besar
verbCEFR B1
What does “besar” mean in English?
to kiss
to kiss (besar a alguien; transitive; personal a obligatory before human objects; body part: besar en la mejilla; reciprocal: besarse; noun: un beso; social and romantic registers)
Example sentences
Se besaron por primera vez en la terraza de ese café, un martes por la tarde, con el sol poniéndose detrás de los edificios, y los dos supieron que algo había cambiado.
They kissed for the first time on the terrace of that café, on a Tuesday afternoon, with the sun setting behind the buildings, and they both knew something had changed.
Le besó en la mejilla al despedirse, como hacía siempre, y ella no le dijo nada pero notó que él la había retenido un poco más de lo habitual.
He kissed her on the cheek as he said goodbye, as he always did, and she said nothing but noticed that he had held on a little longer than usual.
Cuando éramos pequeños, mi madre nos besaba en la frente cada noche antes de dormir y nos decía que todo iba a salir bien.
When we were little, my mother would kiss us on the forehead every night before sleep and tell us everything was going to be fine.
How to use it
Besar means 'to kiss'. It is a transitive verb: besar a alguien, with the personal a obligatory before human objects. The body part kissed is introduced by en: besar a alguien en la mejilla / en la frente. The reciprocal form besarse means 'to kiss each other'. Besar is neutral in register. In Spanish social culture, giving two besos (cheek kisses) is a standard greeting in many contexts — this physical salutation is distinct from the romantic kiss. The noun beso is high-frequency in both romantic and social contexts.
Common mistake
The personal a is obligatory before a human object: 'besó a su madre', never '*besó su madre'. The preposition en introduces the body part: besar en la mejilla, not '*besar la mejilla' in most registers. Besarse (reciprocal) and besar (transitive) are both common but serve different syntactic roles.