The Royal Spanish Academy's Dictionary of the Spanish Language lists 25 different meanings for the Spanish verb pegar, whose English translations range from "to stick" to "to hit"! Although we won't cover all of them, today's lesson will touch on many of the most common ones, backed by lots of examples from the Yabla Spanish video library. Are you ready?!

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1. To paste, glue, or stick on

The Spanish verb pegar is often used to describe attaching one thing to another. While this could involve some substance like glue or paste, in other cases, it might simply entail "sticking" one thing onto another via another means, like sewing (as in the example pegar un bóton, or "sew on a button"). Let's take a look at a couple more examples:

2. To stick to or burn 

Similarly, the reflexive form of pegar, pegarse, is used to talk about things that "stick to" other things and might even be translated as "to burn" or "stick to the pan" in the context of cooking.

Y queremos que la harina no esté muy seca y no muy mojada para que no se pegue a las manos

And, we want for the flour to not be very dry and not very moist so that it doesn't stick to one's hands

Captions 43-44, Dany Arepas - Part 1

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Bueno, entonces vemos que esto se está empezando a pegar al fondo. 

Well, so we see that this is starting to stick to the bottom.

Caption 1, Cocinando con Miguelito Pollo sudado - Part 2

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3. To hit, beat, strike, or smack 

In contrast to the former meanings, the Spanish verb pegar can also mean to "hit" someone, as in physically striking them:

Ella era muy amorosa, ella nunca... nunca me pegó, ni una palmada ni nada. 

She was very loving. She never... never hit me, not a spank or anything.

Caption 2, La Sub30 Familias - Part 11

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4. To give/strike (with certain nouns)

The verb pegar often appears with specific nouns like tiro (shot), bofetón (slap), patada (kick), etc., to talk about specific types of "striking." For example, you might hear that a soccer player le pegó una patada fuerte a la pelota ("gave the ball a good kick") or that someone le pegó un bofetón ("slapped him" or "gave him a slap"). Let's see an example with un tiro:

5. To strike a spot intensely

The verb pegar in Spanish might be employed to talk about sun, light, or even wind that falls upon (or is particularly frequent in) a particular surface or area:

The verb pegar in Spanish can entail "pulling" something "up" to something else or "moving (it) closer." For example, you might say: "Pegué la cama a la pared" (I pulled up the bed up to the wall). Let's see one more example:

Puedes pegar un poco el brazo hacia ti.

You can bring your arm a bit closer to you.

Caption 21, Bienestar con Elizabeth Activar las articulaciones

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8. To touch 

9. To match

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Slangy Meanings of the Spanish Verb Pegar

In addition to its more traditional uses, the verb pegar can be found in lots of idiomatic expressions and may be used differently in different countries and regions. In the Dominican Republic, for example, it is common to use the Spanish verb pegar to talk about actions that began suddenly, as in the case of "Pegó a correr" (He took off running). In other regions, you might hear expressions like "Me pegó la depresión" (I got depressed) to give us a sense that the speaker was "stricken" by depression, while "Me pegué una siesta" is another way to say "I took a nap." 

While the less textbook meanings of the verb pegar can seem endless, here are a smattering of examples whose meanings feel like logical extensions of some of the more traditional definitions we covered:

Era lo que yo había aprendido y entonces, eh, me pegué con ellos

It was what I had learned and so, um, I hooked up with them

Captions 28-29, Willy Entrevista - Part 2

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hoy le pego a ese duraznito de Amalia Durango, ¿oyó?

today I'll hit it with that peach Amalia Durango, you hear?

Caption 11, Confidencial: El rey de la estafa Capítulo 4 - Part 9

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Yo sólo quiero pegar en la radio 

I just want to catch on on the radio

Caption 1, Bacilos Mi Primer Millón

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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.

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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.