How to say it in Spanish: natural Spanish for tricky English phrases
The Spanish Obsessive · Updated 2 October 2026
Some English phrases are easy to translate. Others aren’t: you look them up in the dictionary, find several Spanish words that all seem to mean the same thing, and you’re still not sure what a Spanish speaker would actually say.
That’s what our “How to say it in Spanish” video series is for. In each episode, we take one of those tricky English expressions and show you the most natural way to say it in Spanish – real Spanish you’ll hear and use, not translated English.
The videos are aimed at intermediate to advanced learners, but if you’re a beginner you’ll still get a lot out of them. Each one comes with a written guide, examples, a quick quiz and the full transcript.
The phrases at a glance
Short on time? Here’s the quick answer for every phrase in the series so far. Click through to each guide for the details.
| English | Spanish | Example |
|---|---|---|
| I’m supposed to… | se supone que | Se supone que voy a la tienda. I’m supposed to go to the shop. |
| You’re not supposed to… | no deberías / no se puede | No deberías hacer eso. You’re not supposed to do that. |
| To meet (for the first time) | conocer | Conocí a mi esposa hace nueve años. I met my wife nine years ago. |
| To meet up | quedar (con) | ¿Quedamos a las ocho mañana? Shall we meet tomorrow at eight? |
| To bump into | encontrarse con | Ayer me encontré con Ana en el parque. Yesterday I bumped into Ana in the park. |
| To catch up with (someone ahead of you) | alcanzar | Ve tú primero, ya te alcanzo. You go ahead, I’ll catch up with you. |
| To catch up (on news, work, with a friend) | ponerse al día (con) | Deberíamos quedar para ponernos al día. We should meet up and catch up. |
| … ago | hace + time | Llegué hace dos semanas. I arrived two weeks ago. |
The videos
Every episode has its own guide with the video, a quick-answer table, examples, a short quiz and the full transcript:
Episode 1
How to say “supposed to” in Spanish
The everyday way is se supone que + a normal sentence: Se supone que voy a la tienda – I’m supposed to go to the shop. For “not supposed to”, you’ll usually hear no deberías or no se puede.
se supone quese suponía queno deberíasno se puede
Episode 2
How to say “to meet” in Spanish
Spanish uses a different verb depending on the kind of meeting: conocer when you meet someone for the first time, quedar when you meet up, and encontrarse con when you bump into someone.
conocerquedarencontrarse conreunirsejuntarse
Episode 3
How to say “catch up with” in Spanish
Alcanzar when someone is ahead of you, and ponerse al día when you’re behind on work or the news – or when you meet a friend to catch up.
alcanzarpillarponerse al díaadelantar cuaderno
Episode 4
How to say “ago” in Spanish
Put hace in front of the time: hace dos semanas – two weeks ago. Plus atrás, hace poco, hace un rato and which past tense to use.
hace + timeatráshace pocohace un rato
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