Spanish word of the week: miedo

This week’s Spanish word of the week is miedo.

Miedo is a masculine noun that means fear. You can listen to the pronunciation of miedo in the audio clip below:

Most of us have a fear of something, be it spiders, water, the dark, or whatever. Miedo is the word to convey that idea:

su miedo infantil a la oscuridad his childish fear of the dark

estaba temblando de miedo it was trembling with fear 

The word miedo is also used in the most common phrase for being afraid of something or someone, tener miedo a:

Le tenía miedo a su padre. He was afraid of his father.

You use the same structure when you are afraid of doing something.

Tengo miedo a salir sola. I’m afraid of going out on my own.

No tiene miedo a decir lo que piensa.  She’s not afraid to speak out. 

But when you are afraid that someone else will do something, you use tener miedo de que with the verb in the subjunctive:

Tenemos miedo de que nos ataquen*. We’re afraid that they will attack us.

(* = subjunctive)

Come back next week for another insight into Spanish vocabulary!