15 Advanced Spanish Verbs To Freshen Up Your Conversations
Why should you care about learning advanced Spanish verbs?
Because it’s easy! The only challenging thing in most of these verbs is their meaning which won’t take you long to learn.
The conjugation rules are easy, and if you already know how to conjugate regular verbs, it shouldn’t be a problem at all. If not, just memorize common phrases with them and slip them into a conversation when the moment comes.
Today, you’ll learn 15 fancy advanced and intermediate Spanish verbs. I’ll show you how Spanish-speaking people use them. Apart from the meaning, I’ll provide an easy synonym for each word for a better context.
Table of Contents:
- Why Care About Advanced Spanish Verbs?
- 15 Uncommon and Sophisticated Verbs in Spanish
- Practice Advanced Spanish Verbs In a Conversation
Why Care About Advanced Spanish Verbs?
You already know that learning advanced Spanish verbs will be easy no matter the level. But why should you do it?
First, it’s important to challenge yourself. If you don’t, your progress will be much slower.
Second, just imagine the “wow” looks you’ll get when you suddenly throw in a unique verb. Impress your Spanish teacher in an essay or presentation.
If you want to check first some easier verbs to use in a conversation, check out 15 Spanish Verbs for Easier Beginner Conversations [with Audio].
If you need some help with Spanish conjugation to feel more secure using these verbs in a conversation, take a look at the following articles:
15 Uncommon and Sophisticated Verbs in Spanish
Each of the Spanish verbs comes with an English translation and easy synonyms in Spanish, plus example sentences.
If you want to go deeper, check how to use these words in the dictionary by the Royal Spanish Academy (Drae) or in Educalingo.
1. Abrumar
Translation: to overwhelm, to wear out
Synonyms: agobiar, cansar
Spanish-speaking people use this word when they’re stressed out.
Example Sentences in Spanish
Me abruman los exámenes.
I am overwhelmed by exams.
Abrumó a su tía con preguntas.
He wore his aunt out with questions.
2. Acongojar
Translation: to distress, to grieve
Synonyms: entristecer, apenar
Use it when something makes you very sad. Don’t use it lightly.
Example Sentences in Spanish
Me acongoja su partida.
I grieve for her departure.
Sus palabras lo acongojaron profundamente.
Her words distressed him deeply.
3. Acribillar
Translation: to riddle, to pepper, to bombard, to mow down
Synonyms: molestar, balacear
This word has a drastic first meaning which is to make many holes in something or somebody (!) and to kill in large numbers.
Spanish people also use it in the expression acribillar a preguntas which means to bombard somebody with questions.
Example Sentences in Spanish
Acribillaron a tiros a los piratas.
They riddled the pirates with bullets.
Hemos acribillado a preguntas al pobre Pedro, que con paciencia los contestó todos.
We bombarded poor Pedro with questions and he patiently answered them all.
4. Aferrarse
Translation: to cling to, to hang on to
Synonyms: empeñarse
A common word in motivational books and quotes. If you break up with somebody, your friend may use it to tell you to get over it.
Example Sentences in Spanish
No te aferres a las riquezas.
Don’t hold on to your riches.
Se aferró a su versión.
She clung to her version.
5. Auxiliar
Translation: to help, to assist
Synonyms: ayudar
You might have heard the noun related to this word—¡auxilio! (Help!)—but it’s also a common verb. It’s much more sophisticated than ayudar and transmits the same meaning.
Example Sentences in Spanish
Los médicos auxiliaron al accidentado.
Doctors attended the accident victim.
Auxíliame en esto.
Help me with this.
6. Avecinarse
Translation: to be approaching
Synonyms: aproximarse
I remember my husband looking at me open-mouthed when I told him pointing to dark clouds in the sky: Se avecina una tormenta. It means something like “a storm is brewing.” I think I gained his linguistic respect that day.
You’ll say that something se avecina when it’s really close.
Example Sentences in Spanish
Se avecinan las vacaciones.
The vacation is just around the corner.
Se avecina una tormenta.
A storm is brewing.
7. Carcajear
Translation: to laugh boisterously, to laugh out loud, to roar with laughter
Synonyms: reír
When you said that someone se ríó, you’re just saying that someone laughed at something. But if you’re saying instead—se carcajeó–the boisterous laughter can be almost heard.
Example Sentences in Spanish
Me miró y se carcajeó.
He looked at me and laughed out loud.
Todos se carcajearon cuando me vieron con el disfraz.
Everyone guffawed when they saw me in the costume.
8. Concienciar
Translation: to raise awareness, to make someone aware of something
Synonyms: sensibilizar
It’s a hip word in the modern world where we want to raise awareness about many issues.
Example Sentences in Spanish
El documental me concienció sobre mi adicción a la comida.
