Skip to content

gastar

to spend

verb gahs-TAHR Less Common
People & Society Money

Origin: From Latin vastare (to lay waste), with West Germanic influence.

Also means

to use up

Usage Note

Gastar means to spend money or to use up / wear out a resource (gastar energía, gastarse los zapatos). To 'spend time' is pasar el tiempo, never gastar tiempo. A less obvious idiom: gastar una broma = to play a prank on someone — a usage learners rarely expect.

Examples

"Gasta demasiado dinero en ropa."

Natural Translation

She spends too much money on clothes.

Free starter pack

Building your Spanish vocabulary?

Get the 100 most common Spanish words as a free PDF — one email, no spam.

Explore Spanish by topic