Sujetar Examples, Sentences and Quiz
Sujetar means “to hold, to fasten”, and it is one of the verbs you will use every day in Spanish. Sujetar means to hold or to fasten, and it is used for holding something in place, fastening a belt or a seatbelt, and holding someone's arm. It is fully regular, and it is the careful, steady partner of agarrar. This page shows sujetar in real sentences, in short dialogues, and in the mistakes learners make most often, and it finishes with a ten-question quiz so you can test yourself. Every sentence below comes with its English translation, and every form is the correct present-tense form unless the sentence is clearly marked as past or future. For a first taste: “Yo sujeto el cinturón antes de salir.” — I hold the seatbelt before leaving.
Sujetar in real example sentences
The twelve sentences below are grouped by how sujetar is used. Read each one out loud, then read the translation. If a sentence feels useful, copy it into your own notebook with one small change — a different time, a different person, a different place — and you have a new sentence of your own.
In the present: everyday use
These sentences use sujetar in the present tense, which is how you will meet it most often: routines, facts, and things happening now.
“Sujeto el cinturón antes de salir.” — I hold the seatbelt before leaving.
“¿Tú sujetas la puerta con la mano?” — Do you hold the door with my hand?
“Sujeta el papel con una pinza.” — He/she holds the paper with a clip.
“Sujetamos a su hijo de la mano.” — We hold his son by the hand.
Talking about the past
The present is not the only tense you need. These sentences show sujetar in the past, so you can talk about what already happened.
“Ayer, yo sujeté el cinturón antes de salir.” — Yesterday, I held the seatbelt before leaving. (preterite)
“Él sujetaba la puerta con la mano todos los días.” — He used to hold the door with my hand every day. (imperfect)
Plans and things already done
These sentences look forward, or look back at something already finished. Notice how the verb form changes while the meaning of sujetar stays the same.
“Nosotros sujetaremos el papel con una pinza mañana.” — We will hold the paper with a clip tomorrow. (future)
“¿Tú has sujetado a su hijo de la mano?” — Have you held his son by the hand? (present perfect)
More everyday uses
Four more present-tense sentences, covering the remaining persons, so you can see the whole table in action.
“Sujetáis el cinturón antes de salir.” — You hold the seatbelt before leaving.
“Sujetan la puerta con la mano.” — They hold the door with my hand.
“Sujeto el papel con una pinza.” — I hold the paper with a clip.
“Sujeta a su hijo de la mano.” — He/she holds his son by the hand.
Sujetar in context
Single sentences teach you the forms. Dialogues teach you when to use them. Read the short conversation below, then the paragraph that follows, and notice how sujetar appears naturally, without anyone stopping to think about conjugation.
A short dialogue
Lucía: “¿Tú sujetas el cinturón antes de salir?” — Do you hold the seatbelt before leaving?
Carlos: “Sí, yo sujeto el cinturón antes de salir.” — Yes, I hold the seatbelt before leaving.
Lucía: “Nosotros sujetamos la puerta con la mano.” — We hold the door with my hand.
Carlos: “Y ellos sujetan el papel con una pinza.” — And they hold the paper with a clip.
Lucía: “Vosotros sujetáis a su hijo de la mano.” — You hold his son by the hand.
Carlos: “Sí, y él sujeta la puerta con la mano.” — Yes, and he holds the door with my hand.
A short paragraph
Lucía sujeta el cinturón antes de salir, y Carlos sujeta la puerta con la mano. Nosotros sujetamos el papel con una pinza, y ellos sujetan a su hijo de la mano. Yo sujeto el papel con una pinza, y mi padre sujeta a su hijo de la mano. Sujetar is part of everyday life, because to hold, to fasten is something Spanish speakers do again and again, in every tense and every situation.
Common mistakes with sujetar
These are the errors learners actually make with sujetar. Each one shows the wrong version, the right version, and why the correction matters.
Wrong: “Yo sujeta el cinturón antes de salir.” Right: “Yo sujeto el cinturón antes de salir.” Why: The person matters: sujeta is the él/ella/Ud. form, while the yo form is sujeto. Using the third-person form with yo is one of the most common beginner errors.
Wrong: “Ayer yo sujeto la puerta con la mano.” Right: “Ayer yo sujeté la puerta con la mano.” Why: The present and the preterite are different tenses: sujeto is happening now, while sujeté is a finished action in the past. Use the preterite with ayer.
Wrong: “Treating sujetar and agarrar as identical in every context.” Right: “Sujetar means to hold, to fasten, while agarrar means to grab.” Why: They overlap, but each has uses the other does not: sujetar fits sentences such as Sujeto el cinturón antes de salir, while agarrar belongs in a different sentence. Check the meaning you want before choosing.
