How to Say "to handcuff" in Spanish
The Spanish word for “to handcuff” is “esposar” — B1 level.
Examples
La policía tuvo que esposar al sospechoso.
The police had to handcuff the suspect.
No puedes esposar a alguien sin una razón legal.
You cannot handcuff someone without a legal reason.
Lo vi salir del banco esposado por los oficiales.
I saw him leave the bank handcuffed by the officers.
The Personal 'A'
When you use this verb to say you are handcuffing a specific person, you must put the word 'a' before their name or description. Example: 'Esposaron a Juan'.
Using it as an Action
This is a regular -ar verb, meaning it follows the most common conjugation patterns in Spanish without any tricky spelling changes.
Confusing 'Esposar' with 'Casar'
Mistake: “Using 'esposar' to mean 'to marry'.”
Correction: Use 'casar' or 'casarse' for getting married. Although 'esposa' means wife, 'esposar' almost always means to handcuff.
Related Translations
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