I kept trying to make the connection between “get” in English and Spanish.

For instance “Can you get some apples at the store?”.

Google translates this literally to “¿Puedes conseguir algunas manzanas en la tienda?”

Which is completely wrong, and in Spanish sounds really odd to other people, since conseguir means “to achieve” something.

In my classes, and multiple other times native English speakers had the same question as I did. Native Spanish teachers would just say “No we don’t use conseguir for that.”

But for me it was never really answered until it finally dawned on me…It turns out it is a stand in for an insane amount of actual verbs which is why I think I as a native speaker and others were so confused. We use it FOR EVERYTHING, without thinking about the context.

For those English speakers learning Spanish, or any language for that matter, don’t make the same mistake I did! 😀 Just use the actual verb that is intended.

Quick summary of ways to use “to get”:

• Obtain – I need to get a new laptop.
• Receive – She got a letter from her friend.
• Buy – I got some groceries.
• Understand – I don’t get what you mean.
• Become – He got tired after work.
• Fetch – Can you get me some coffee?
• Arrive – We got home late.
• Catch (illness) – He got the flu last week.
• Persuade – She got him to apologize.
• Prepare – I’ll get dinner ready.
• Experience – I get nervous before tests.
• Be punished – He got in trouble for cheating.
• Be affected by something – I got sunburned at the beach.
• Cause something to happen – Get the car fixed today.
• Bring – Can you get the book for me?
• Take revenge – I’ll get you for that!
• Hire – We need to get a plumber.
• Have permission – Did you get to leave early?
• Communicate with someone – I can’t get him on the phone.
• Hear/see clearly – Did you get that message?
• Be in a certain state – Things got worse over time.
• Escape/avoid – He got away with it.
• Seize/arrest – The police got the suspect.
• Move (to a place) – Get inside quickly!
• Make progress – I’m finally getting somewhere with this project.
• Be hit by something – I got hit by a snowball.
• Revenge/retaliate – You got me back for that prank!
• React emotionally – That movie really got me.
• Do something successfully – I got the door open.
• Escape from a place – Let’s get out of here.
• Make someone do something – I’ll get him to help us.
• Cause someone/something to move – Get the dog inside.
• Understand in a deep way – I finally get why she was upset.
  • TheTechnician27@lemmy.worldEnglish
    101·
    23 hours ago

    You can see that there are a lot of ways to use “get”, but OP, multiple of these examples are functionally duplicates of each other:

    • Obtain – I need to get a new laptop. (agreed)
    • Receive – She got a letter from her friend. (agreed, although this is another case of obtaining: “she obtained a letter from her friend”)
    • Buy – I got some groceries. This is just “obtain” again: “I obtained some groceries” just like “I got a laptop.” This one could debatably be its own thing, though.
    • Understand – I don’t get what you mean. (agreed)
    • Become – He got tired after work. (agreed)
    • Fetch – Can you get me some coffee? (agreed)
    • Arrive – We got home late. This is just “move to a place” (mentioned later).
    • Catch (illness) – He got the flu last week. (agreed)
    • Persuade – She got him to apologize. (agreed)
    • Prepare – I’ll get dinner ready. (agreed, but this is more broadly changing the state of something: “I’ll bring dinner to a state of readiness.”)
    • Experience – I get nervous before tests. This is just “become”: “I become nervous before tests.”
    • Be punished – He got in trouble for cheating. This is just “become” again: “He became in trouble for cheating.”
    • Be affected by something – I got sunburned at the beach. This is again “become”: “I became sunburned at the beach.”
    • Cause something to happen – Get the car fixed today. This is the same type of usage as “get dinner ready”; you’re changing the state of the car from unfixed to fixed like the state of dinner from unready to ready.
    • Bring – Can you get the book for me? This is just “fetch” again: “Can you fetch the book for me?” (or maybe this is under the “buy” usage)
    • Take revenge – I’ll get you for that! (agreed)
    • Hire – We need to get a plumber. This is just “obtain”.
    • Have permission – Did you get to leave early? This is “obtain” or “receive” again: “did you obtain/receive permission to leave early?”
    • Communicate with someone – I can’t get him on the phone. This is just getting someone to a location or state (mentioned later).
    • Hear/see clearly – Did you get that message? (semi-agreed; a specific but semi-distinct use of “receive” and “understand” mixed together)
    • Be in a certain state – Things got worse over time. This is just “become”: “Things became worse over time.”
    • Escape/avoid – He got away with it. (agreed only since “get away” is its own very common phrase.)
    • Seize/arrest – The police got the suspect. (semi-agree; probably more broadly to “catch”.)
    • Move (to a place) – Get inside quickly! (agreed)
    • Make progress – I’m finally getting somewhere with this project. This is just using “somewhere” as a metaphorical place which you’ve moved to rather than a real, concrete one.
    • Be hit by something – I got hit by a snowball. This is just “become”: “I became hit by a snowball.”
    • Revenge/retaliate – You got me back for that prank! You already mentioned revenge.
    • React emotionally – That movie really got me. (agreed)
    • Do something successfully – I got the door open. Same as dinner ready and car fixed.
    • Escape from a place – Let’s get out of here. This is just “move to a place”.
    • Make someone do something – I’ll get him to help us. This is just “persuade” again: “I’ll persuade him to help us.”
    • Cause someone/something to move – Get the dog inside. (agreed)
    • Understand in a deep way – I finally get why she was upset. This is just “understand”.
    • flueterflam@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      18 hours ago

      I agree with the general sentiment. My thought is that a lot of these can be conceptually equated to “receive”. This includes situations like “fetch” where you you’re saying “Do something, so that I receive X!”

      I think you can reformulate a lot of these to be from a different perspective, such that a different verb would work. “Receive” just seemed the one that struck me as the most likely.