A light verb (verbo ligero or verbo soporte) is a verb that has been emptied of most of its lexical meaning and exists to support a noun that carries the real content. Dar un paseo doesn't mean "to give a walk" — it means "to take a walk," and the meaning lives in paseo, not in dar. Spanish leans heavily on this pattern, often where English would reach for a single specific verb (to walk, to ask, to fear, to nap). This page maps the territory so you stop translating word-for-word and start reaching for the natural construction.
What a light verb actually is
A normal transitive verb takes an object that names a separate thing: Le di un libro a Marta — I gave a book to Marta. Here dar keeps its full meaning ("to give") and un libro names a real object that changes hands.
In a light verb construction, the verb has bleached out and the noun is the event. Dar un paseo doesn't transfer a "paseo" to anyone — the paseo is the action of strolling. The verb just provides the conjugation, the tense, and the subject agreement. Spanish has three workhorses that play this role over and over: dar, hacer, and tener. A handful of others (echar, pegar, tomar, poner) join in on a smaller scale.
Después de comer siempre damos un paseo por el barrio.
After lunch we always take a walk around the neighbourhood.
Tengo una pregunta que hacerte.
I have a question to ask you.
Dar + noun: events you "have" or "do" in English
Dar is the most productive light verb in Spanish. The literal meaning is "to give," but in these constructions it just provides the grammatical scaffolding for a noun-event.
| Construction | Literal | Real meaning |
|---|---|---|
| dar un paseo | give a walk | take a walk, go for a stroll |
| dar una vuelta | give a turn | go for a spin / walk around |
| dar las gracias | give the thanks | thank, say thank you |
| dar un beso | give a kiss | kiss (someone) |
| dar un abrazo | give a hug | hug (someone) |
| dar pena | give pity | make (someone) feel sorry |
| dar miedo | give fear | scare, be scary |
| dar asco | give disgust | be disgusting |
| dar igual | give equal | not matter, be all the same |
| dar una clase | give a class | teach a lesson |
| dar un grito | give a shout | shout, yell |
| dar una explicación | give an explanation | explain |
The reaction verbs in the second half of the table — dar miedo, dar pena, dar asco, dar igual, dar rabia — work like gustar: the thing that causes the feeling is the grammatical subject, and the person who feels it is an indirect object.
Me da miedo conducir de noche con esta lluvia.
Driving at night in this rain scares me.
A mi hermana le da mucha pena ver perros abandonados.
It makes my sister really sad to see abandoned dogs.
¿Vienes al cine o te quedas en casa? — Me da igual, decide tú.
Are you coming to the cinema or staying home? — I don't mind, you decide.
Venga, dale un beso a la abuela antes de irte.
Come on, give grandma a kiss before you leave.
Hacer + noun: actions, errands, and weather
Hacer literally means "to do" or "to make," and as a light verb it covers a sweep of everyday activities and chores. Many of these correspond to a single specific verb in English.
| Construction | Real meaning |
|---|---|
| hacer una pregunta | to ask a question |
| hacer la cama | to make the bed |
| hacer la compra | to do the grocery shopping |
| hacer la comida / la cena | to cook lunch / dinner |
| hacer caso | to pay attention, listen to (advice) |
| hacer daño | to hurt (someone) |
| hacer falta | to be needed, be necessary |
| hacer cola | to queue, stand in line |
| hacer un favor | to do a favour |
| hacer un viaje | to take a trip |
| hacer las maletas | to pack (the suitcases) |
| hacer ejercicio / deporte | to exercise / do sport |
| hacer ruido | to make noise |
Hacer also handles weather impersonally — hace frío, hace calor, hace sol, hace viento — which is technically the same construction (light verb + noun describing a phenomenon).
¿Te puedo hacer una pregunta un poco indiscreta?
Can I ask you a slightly nosy question?
Mi hijo nunca me hace caso, hago como que no oigo y se le pasa.
My son never listens to me; I pretend not to hear and he gets over it.
No hace falta que vengas, ya me las arreglo yo solo.
You don't need to come, I'll manage on my own.
Hicimos cola más de una hora para entrar al museo.
We stood in line over an hour to get into the museum.
Hoy hace un frío que pela, abrígate bien.
It's freezing cold today, bundle up well. (*frío que pela* = bone-chilling cold, informal)
Tener + noun: states the speaker is in
The third workhorse is tener, used for physical and emotional states that English expresses with to be + adjective. The classic A1 list (tener hambre, tener sed, tener frío) is just the beginning.
| Construction | Real meaning |
|---|---|
| tener hambre | to be hungry |
| tener sed | to be thirsty |
| tener frío / calor | to be cold / hot |
| tener sueño | to be sleepy |
| tener miedo (de) | to be afraid (of) |
| tener prisa | to be in a hurry |
| tener razón | to be right |
| tener suerte | to be lucky |
| tener éxito | to be successful |
| tener ganas (de) | to feel like, want to |
| tener cuidado | to be careful |
| tener celos | to be jealous |
| tener vergüenza | to be embarrassed / ashamed |
| tener paciencia | to be patient |
A key formal point: because the noun (hambre, frío, prisa) is the head of the construction, the intensifier is mucho/mucha, not muy. Muy modifies adjectives; mucho/mucha modifies nouns. You say tengo mucha hambre, never tengo muy hambre.
Tengo muchísima hambre, ¿cuánto falta para comer?
I'm really hungry, how long till lunch?
Ten cuidado con el suelo, está recién fregado.
Be careful with the floor, it's just been mopped.
No tengo ninguna gana de ir al gimnasio hoy.
I have zero desire to go to the gym today.
Tienes toda la razón, me equivoqué yo.
You're completely right, I was the one who got it wrong.
