Today’s Spanish word of the day is “preocupar”.
It’s a verb meaning “to worry” or “to be concerned” or “to bother”.
It can also be used in the reflexive form, “preocuparse”, meaning “to worry about”, for example:
- Me preocupo mucho por el futuro. – I worry a lot about the future.
A common phrase using the reflexive form is “no te preocupes”, meaning “don’t worry about it”.
The meaning of “preocupar” is a bit different to that of the English verb “to preoccupy”. In English, the word refers to when one particular thought, action or goal dominates your attention, without necessarily implying anxiety or worry. In Spanish, the word has a negative connotation, and refers to being worried or concerned rather than simply absorbed in something.
The word “preocupar” comes from Latin praeoccupare, meaning “to occupy one’s thoughts with something”. As you might have guessed, this is also the root of the English word “preoccupy”.
“Preocupar” is a regular verb, so it’s conjugated in the same way as other -ar verbs.
Example sentences
No quiero preocupar a mis padres con mis problemas.
I don’t want to worry my parents with my problems.
¿Te preocupa lo que dirán los demás?
Do you worry about what others will say?
Ella se preocupa por su salud constantemente.
She constantly worries about her health.
No debemos preocuparnos por cosas que no podemos controlar.
We shouldn’t worry about things we can’t control.
Es natural preocuparse antes de un gran evento.
It’s natural to worry before a big event.
