Spanish word(s) for the week "Realizar"

[Jay Anderson]

Ok well this is a few words (a word and a phrase).  Perhaps you already know that when translating between languages, it's not necessarily a one-to-one relationship.  In other words word x in language A may not translate directly to word y in language B.  If you have ever watched a movie with subtitles in English you may have noticed times when a long phrase was said the the subtitles just had one or a few words.  You may have seen the opposite.  Well, this an example of what I'm talking about. 

     Take the verb "to realize" in English. It is not translated to the verb "realizar" in Spanish.  In fact "realizar" is used the way "to achieve" or "to accomplish" is in English.  In Spanish to say that you have come to know something in the way "to realize" is used in English you need to use what basically is a phrasal verb (a phrase used like a verb) "dar cuenta."  And yes dar is a verb so you conjugate the verb dar depending on the tense and person then place cuenta after it to get the same sense as in the English "to realize."  For example if I say "me di cuenta" that is the same as I realized, but "realicé" is the same as "I achieved (a goal)."

  Do you see the difference?  Let me know in the comments.