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Spanish Word of the Day Archive
Monday June 25, 2007
temer, verb:
to be afraid of, to be frightened of
Temer is a more formal way than tener miedo of saying that someone is afraid. You use it with the preposition a if it’s a person you are afraid of:
Teme al profesor.
He’s afraid of the teacher.
If it’s a thing you’re afraid of, you don’t need to use the a:
Ahora no hay por qué temer una derrota.
There’s no reason to be afraid of a defeat now.
If you’re afraid of doing something, you use the infinitive after temer with no preposition:
Temo ofenderles.
I’m afraid of offending them.
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