darse prisa
verbCEFR B1
What does “darse prisa” mean in English?
to hurry up, to rush
to hurry up, to rush (reflexive: me doy prisa, te das prisa)
Example sentences
¡Date prisa! Si no salimos en diez minutos, vamos a perder el autobús y no hay otro hasta las tres.
Hurry up! If we don't leave in ten minutes, we'll miss the bus and there isn't another one until three.
Tuve que darme mucha prisa para terminar el informe antes de la reunión porque me había levantado tarde.
I had to rush a lot to finish the report before the meeting because I had got up late.
Se daba tanta prisa que no se dio cuenta de que había dejado el pasaporte en casa hasta que llegó al aeropuerto.
She was in such a hurry that she didn't notice she had left her passport at home until she got to the airport.
How to use it
Darse prisa means 'to hurry up' or 'to be quick'. It is always reflexive: me doy prisa, te das prisa, se da prisa, nos damos prisa. It cannot be used transitively — you cannot darse prisa to someone else. To urge someone to hurry, use the imperative (¡Date prisa!, ¡Daos prisa!, ¡Dese prisa!) or add a purpose clause: date prisa para que no lleguemos tarde. The noun la prisa means 'haste, hurry', and the common expression tener prisa ('to be in a hurry') is a closely related idiom, but different in structure.
Common mistake
English 'hurry up' is always darse prisa, not *apurarse (only used in Latin America) or *correr (that means 'to run'). The reflexive is obligatory: '*dar prisa' without the reflexive clitic is ungrammatical. The expression tener prisa (to be in a hurry) is different: it refers to being in a state of urgency rather than the action of rushing.