TOMAR and COGER in Spanish

Are “TÓMALO” and “CÓGELO” correct in both Spain and Latin America?

This is a very nice question because you need to know the Imperative to answer it correctly. Plus..., some cultural differences between most Latin American countries and Spain 🙂

Short Answer:

• CÓGELO / TAKE IT or GRAB IT (Here you are using TÚ / You, in an INFORMAL context)

• CÓJALO / TAKE IT or GRAB IT (Here you are using USTED / You, in a FORMAL context)

That being said, take into account that the verb COGER is used 100% ONLY in this way just in Spain. In most Latin American countries (not properly “all”, but almost all of them), COGER means literally to “F**K”, and in most contexts is considered vulgar as an expression.

The reason of this change of meaning could be on the fact that along the Spanish dominion over almost all Latin America, some of them - NOT all, for sure - used to kill a lot of men…, and to “GRAB” a lot of women. So people that were already there, before the Spanish conquest of the land, get used to associate this verb first to "sexual violence", and then…, hundreds of years after all that, just with the sexual act without the “violent part”, but it has remained as a vulgar way to refer to it.

Nowadays, nobody really think about all this..., and when somebody from Spain uses this verb in Latin America it just sounds "funny", but nothing else.

So…, to express the concept of TAKING or GRABBING something - without the “risk” of funny misunderstandings - in most Latin American countries you can use lots of other different verbs. The most used it could be: TOMAR.

• TÓMALO / TAKE IT or GRAB IT (Here you are using TÚ / You, for an INFORMAL context)

• TÓMELO / TAKE IT or GRAB IT (Here you are using USTED / You, for a FORMAL context)

Let’s see together how all this works specifically with the verb TOMAR (to “take/grab” in this context)…

IMPERATIVE - Affirmative

- Tú TOMA / You GRAB - INFORMAL

- Usted TOME / You GRAB - FORMAL

- Nosotros/as TOMEMOS / We > “let’s” GRAB

- Vosotros/as TOMAD / You all GRAB - INFORMAL

- Ustedes TOMEN / You all GRAB - FORMAL

IMPERATIVE - Negative

- Tú no TOMES / You don’t GRAB - INFORMAL

- Usted no TOME / You don’t GRAB - FORMAL

- Nosotros/as no TOMEMOS / We > “let’s” not GRAB

- Vosotros/as no TOMÉIS / You all don’t GRAB - INFORMAL

- Ustedes no TOMEN / You all don’t GRAB - FORMAL

Object Pronouns goes right after the verb in AFFIRMATIVE IMPERATIVE, and between the “No” and “the verb” in the NEGATIVE IMPERATIVE:

• TÓMALO / Grab IT

• NO LO TOMES / Don’t grab IT

The imperative is a very irregular tense in Spanish, because it forms putting together the indicative and the subjunctive modes, and it drags into itself all irregularities from both of them. If you are a grammar person, you’ll enjoy it!

In case you wanted some extra guidance on how to study effectively, you can find the answer here, in our complete guide to learning Spanish online.

Qué tengas un día maravilloso!

Claudio