Grammar trap ·Cognate bridge ES mirrors EN

tener lugar

ES [teˈneɾ luˈɣaɾ] · Spanish for “to take place” · literally “to have place”

Brain calques tomar lugar - literally to take place Actually tener lugar - literally to have place

Everyone learns take place early - the meeting takes place at noon, the concert takes place downtown. So when a Spaniard says an event will tener lugar, the shape clicks straight away. The catch is the verb: English takes place, Spanish has it.

Why it happens

Every language grabs a light verb and a word for place to say that something happens, but they don't agree on the verb. Spanish holds it - tener lugar, to have place. English takes it - take place. German finds it - stattfinden, literally to find place. French sides with Spanish - avoir lieu, to have place. The meaning lines up perfectly, which is the trap: an English speaker calques take into tomar and reaches for tomar lugar, when Spanish wants tener. Recognise the idiom, then just swap the verb.

← all specimens