Spanish word of the week: quejarse

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

To hear how quejarse is pronounced, you can click the icon below: 

Quejarse is a reflexive verb, meaning to complain, which it’s useful to know.

Hasta ahora nadie se ha quejado. So far no one has complained. 

To complain about something the preposition you use is de:

Se quejaban de la falta de información. They were complaining about the lack of information.

If you want to complain about what someone is doing, the construction is de que followed by a clause with the verb in the indicative:

Los vecinos siempre se quejan de que tengo la radio puesta. The neighbours are always complaining that I have the radio on.

Se quejó de que nadie lo escuchaba. He complained that nobody listened to him.

And if you’re happy enough with a situation, you use quejarse in a similar way to English:

¿Cómo te va todo? – No me quejo. How are things? – I can’t complain.

Come back next week to learn a new word!