Today we’re disentangling the uses of another common Spanish word, liado, whose pronunciation you can listen to below (along with that of liar, the verb it comes from):
liado
liar
Liado is the past participle of the verb liar (meaning to tie up or to wrap up) but, like tied up, it’s commonly used as an adjective in informal figurative senses:
- Liado can mean occupied with other things – tied up or busy. It is similar in meaning to ocupado (busy), but it’s informal and emphasizes the number and tangle of things you’re involved in:
Ya está muy liado con el inicio del curso.
He’s already really tied up with the start of the course.
No puedo quedar, estoy muy liada con el trabajo.
I can’t meet up. I’m really tied up with work.
Deben de estar muy liados.
They must be very busy.
Lo siento, voy muy liada.
I’m sorry, I’m really tied up or busy at the moment.
El actor también anda liado con su último proyecto.
The actor is also busy with his latest project.
As you can see from the above, when used as an adjective, liado changes its ending (liada, liados, liadas) to agree in gender and number with what it describes and, just like other past participles used as adjectives, is often accompanied by estar.
- In the context of entanglements between people, (estar) liado con is often used to talk in a chatty manner about someone being in a romantic or sexual relationship with another person (particularly in circumstances that are complicated, ambiguous, or not formalized) – (to be) involved with or seeing:
Descubre que Alex está liado con Sara y decide cortar con él.
She discovers Alex is involved with or is seeing Sara and decides to break up with him.
Reveló que estuvo liada con el presidente.
She revealed that she had been involved with the president.
Llevan meses liados pero no quieren ponerle nombre.
They’ve been seeing each other for months but don’t want to put a label on it.
Compare salir con alguien (to go out with someone):
En 2019, comenzó a salir con un empresario norteamericano.
In 2019, she began going out with an American businessman.
- As we’ve said, liado comes from the verb liar, so let’s take a look at the main meanings of this (and of the reflexive liarse too). Literally, liar means to tie (up), wrap (up) or, in the case of cigarettes, to roll. So liado can mean tied or wrapped (up). Note that liar and liado share the same Latin root as the English word ligature.
un embutido liado con una cuerda
a sausage tied with a string
tabaco liado or de liar
rolling tobacco
- Unsurprisingly in view of its entangling and binding possibilities, liar is also used figuratively, and (rather like to tie someone in knots) can mean to confuse or muddle someone or to complicate things for them. It can also mean to involve or get them mixed up or caught up in something, as you can see in the differing translations of no me líes below:
Explícamelo de forma sencilla, no me líes con tecnicismos.
Can you explain it to me simply? Don’t confuse or baffle me with jargon.
No me líes, yo no quiero saber nada del tema.
Don’t drag me into this or Don’t involve me. I don’t want to know anything about the matter.
- Turning to the reflexive form, liarse is used in informal language to talk about getting confused or muddled up:
Quería frenar, pero me he liado.
I meant to brake but got muddled up or mixed up or confused.
Me he liado con los horarios.
I got in a muddle over the times.
Empecé a explicarlo y me lié.
I started explaining it and got myself in a muddle.
Me lié con tantos nombres y al final no recordaba ninguno.
I got muddled up with all those names and in the end couldn’t remember any of them.
La gente se lía entre arte moderno, contemporáneo, vanguardismo y arte emergente.
People get confused between modern art, contemporary art, avant garde and emerging art.
- Liarse is also used informally to talk about getting entangled romantically or sexually:
una joven que se lía con el novio de su mejor amiga
a young woman who gets involved or entangled with her best friend’s boyfriend
En cuestión de meses se había liado con una periodista.
In a matter of months he had become involved with a journalist.
Él estaba casado cuando se liaron.
He was married when they got together.
- Especially when followed by a + INFINITIVE, liarse is used informally to talk about losing track of time while doing something – often failing to do what one had originally intended to:
Fui a cortar el seto y me lié a charlar con el vecino un par de horas.
I went to cut the hedge but ended up chatting to the neighbour for a couple of hours.
Me lié a cocinar y se me olvidó llamarte.
I got caught up cooking and forgot to call you.
Solo íbamos a tomar una copa y nos liamos.
We were only going to have one drink and, well, one thing led to another.
- Again informally, liarse is used in combination with expressions of violence to suggest laying into someone:
A menudo se liaba a puñetazos con otros alumnos.
He would often lay into other pupils with his fists.
Ambos se liaron a golpes y sus compañeros también participaron en la bronca.
They laid into each other and their companions also joined in the fight.
DID YOU KNOW?
Related to liado and liar is un lío, a mess or a muddle among other things:
¡Qué lío!
What a mess or a muddle!
PRACTICE
Can you complete the following using the appropriate forms of liado/liarse together with any relevant prepositions?
- Lleva un tiempo …………………………… la mudanza.
She’s been really busy or tied up with the move. - …………………………… todas las instrucciones.
I got confused with all the instructions. - Creo que …………………………… una compañera de trabajo.
I think he’s involved with a colleague. - Salimos a dar un paseo y …………………………… y nos pasamos toda la tarde en un café.
We only went out for a walk and ended up spending the whole afternoon in a café. - ¿ …………………………… este fin de semana?
Are you very busy this weekend? - …………………………… y mandó el correo a la persona equivocada.
She got muddled and sent the email to the wrong person. - Lleva un tiempo …………………………… una mujer de su gimnasio.
He’s been seeing a woman from his gym for a while. - …………………………… hacer llamadas y se me olvidó la reunión.
I got carried away making calls and forgot the meeting.
ANSWERS
- Lleva un tiempo muy liada con la mudanza.
- Me lié con todas las instrucciones.
- Creo que está liado con una compañera de trabajo.
- Salimos a dar un paseo y nos liamos y nos pasamos toda la tarde en un café.
- ¿Estás muy liado/liada este fin de semana?
- Se lió y mandó el correo a la persona equivocada.
- Lleva un tiempo liado con una mujer de su gimnasio.
- Me lié a hacer llamadas y se me olvidó la reunión.
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To dip into some other idiomatic Spanish uses and expressions, come back next week.
