Let’s go to learn Spanish! #15

5 mayo, 2023

Posted in ELE, Español como Lengua Extranjera, Intermediate level, Learning Spanish, Let's go to learn Spanish!, Nivel intermedio, Spanish as a foreign language

***TRAER* vs *LLEVAR***

Broadly speaking, both traer and llevar mean to bring, but they are not synonyms since they are used for different purposes and in different situations.

LLEVAR has two possibilities:

1. Llevar algo a alguien — To take/bring something to someone. Examples:
  - - - Por favor, lleva este libro a Manuel [Please, take/bring this book to Manuel]
2. Llevar algo a un lugar — It’s used when you take something from the place where it’s now to somewhere else. It can also be used referring to a person: in this case, the collocation is llevar a alguien a un lugar (=to take sb to a place). Examples:
  - - - Lleva el baso a la cocina [Take the glass to the kitchen]
      - Llevé a mi hijo a la escuela [I took my son to school]

- Tip: if you can add the adverb allí (there) in a sentence, you should use llevar; if it’s not possible, traer is the right choice.

TRAER also has two collocations. In both cases, we suggest the following tip: if you can put the adverb aquí (here) in a sentence, then you need to use traer instead of llevar.

1. Traer algo (a un sitio) — It is used when someone takes or moves something or someone from a certain place to where this person is. Examples:
  - - - Trae una docena de huevos cuando vayas al supermercado [Bring a dozen eggs when you go to the supermarket, please]
      - Mi primo va a traer a su nueva pareja a la comida de Navidad [My cousin is going to bring his new partner to the Christmas day lunch]
      - ¿Puedes traernos a España algo típico de Italia? [Can you bring us to Spain something typical from Italy?]
        
        In these three examples, the adverb aquí can be added to the sentences (in the third example, the adverb aquí could replace “a España”). Therefore, you can be sure that traer is the right word here.
2. Traer algo a alguien — It means to bring something to someone implying, in any case, to the place where that person is at the moment.
  - - - ¿Puedes traerme un vaso? (=traerlo aquí) [Can you get me a glass? (=bring it here)]
      - Juan me trajo un regalo de su ultimo viaje a Argentina (=me lo trajo aquí) [Juan brought me a gift from his last trip to Argentina (he brought it here, to where I live)]