Skip to content

ocupar

to occupy

verb oh-koo-PAHR Common

Also means

to hold (a position)

Usage Note

Ocupar means to occupy a place or position and also 'to take up' space or time (ocupa mucho espacio). The reflexive ocuparse de means 'to deal with' or 'to take care of' something. Unlike the English false friend 'to preoccupy', preocupar handles worry — ocupar has no connotation of anxiety.

Examples

"El ejército ocupó la ciudad durante años."

Natural Translation

The army occupied the city for years.

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