To tear (as in paper)

[poli]

¿Cuál palabra usan uds para este verbo?

[Don José]

Romper, rasgar (more formal).

Curiously, today at work a workmate was saying that in this city he had heard some people saying "partir un papel". It sounded weird to people from other places.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

I agree with Don José.
"Romper" is the usual verb for paper; "rasgar" is rather used for describing the efect of tearing the paper.
By the way, a Mexican would never say "partir un papel".


·Me duelen las manos; estuve rompiendo papeles toda la tarde. -> My hands hurt, I was ripping papers the whole afternoon.
·El profesor rompió mi examen porque me vio copiando. -> The teacher tore off my exam because he saw me cheating.
·Estaba escribiendo con un lápiz muy filoso y rasgué el papel. -> I was writing with a very sharp pencil and I scratched the paper.

[Rusty]

Originally Posted by AngelicaDeAlquezar

·Me duelen las manos; estuve rompiendo papeles toda la tarde. -> My hands hurt, I was ripping up papers the whole afternoon.
·El profesor rompió mi examen porque me vio copiando. -> The teacher tore up my exam because he saw me cheating.
·Estaba escribiendo con un lápiz muy filoso y rasgué el papel. -> I was writing with a very sharp pencil and I tore the paper.

A couple of small corrections.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Thank you! I'll study those.

[Rusty]

Just to confuse matters, 'ripping papers' will also work, but 'ripping up papers' had a better ring to it when I read your sentence the first time.

[chileno]

In Chile:

romper o rajar papeles

rasgar una tela/vestido.

(en general)

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

@Rusty: Thanks again. I will certainly take the time to study those verbs.

[wrholt]

Following up on Rusty's comments re "rip/tear" and "rip up/tear up":

"Rip" and "tear" imply something that can be either accidental or intentional. It may describe a wide range of damage, though it tends to suggest that the amount of damage is relatively small.

"Rip up" and "tear up" imply something that is NOT accidental, and it strongly implies substantial damage to the item: it has many individual rips/tears, and it may have been separated into multiple pieces.

The same type of distinction occurs with other words, such as "cut" and "cut up". For example, before a child learns to use a fork and knife to cut pieces of meat from a slice, a parent will cut up the child's slice of meat before giving the plate of food to the child.

[caliber1]

OH MY GOODNESS!!! This makes so many conversations that I have had at work make sense now! I have heard this word a lot but could never get it explained to me right (although you'd think a ripping motion would work )

PS. Can you turn one of these verbs into a object that shreds? Like by adding "-ador".

PSS. @Angelica. I have never seen anything of yours get corrected. I'm shocked. But hey, when we took that English vocabulary text, you know more English than I do

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

@Caliber: Thank you! My English is faulty more often than I would like (mostly when I try to translate an idea from one language to another), but I always try to learn from corrections.

Perhaps the word you have in mind is a "triturador"/"trituradora"?
That would be, for example, a machine that shreds paper, one that turns wood into sawdust, things like that.

[caliber1]

Originally Posted by AngelicaDeAlquezar

@Caliber: Thank you! My English is faulty more often than I would like (mostly when I try to translate an idea from one language to another), but I always try to learn from corrections.

Perhaps the word you have in mind is a "triturador"/"trituradora"?
That would be, for example, a machine that shreds paper, one that turns wood into sawdust, things like that.

No worries. It was more of a compliment I swear

And yes. A shredder is what I was thinking of. Triturador/trituradora. That is a hard one for me to pronounce. I'll practice it tonight. Thanks as always amiga!

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

I know. By the way, "shredder" is not easier for me to pronounce, so we're even.


As for the original topic, someone around me has just reminded me here some people also can say "despedazar papeles" (although it sounds a bit dramatic to me).


@wrholt: Thank you very much! I still have a lot to do to develop the feeling for using those verbs.