The documentary made me aware of my food addiction.
Era la única forma de concienciar a la opinión pública.
It was the only way to arouse public opinion.
9. Conciliar
Translation: to reconcile, to conciliate, to find a balance between, to get to sleep
Synonyms: combinar, harmonizar
IWhen I was working at a University in Madrid years ago, one of the departments was the Oficina de Conciliación Familiar y Laboral (Work-Life Balance Office).
Conciliar means to find a balance between two things. In Spain, the country where you work from 9 am to 9 pm, it’s a never-ending question of how to conciliar private life and work.
Later, I discovered that Spanish-speaking people also use it in the expression conciliar el sueño, which means to “fall asleep.”
Example Sentences in Spanish
Ayer estuve pensando mucho en lo que me dijiste y no pude conciliar el sueño.
Yesterday, I was thinking a lot about what you told me and I couldn’t sleep.
Cada día es más difícil conciliar la vida familiar con el trabajo.
Every day it’s more difficult to reconcile family life with work.
10. Egresar
Translation: to graduate
Synonyms: graduarse, licenciarse
At a Spanish-speaking school or university, you’ll hear this word often. It’s used not only as a verb egresar, but also as a noun in the expression perfil del egresado to talk about desired skills and knowledge of graduated students.
Example Sentences in Spanish
Necesito buscar un trabajo después de egresar.
I need to find a job after I graduate.
Leí un artículo que trataba sobre el temor de los universitarios a egresar.
I saw a video about the fear that university students have when they graduate.
11. Encasillar
Translation: to categorize, to classify, to type-cast, to pigeonhole
Synonyms: calificar, catalogar, etiquetar
Example Sentences in Spanish
Me han encasillado.
They have categorized me.
La película encasilló al actor en el papel de gangster.
That movie categorized the actor in the role of a gangster.
12. Fraguar
Translation: to forge, to create, to devise, to be successfuñ
Synonyms: fabricar, tramar, forjar
The first meaning of fraguar is to forge metals, but you’ll more often hear it and use it as “to create” something. Originally, it had a negative connotation, but you often hear it in a neutral or even positive meaning.
Another interesting use of fraguar is “to be successful and popular.”
Example Sentences in Spanish
Los gemelos fraguaron un plan de robar los exámenes a la maestra.
The twins hatched a plan to steal the tests from the teacher.
La película no ha fraguado en el mercado local.
The movie hasn’t been successful in the local market.
13. Orillar
Translation: to border, to avoid, to pull over
Synonyms: bordear, evitar
You might associate this verb with the Spanish noun orilla (bank, shore), and it can mean to border something. You can for example say that the highway you drove orilla el lago (goes around the lake) but you’ll more often hear it in a completely different meaning.
Example Sentences in Spanish
MI madre siempre orilló esta confrontación.
My mother has always avoided this confrontation.
Orilláte, va a pasar la ambulancia.
Pullover, the ambulance is coming.
14. Perecer
Translation: to perish, to die
Synonyms: morir, fallecer, terminar
If you’re having a serious conversation, use this word as a euphemism for the verb morir “to die.” However, it can also mean “to perish” and refer to other things and abstract ideas.
Example Sentences in Spanish
Nuestro amor no perecerá nunca.
Our love will never die
Diez personas perecieron en un choque múltiple ocurrido en la autopista.
Ten people lost their lives in a pile-up on the turnpike.
15. Pillar
Translation: to pick up, to take, to catch
Synonyms: coger, prender, tomar, atrapar
I like this verb, as it sounds cheeky and not too serious.
It can mean to pick up something without much effort and you can use it both with tangible and intangible nouns. It means that you can pillar las llaves (pick up the keys) but also una enfermedad (an illness) or un idioma (a language). No effort is implied.
However, it can also mean “to catch” somebody while they’re doing something they would prefer to hide from you.
Example Sentences in Spanish
Pilló las llaves y salió de la casa.
She took the keys and left the house.
Pillé algo de Italiano viviendo y trabajando en Roma.
I picked up some Italian living and working in Rome.
¡Me pillaste! Te estaba preparando una sorpresa.
You caught me! I was preparing a surprise for you.
Practice Advanced Spanish Verbs In a Conversation
Well done! Now you can impress your professor or Spanish-speaking friends with your sophisticated vocabulary. Even in your neighborhood, it won’t be difficult to find someone. In the United States alone, approximately 53 million people speak Spanish. According to CNN, 41 million native Spanish speakers in the U.S. speak Spanish in their homes.
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This site is an excellent one,and I’ve gotten the opportunity to solve my doubts,in the Spanish verbs conjugation. I’m a freelance writer,and the information will be very useful to me.
Hello Antonio!
Thank you for your comment. I am glad you found our blog useful.