Today’s Spanish word of the day is “funcionar”.
It’s a verb meaning “to work” or “to function”.
“Funcionar” can be used to talk about whether things like machines and systems work correctly, for example:
- Mi teléfono no funciona. – My phone isn’t working.
It’s not used to refer to people working though. In that case, you would use the verb “trabajar”.
The word “funcionar” comes from the word “función” which in turn comes from Latin functio, meaning “performance” or “execution”, which is also the root of the English word “function”.
“Funcionar” is a regular verb, so it’s conjugated in the same way as other -ar verbs.
Example sentences
¿Sabes cómo funciona esta máquina?
Do you know how this machine works?
El plan no funcionó como esperábamos.
The plan didn’t work as we expected.
La televisión dejó de funcionar de repente.
The TV stopped working suddenly.
Para funcionar bien, necesito dormir al menos siete horas.
To function well, I need to sleep at least seven hours.
Este método suele funcionar en la mayoría de los casos.
This method tends to work in most cases.
