What does llegar mean in Spanish? What does llevar mean in Spanish? And what is the difference between them? 👀

Even though these two Spanish verbs sound so similar, there’s a big distinction between llegar and llevar. Llegar is an intransitive verb that is often translated as “to arrive” or “to come.” On the other hand, llevar is a transitive verb that is often translated as “to take.” In this blog article, I’ll explain in-depth what each verb means and how to use it in a Spanish conversation. Before we get started, make sure to check how to pronounce “ll” in Spanish.

As a side note, the verb llegar is also often confused with the verb venir in Spanish. And that’s because these two have similar meanings: “to arrive” and “to come.” Have a look here at the difference between llegar and venir in Spanish. Although llegar is often translated as “to arrive”, the verb has a wider range of uses and meanings in Spanish—even figuratively.

Difference between llegar and llevar

I mentioned before that llegar is an intransitive verb, while llevar is a transitive one. I’ll briefly explain what this means. An intransitive verb doesn’t allow a direct object—which means that llegar cannot be followed by a who or a what. On the other hand, a transitive verb makes sense only if it’s used with an object. Some transitive verbs are used with direct and indirect objects. For example:

• El fin de semana llegó rápido. – The weekend came quickly.
• Lleva los platos sucios a la cocina. – Take the dirty plates to the kitchen.

To sum up, an intransitive verb (llegar) doesn’t take an object, while a transitive verb (llevar) takes an object. I’m going to give you some further examples of the different meanings of llegar and llevar.

What does llegar mean in Spanish?

The verb llegar in Spanish is commonly used as “to arrive” or “to come.” It usually carries the idea of arriving literally or figuratively at a destination (this is good to keep in mind so that you can differentiate it from the verb venir.) The destination can be preceded by the preposition a, while the preposition de is used to indicate the origin. Let’s take an example:

• Cuando llego a casa hago mis tareas. – When I get home I’ll do my homework.
• Llegaron de diferentes partes de España. – They came from different parts of Spain.

Besides its most common translation of “to arrive,” llegar also means:

• To (not) be enough or sufficient: No me llega el sueldo, así que voy a pedir un aumento. (My salary is not enough, so I’m going to ask for a raise.)
• Reaching a goal, physical or otherwise: Los cuatro mexicanos llegaron a la cima del Everest. (The four Mexicans reached the summit of Everest.)
• The coming or passage of time: Este año el otoño ha sido lento en llegar. (Autumn has been slow to arrive this year.)
• To get to or to make it: Mi sueño es llegar a los cien años. (My dream is to make it to a hundred.)
• To stretch or to extend: Nuestras tierras llegan hasta el río. (Our lands stretch to the river.)
• Be able to or manage to: ¿Llegaste a ver el eclipse? (Did you manage to see the eclipse?)
• To touch: No me gustan las faldas que llegan hasta el piso. (I don’t like skirts that touch the floor.)
• To go as far as: El Camino de Santiago llega hasta el extremo oeste de España. (The Camino de Santiago goes as far as the far west of Spain.)

As you can see, there are a lot of meanings for the intransitive verb llegar. Have a look on SpanishDict for more examples and meanings of llegar (and llevar in Spanish.)

What does llevar mean in Spanish?

The Spanish verb llevar means “to carry,” “to take,” or “to wear.” One of the most common uses of llevar is in fact “to wear”—be it clothing items, accessories, or sporting a certain style, such as having tattoos. And you’ll most often pair the verb llevar with the definite article el or la: No es necesario llevar el sombrero (It isn’t necessary to wear your hat.) Below are a few sentences with llevar meaning “to wear:”

• No sabemos cómo vamos a llevar el pelo. – We don’t know how we are going to wear our hair.
• Ella siempre lleva sus botas favoritas cuando nieva. – She always wears her favorite boots when it snows.
• No olvides taparte el cuello y lleva camisa de manga larga. – Don’t forget to cover up your neck and wear a long-sleeved shirt.

On the other hand, llevar also means “to carry” or “to take.” It can indicate that someone or something is being carried or transported. Let’s see a few examples:

• No puedo llevar nada más. – I can’t carry anything else.
• Mi marido llevará las bolsas de la compra. – My husband will carry the grocery bags.
• Llevaron a sus hijos a un concierto en el parque. – They took their children to a concert in the park.
• Los buses llevaron a los invitados al hotel. – The buses took the invitees to the hotel.

Llevar meanings:

Llevar is a versatile Spanish verb and can be used to mean managing or having something in a broad sense of terms.

• To cope with: Me enteré de que cerró la fábrica. ¿Cómo lo llevas? (I heard the factory closed down. How are you getting on?)
• Handle or deal with something: Laura lleva todos los asuntos de finanzas en la familia. (Laura handles all the finances in the family.)
• To run a business: Mi padre está enfermo, por lo que yo estoy llevando la empresa familiar en este momento. (My father is sick, so I’m running the family business at the moment.)
• To be more than or to be ahead: Me llevaba dos metros de ventaja en la carrera cuando se cayó. (He was ahead of me by two meters in the race when he fell.)
• Spend time on something: Llevo cuatro horas estudiando y todavía me queda mucho. (I’ve been studying for four hours and there’s still a lot left.)

How to remember the difference between llegar and llevar:

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