Wrong: “Yo soy sujetado la puerta con la mano.” Right: “Yo he sujetado la puerta con la mano.” Why: Spanish perfect tenses use haber, not ser: he sujetado, has sujetado, ha sujetado. Ser plus the participle makes a passive, not a perfect tense.
Wrong: “De niño, yo sujeté el papel con una pinza todos los días.” Right: “De niño, yo sujetaba el papel con una pinza todos los días.” Why: For a repeated habit in the past, use the imperfect (sujetaba), not the preterite. The preterite (sujeté) is for one finished action.
Quiz: sujetar in use
Ten questions on sujetar in real sentences. Choose the correct answer for each one, then check the answer key. Every answer is explained.
1. Complete the sentence: “Vosotros ______ el cinturón antes de salir.” (The seatbelt before leaving.)
- (a) sujetáis
- (b) sujeto
- (c) sujetas
Answer: sujetáis — The vosotros/as form of sujetar in the present is sujetáis.
2. Complete the sentence: “Ellos ______ la puerta con la mano.” (The door with my hand.)
- (a) sujeto
- (b) sujetas
- (c) sujetan
Answer: sujetan — The ellos/ellas/Uds. form of sujetar in the present is sujetan.
3. Complete the sentence: “Yo ______ el cinturón antes de salir.” (The seatbelt before leaving.)
- (a) sujetó
- (b) sujeté
- (c) sujetaste
Answer: sujeté — The yo form of sujetar in the preterite is sujeté.
4. Complete the sentence: “Él ______ la puerta con la mano.” (The door with my hand.)
- (a) sujetaba
- (b) sujetabas
- (c) sujetábamos
Answer: sujetaba — The él/ella/Ud. form of sujetar in the imperfect is sujetaba.
5. Complete the sentence: “Nosotros ______ el papel con una pinza.” (The paper with a clip.)
- (a) sujetaré
- (b) sujetarás
- (c) sujetaremos
Answer: sujetaremos — The nosotros/as form of sujetar in the future is sujetaremos.
6. What does sujetar mean in English?
- (a) to grab, to hold
- (b) to hold, to fasten
- (c) to grab
Answer: to hold, to fasten — Sujetar means “to hold, to fasten”. The other options are the meanings of different verbs.
7. Which sentence is correct?
- (a) Yo sujeto el cinturón antes de salir.
- (b) Ellos sujeta el cinturón antes de salir.
- (c) Yo sujeto la puerta con la mano ayer.
Answer: Yo sujeto el cinturón antes de salir. — “Yo sujeto el cinturón antes de salir.” is correct. The other two sentences contain the mistakes explained in the section above.
8. How do you say “I hold the seatbelt before leaving.” in Spanish?
- (a) Yo sujetan el cinturón antes de salir.
- (b) Yo sujeté el cinturón antes de salir.
- (c) Yo sujeto el cinturón antes de salir.
Answer: Yo sujeto el cinturón antes de salir. — “Yo sujeto el cinturón antes de salir.” is the correct translation. The second option uses the wrong person's form, and the third uses the preterite.
9. What is the nosotros form of sujetar in the present tense?
- (a) sujetas
- (b) sujetamos
- (c) sujeto
Answer: sujetamos — The nosotros form is sujetamos.
10. Which of these sentences is in the present tense?
- (a) Ayer, yo sujeté el cinturón antes de salir.
- (b) Nosotros sujetaremos el cinturón antes de salir mañana.
- (c) Yo sujeto el cinturón antes de salir.
Answer: Yo sujeto el cinturón antes de salir. — “Yo sujeto el cinturón antes de salir.” is in the present tense. The other two are in the preterite and the future.
Frequently asked questions
How do you say 'I hold' in Spanish?
Say 'Yo sujeto el cinturón antes de salir'. The complement follows directly, as in the examples above. For a routine, add a time expression: 'Yo sujeto el cinturón antes de salir todos los días'.
How do you say 'I hold' in the past?
For one finished action, say 'Ayer, yo sujeté la puerta con la mano'. For a repeated habit, say 'Yo sujetaba la puerta con la mano todos los días'. For something already done, say 'Yo he sujetado la puerta con la mano'.
What is the difference between sujetar and agarrar?
Sujetar means to hold, to fasten, while agarrar means to grab. They are easy to confuse because they appear in similar situations, but they are not interchangeable: use sujetar when you mean to hold, to fasten, as in Sujeto el cinturón antes de salir.
Related pages
- Full conjugation of sujetar — every tense of sujetar in one place.
- Sujetar in the present tense — the full table and usage rules for one tense.
- Spanish verbs — the hub for every Spanish verb on VerbFlow.
- Verb quiz — test yourself on sujetar and other verbs.
- Conjugation practice — drill the forms of sujetar until they are automatic.