To kill in Spanish 🇪🇸

Pronunciation

Normal speech: ma-TAR
IPA: /ma.’taɾ/

7 months ago

matar info.

Tips to remember the word “matar”:
– Think of the English phrase “to meet a tarantula,” where “meet a tar” sounds a bit like “matar,” and imagine you’d rather kill it than meet it.
– The word “matar” contains “mat,” which you can associate with a doormat. Imagine stepping on a bug on a doormat, thereby killing it.

Explanations:
– “Matar” is a regular Spanish verb that means “to kill.” It is used to describe the action of taking a life, whether literally or figuratively, such as “killing” time.

Other words that mean the same thing:
– “Asesinar”: more specifically to murder; used with premeditated or criminal intent.
– “Liquidar”: can be used as a synonym for killing but also for ending something definitively.
– “Exterminar”: to exterminate, often used for pests or in a broader, more genocidal context.

Conjugations:
– Infinitive: matar (to kill)
– Present indicative: mato (I kill), matas (you kill), mata (he/she/it kills), matamos (we kill), matáis (you all kill, Spain), matan (they/you all kill)
– Preterite (simple past): maté (I killed), mataste (you killed), mató (he/she/it killed), matamos (we killed), matasteis (you all killed, Spain), mataron (they/you all killed)
– Imperfect: mataba (I was killing), matabas (you were killing), mataba (he/she/it was killing), matábamos (we were killing), matabais (you all were killing, Spain), mataban (they/you all were killing)
– Future: mataré (I will kill), matarás (you will kill), matará (he/she/it will kill), mataremos (we will kill), mataréis (you all will kill, Spain), matarán (they/you all will kill)
– Conditional: mataría (I would kill), matarías (you would kill), mataría (he/she/it would kill), mataríamos (we would kill), mataríais (you all would kill, Spain), matarían (they/you all would kill)
– Present subjunctive: mate (I kill), mates (you kill), mate (he/she/it kills), matemos (we kill), matéis (you all kill, Spain), maten (they/you all kill)
– Imperfect subjunctive: matara or matase (I killed/were to kill), mataras or matases (you killed/were to kill), matara or matase (he/she/it killed/were to kill), matáramos or matásemos (we killed/were to kill), matarais or mataseis (you all killed/were to kill, Spain), mataran or matasen (they/you all killed/were to kill)
– Imperative: mata (kill – informal singular), mate (kill – formal singular), matad (kill – informal plural Spain), maten (kill – formal plural or plural in Latin America)

Examples of sentences that use “matar”:
– Maté una araña en mi habitación. (I killed a spider in my room.)
– ¿Matarías por defender a tu familia? (Would you kill to defend your family?)
– Si sigue comiendo así, esta dieta me va a matar. (If I keep eating like this, this diet is going to kill me.)
– No debemos matar el tiempo sin hacer nada productivo. (We should not kill time doing nothing productive.)
– Él matará la serpiente si la ve en el jardín. (He will kill the snake if he sees it in the garden.)

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