Other light verbs: echar, tomar, pegar, poner
Beyond the big three, a few other verbs play the light-verb role in fixed combinations. These are worth learning as set phrases.
- echar — echar una siesta (take a nap), echar un vistazo (have a look), echar de menos (miss someone), echar una mano (give a hand), echar la culpa (blame).
- tomar — tomar una decisión (make a decision), tomar nota (take note), tomar el sol (sunbathe), tomar el pelo a alguien (pull someone's leg).
- pegar — pegar un grito (let out a shout), pegar un salto (jump up), pegar fuego (set on fire).
- poner — poner atención (pay attention), poner una multa (issue a fine), poner una queja (file a complaint).
Después de comer voy a echar una siesta de veinte minutos.
After lunch I'm going to take a twenty-minute nap.
Échale un vistazo a este correo antes de que lo mande.
Take a look at this email before I send it.
Tenemos que tomar una decisión antes del viernes.
We have to make a decision before Friday.
Mi abuelo pegó un grito que se oyó en toda la casa.
My grandfather let out a shout that could be heard all over the house.
Why Spanish prefers light verbs
English has the option too (take a walk vs walk, make a decision vs decide), but it gravitates to the single-verb form. Spanish often goes the other way — the light verb construction can be the only natural option:
- For to nap, Spanish has dormir la siesta / echar una siesta — there is no simple verb sestear in everyday use.
- For to queue, Spanish has hacer cola — there is no verb colar with that meaning (it means "to filter" or "to sneak in").
- For to apologise (formal), Spanish prefers pedir disculpas or pedir perdón — the verb disculparse exists but is less neutral.
This is partly a stylistic preference and partly a structural feature: the noun in a light verb construction can be modified by an adjective (dar un paseo largo — take a long walk) where English would need an adverb (walk for a long time). The noun gives Spanish a flexible target for modifiers.
Dimos un paseo larguísimo por la playa al atardecer.
We took a really long walk along the beach at sunset.
Le hicimos una pregunta directa y nos contestó con evasivas.
We asked him a direct question and he gave us evasive answers.
Common Mistakes
❌ Voy a tomar un baño.
Awkward in peninsular Spanish — for bathing, use 'darse un baño' or 'bañarse'. 'Tomar un baño' is a calque from English.
✅ Voy a darme un baño.
I'm going to take a bath.
❌ Voy a hacer una decisión esta noche.
Incorrect — Spanish uses 'tomar', not 'hacer', with 'decisión'.
✅ Voy a tomar una decisión esta noche.
I'm going to make a decision tonight.
❌ Tengo muy hambre.
Incorrect — 'hambre' is a noun, so it takes 'mucha' (or 'muchísima'), not 'muy'.
✅ Tengo mucha hambre.
I'm really hungry.
❌ Pregunté una pregunta al profesor.
Redundant and unnatural — use 'hacer una pregunta', not 'preguntar una pregunta'.
✅ Le hice una pregunta al profesor.
I asked the teacher a question.
❌ Gracias por dar yo un consejo.
Wrong word order and missing pronoun — light verb constructions still need the regular pronoun + verb syntax.
✅ Gracias por darme un consejo.
Thanks for giving me a piece of advice.
❌ Hago miedo de los aviones.
Wrong light verb — fear is a state, so it takes 'tener', not 'hacer'.
✅ Tengo miedo a / de los aviones.
I'm afraid of planes.
Key Takeaways
- A light verb carries little meaning on its own; the noun supplies the content. Dar un paseo = take a walk; the action is in paseo, not in dar.
- The three workhorses are dar (events, gestures, reactions), hacer (actions, errands, weather), and tener (states and feelings).
- Other light verbs in set phrases: echar (siesta, vistazo, de menos), tomar (decisión, nota, el sol), pegar (grito, salto), poner (atención, multa).
- Tener
- noun for states uses mucho/mucha, never muy — because the head word is a noun, not an adjective.
- Many English single verbs (to nap, to queue, to apologise, to glance) have no neat one-word equivalent in Spanish — the light verb construction is the natural form.
- Watch out for English-influenced calques: hacer una decisión, tomar un baño, preguntar una pregunta are all wrong.
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Start learning Spanish→Related Topics
- Expresiones con 'dar'A2 — The verb dar beyond 'to give': dar un paseo/una vuelta/un beso (events as gifts), dar miedo/pena/asco (the dative-emotion family), dar a/dar con/darse cuenta (prepositional uses), plus peninsular signatures dar la lata, dar igual, dar el coñazo. Why Spanish 'gives' walks, kisses, fright, and embarrassment.
- Expresiones con 'hacer'A2 — The verb hacer beyond 'to do/make': hacer la compra/cama/deberes/cola (activities), hace dos años que... (time since), hacer caso/falta/daño/ilusión (idioms), hacer de (act as), plus peninsular signatures hacer puente, hacer botellón, hacer la pelota. Why hacer covers a wider semantic territory than English do or make.
- Expresiones con 'tener'A1 — The tener + noun constructions that English speakers must rewire from to be: tengo hambre/sed/sueño/frío/calor/miedo/prisa/razón/suerte, plus the workhorses tener X años (age), tener que + infinitive (must), and tener ganas de (to feel like). The core A1 insight that Spanish expresses these states as possessions, not states-of-being.
- Construcciones con verbos de apoyoB2 — Light verbs (dar, hacer, tomar, tener, echar, poner, llevar) plus a noun produce constructions that Spanish prefers over single verbs — dar un paseo, hacer una pregunta, echar un vistazo. Often more idiomatic and event-bounded than the simple verb.
- Verbos modales: poder, deber, querer, solerB1 — The Spanish modal system — poder, deber, tener que, hay que, querer, saber, and soler — collected as one coordinated set of meanings.