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The most common ways to express fear in Spanish are variations of “temer”, “tener miedo”, or “dar miedo”. Each of these phrases is used differently and is accompanied by prepositions. For example: “I’m afraid to speak in public.”
what is fear
Fear is one of the basic emotions of the human being, along with anger, disgust, sadness, joy and surprise. It occurs when the person perceives a danger, be it real or imagined. Fear can appear in the present in a current situation such as hearing a noise, having a nightmare, or seeing a dangerous animal. It can also arise from past experiences, as a result of trauma or painful memories. Likewise, a person may be afraid of future situations or possible scenarios. This often causes disorders such as anxiety and stress.
Although it may seem negative, fear is actually a necessary emotion for survival, since it works as an alarm signal that allows you to avoid potentially dangerous situations.
How fear is expressed
Fear can be expressed in different ways depending on the characteristics of each individual, the particular situation in which they find themselves, and the context.
The emotion of fear commonly takes shape in the body through body chills or chills, the feeling of having a “knot” in the stomach, nausea, vomiting, sweating, palpitations, shortness of breath, the feeling of being paralyzed or having the need to run or hide
In occasions in which fear is irrational, that is, in moments in which there is no logical reason for a person to feel fear, this emotion is usually produced from negative thoughts, lack of self-confidence or insecurity.
Whether the fear is logical or irrational, it is common to express the emotion of fear verbally, using common linguistic expressions. In fact, expressing this emotion orally or in writing can help reduce the feeling of fear and be effective in alleviating disorders related to excessive fear.
Three ways to express fear in Spanish
In the Spanish language, there are several ways to express fear. Some basic forms are:
- scary
- Be afraid
- Fear
1. Scary
The expression “to be scared” is generally used to indicate that something or someone is scary. That is, there is an object that is the one that causes fear to the subject. This sentence is formed with the object (noun/verb phrase) + personal pronoun/subject + conjugation of the verb “to give” + fear. For example:
- The dark scares me.
- That movie is scary.
- The Physics teacher is scary.
- Snakes are scary.
- The cliffs are scary.
2. Being afraid
Generally, in the sentences that include the expression “being afraid” there is a subject that expresses the fear caused by an object, person, situation, etc. These sentences are formed by conjugating the verb “to have” and adding the prepositions “to”, “by” or “of”. The structure of a sentence with “to be afraid” would be: personal pronoun + conjugation of the verb “to have” + fear + preposition + object (noun/verb phrase). For example:
- I am afraid of falling.
- She is afraid of small spaces.
- He is not afraid of failing.
- He is afraid of flying.
- They are afraid for not having studied.
3. Fear
Fear can also be expressed with the verb “fear” followed by the prepositions “to”, “by”, or “that”. This type of sentence can be formed with a personal pronoun + the conjugation of the verb “to fear” + preposition/infinitive verb + object. For example:
- I’m not afraid of spiders.
- I fear for the safety of my children.
- They fear that tomorrow it will rain.
- Luis is afraid of gaining weight.
- Marta is afraid of dogs.
Other related phrases.
In addition to the expressions mentioned, the following phrases can also be used:
- Get scared : it is used, generally, as a reaction to something that happens. For example: “That noise scared me”; “Clowns scare him”; “What a scare!”.
- Apprehension : used as “to be afraid” or “to be suspicious”. For example: “I am apprehensive of that man.”
- Lose the fear of : This expression is used in a similar way to “overcome fear.” For example: “I want to lose my fear of flying.”
- Overcome the fear of : This phrase is used in a similar way to “lose the fear.” For example: “Learning to swim is important to overcome the fear of water.”
- To die of fear: it is a colloquial expression that is used to express fear in an exaggerated way. For example: “I’m scared to death when I see that horror movie.”
- Scary : is another colloquial expression used to indicate that something or someone is excellent or spectacular. For example: “Andrea Bocelli sings with fear.”
