To hold

[LearningSpanish]

There seem to be so many ways to express 'to hold' in Spanish - are some more commonly used than others? How regional are their uses? And are some options inappropriate in some cases?

For example:

tener en las manos
sostener
agarrar
sujetarse
mantener

Thanks in advance for your help.

For example I just wanted to say, she was holding a peach. I guessed 'tenía' un durazno en las manos' would be a pretty safe option but would 'agarraba un durazno' work just as well?

[chileno]

Originally Posted by LearningSpanish

There seem to be so many ways to express 'to hold' in Spanish - are some more commonly used than others? How regional are their uses? And are some options inappropriate in some cases?

For example:

tener el las manos
sostener
agarrar

Thanks in advance for your help.

For example I just wanted to say, she was holding a peach. I guessed 'tenía' un durazno en las manos' would be a pretty safe option but would 'agarró un durazno' work just as well?

First you need to understand that hold means sostener.

hold = sostener

have = tener

to take = tomar/agarrar


Now, agarrar is more like to grasp, for me that I am from Chile. We do not use agarrar like in your example. We use "tomar" (take)

And yes to hold, in some instances would mean agarrar/tomar/sostener.

Say that holding a guy from his clothes, like the lapel of your jacket, like in a fight.

Lo agarró/tomó/sostuvo por la solapa de la chaqueta y lo tiró por tierra/lo echó a tierra.

Hope it helps.

[ROBINDESBOIS]

peach is melocotón.

[Perikles]

When our dog needed vet treatment the other day, the vet needed help for somebody else to hold her, and I was surprised when he said 'aguántala'.

Is that regional? Canarians do use odd words sometimes.

[chileno]

Originally Posted by ROBINDESBOIS

peach is melocotón.

Para ustedes los españoles y no sabría decir quien más.

Originally Posted by Perikles

When our dog needed vet treatment the other day, the vet needed help for somebody else to hold her, and I was surprised when he said 'aguántala'.

Is that regional? Canarians do use odd words sometimes.

Sí, También se usa/usaba aguantar.

[pinosilano]

Originally Posted by ROBINDESBOIS

peach is melocotón.

Melocotón creo que es una cualidad de durazno con el cual se hacen los huesillos (duraznos secos) y las conservas de duraznos en almibar.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

@Learning: maybe you also want to take a look here.

[LearningSpanish]

Originally Posted by ROBINDESBOIS

peach is melocotón.

Gracias pero creo que es algo regional. Quizas en España es melocotón pero por lo menos en algunos paises en America Latina creo que es durazno.

Thanks everyone

[ROBINDESBOIS]

Durazno sounds quite strange to me, sorry .

[Elaina]

I've known it is called both ways but have heard more people call it durazno.

As far as aguantar ... mostly my Caribbean friends use aguantar for "to hold" "wait", etc.

[chileno]

Originally Posted by Elaina

I've known it is called both ways but have heard more people call it durazno.

As far as aguantar ... mostly my Caribbean friends use aguantar for "to hold" "wait", etc.

Correcto. También se usa/usaba en Chile como "esperar".

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

"Melocotón" only appears in my old cook books, where "piñas" are "ananás", "chabacanos" are "albaricoques" and "toronjas" are "pomelos".

By the way, in Mexico, "aguantar" became a slang synonym of "esperar" only a few years ago, but only in imperative form...
- Aguanta, ya casi nos vamos.
- Aguántame diez minutos.
- Dile a Juan que aguante, ya casi llegamos.