Spanish word of the week: parar

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

Parar is a verb that means to stop. You can listen to the pronunciation of parar in the audio clip below:

Parar is a very common way of saying to stop in different contexts:

A la subida tuvieron que parar varias veces. They had to stop several times on the way up.

El tren no para aquí. The train doesn’t stop here.

A medio camino paramos para comer. Halfway there, we stopped to eat.

El policía nos indicó que parásemos. The police officer gestured or indicated to us to stop.

Parar + de + infinitive means to stop doing something:

Por fin paró de llover. It finally stopped raining.

Cuando le gusta un tema se emociona y no para de hablar. When he’s interested in a subject he gets carried away and doesn’t stop talking.

Come back next week for another insight into Spanish vocabulary!

Other Articles

Spanish words of the week: herida or herido?

Here’s another opportunity to cut through the differences between a pair of related, similar-looking Spanish words. The two on the examination table today are herido and herida. Read More

Spanish words of the week: cartero or cartera?

Of all the similar-looking Spanish wordswith different meanings and uses that could have come knocking, today it’s cartero and cartera that have arrived at our door. Read More

Spanish words of the week: puerto or puerta?

It’s that time of the week when we navigate the different uses of a pair of similar-looking Spanish nouns with different genders, endings and meanings. Enter puerto (masculine) and puerta (feminine). Starting with puerta (feminine) you can listen to how it’s pronounced… Read More