Hacer un encargo / por encargo/ encargar

[ROBINDESBOIS]

How can we translate the 3 following sentences including the word encargar?

Hacer un encargo
Lo recibí por encargo
Mi hermana me ha encargado 3 kilos de lentejas.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

To order something -> My sister ordered...

¿"Recibir por encargo" en el sentido de que alguien me pidió recibir algo?
-> I was commissioned to receive it.

Si es algo que encargué y ya recibí, tal vez "I ordered it by phone / through an online store...)".

[ROBINDESBOIS]

So, My sister ordered me to get her 3 kilos of lentils.
And whta about. I was commisioned to get 3 kilos of lentils for my sister.

[poli]

That sounds very ironic, because if you are commissioned to do something, it's for big enterprise. Example: the architect was commissioned to design a museum. Being commissioned your sister to buy a bag of lentils is really a funny thing to say.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

If you use "order" like that, then it literally means the person in your family commanded that.

Encargué una pizza. -> I ordered a pizza.

The more informal way to say it needs a far simpler verb:
My sister asked me to...
I was asked to...


And that is why it's very important to make clear the context and the meaning of the things we ask.

[poli]

Sí, mi Hermana me encargó ir al mercado a comprar lentejas, cebollas, zanahorias, tomates, cilantro y limón, pero no me comisionó hacerlo ni en español ni en inglés.

The problem is that encargar doesn't completely translate to English. I sense it is close to the verb to entrust, which is rarely used or even understood.

[JPablo]

Look here,
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/tr...nglish-spanish

2 (compra) me encargó una botella de whisky escocés = she asked me to buy or get her a bottle of Scotch

she asked me to bring her back a bottle of Scotch

Tan sencillo como eso... ;-)

[poli]

That really is simple. Thanks.
I have an additional question. I believe I have heard something to this effect: Mi Hermana me encargó comprar una botella de whisky escocés.

With your explanation, this now seems redundant. Is it commonly used this way?

[aleCcowaN]

por encargo

muebles por encargo = bespoke furniture
asesinato por encargo = contract killing
fabricado por encargo = made by special order

"por encargo" and "a medida" can be mixed up
"a medida" supposes always "por encargo" but the other way around is not always the case.

por encargo = made after your order
a medida = made specially for you

muebles a medida = custom-made furniture
trajes a medida = tailored suits

por encargo ---> it wouldn't exist hadn't you ordered it
a medida ---> it wouldn't be that way hadn't you ordered so

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

@Poli: It's very commonly used, but it's not necessarily redundant: the idea of "encargar" implies a certain amount of care that one has to put into getting what one was asked to, which is probably in the head of the English speaker too, but it's less tacit for us.