoun right before the auxiliary verb:
Me voy a caer
I'm going to fall
Juan se va a morir
Juan is going to die
Or you use it after the verb in infinitive as a suffix:
Voy a caerme
I'm going to fall
Juan va a morirse
Juan is going to die
And the same rule applies to reflexive verbs like peinarse:
Ella se va a peinar = Ella va a peinarse
She is going to comb her hair
In fact, this rule applies to all pronouns, even pronouns that are not reflexive (that are used to substitute the direct object in any given sentence), like lo, la, los, las, and te:
Como sandía / La como
I eat watermelon / I eat it
Voy a comer sandía
I'm going to eat watermelon
Voy a comerla = La voy a comer
I'm going to eat it
Coincidentally, comer (as well as other "ingestion verbs") is an excellent example of a verb that is transitive in nature but that is also used as a pronominal verb with reflexive pronouns. For example, it’s also correct to say voy a comérmela (I’m going to eat it).
The Spanish verb caer means "to fall." Listen to what our artist friend Francisco tells us about a big coastal flood that took place in Venezuela a few years back:
Mucha madera cayó al mar.
A lot of wood fell into the sea.
Caption 13, Playa Adícora - Francisco
Play Caption
When describing the tumble-down of a person, caer is very commonly used in the reflexive, caerse. Notice it when Venezuelan pop band Sondulo sings this line:
Si me caigo, me vuelvo a parar
If I fall, I stand up again
Caption 8, Sondulo - Que te vaya mal
Play Caption
On the other hand, it is also possible to use caer when someone drops something.
¿Y en un momento se te cayó una birome al piso?
And at a certain moment you dropped a pen on the floor?
Caption 71, Cuatro Amigas - Piloto
Play Caption
This is the same sort of “impersonal” (passive voice) construction that we saw in our lesson on olvidar. Literally, what the Spanish phrase is saying is that the pen fell and that this happened to “you.” (Spanish speakers will understand that you unintentionally dropped it.)
The reflexive verb caerse is conjugated in relation to the object dropped, the pen, not to the person who (unintentionally) dropped it. It is only thanks to the indirect object pronoun te that we know that it was “you” (tú) who dropped it. As a consequence, if we remove the pronoun “te” the meaning of the sentence will change:
¿Y en un momento se cayó una birome al piso? -Sí.
And at a certain moment a pen fell on the floor? -Yes.
We find the same construction when Mexican first lady Margarita Zavala talks about her husband, Felipe:
Felipe es un... muy buen papá.
Felipe is a... very good father.
Pues se le cae la baba por sus hijos, les toma fotos...
Well, he drolls over his children, he takes pictures of them...
Captions 16-17, Felipe Calderón - Publicidad
Play Caption
Caérsele (a uno) la baba is an expression used to express deep fondness for someone or something. Literally, la baba means “the drool.” So the idea is that you like something so much it makes you drool (or “the drool falls”/”you drool”). Of course it’s an expression and native speakers do not think about it in literal terms.
Note that this “impersonal” construction is not used if someone drops something intentionally, in that case we look to the verb tirar:
Cuando vio la pistola, tiró el cuchillo.
When he saw the gun, he dropped the knife.
Keep your eye out for these and other interesting uses of caer when you tune into Yabla Spanish for your daily dose of authentic Spanish.
French
German
Italian
Chinese
English
English 
Français
Deutsch
Español
Italiano
Português
