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Spanish Word of the Day Archive
Wednesday May 14, 2008
animar, verb:
to encourage
When you want to encourage someone to do something, you express the idea in Spanish with the verb animar. You can follow it with the infinitive:
Me animan a seguir.
They’re encouraging me to carry on.
Or you can use it with the subjunctive, in which case you use a que after it.
Me animan a que siga.
They’re encouraging me to carry on.
If you use it in the form animarse followed by a and the infinitive, it conveys the idea of ‘being brave enough to do something’. How you translate it depends on the context.
Quiero irme, pero no me animo a decirlo.
I want to leave, but I can’t bring myself to say so.
Nadie se anima a dar su opinión.
Nobody dares to say what they think.
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