📖LearnModule 12 · Lesson 9 of 30Proficient User · CEFR C1, completedUnit 2 · Las perífrasis verbales
Ponerse a, echarse a, estar a punto de
Module 12 of the free Spanish course (CEFR C1, completed), lesson 9 of 30: The start of an action has its own verbs. On this page: 9 words with their genders and respellings, the rule, a watch-out line, the conjugation table and the audio — the study notes behind the workbook's QR.
The words
Spanish
English
Say it
se puso a llorar
she started to cry
seh POO-soh ah yoh-RAR
se echó a reír
he burst out laughing
seh eh-CHOH ah rreh-EER
está a punto de salir
she is about to leave
ehs-TAH ah POON-toh deh sah-LEER
rompió a llorar
he burst into tears (literary)
rrohm-PYOH ah yoh-RAR
el comienzo
the beginning
ehl koh-MYEHN-soh
repentino
sudden
rreh-pehn-TEE-noh
a punto de
about to
ah POON-toh deh
temblar
to tremble
tehm-BLAR
ella se puso a trabajar
she set about working
EH-yah seh POO-soh ah trah-bah-HAR
Respellings follow the course’s say-it key; the stressed syllable is in capitals. Print this lesson’s flashcards (PDF) — the words on the front, the English and respelling on the back.
La regla · The rule
The start of an action has its own verbs. Ponerse a is to set about: se puso a llorar. Echarse a is a sudden burst: se echó a reír. Romper a is the literary twin: rompió a llorar. Estar a punto de is to be about to: está a punto de salir.
Y también · And also
They are not interchangeable: ponerse a can start any activity (se puso a trabajar), echarse a and romper a only a few — laughing, crying, running. Learn the pairs that exist and do not invent new ones.
Ojo · Watch out
echarse a and romper a take only a handful of verbs: reír, llorar, correr, temblar. se echó a trabajar is not Spanish — that is se puso a trabajar. And a punto de + infinitive, never a punto de que here.
ponerse, pretérito — the table
yo me puse · tú te pusiste · él/ella/usted se puso · nosotros nos pusimos · ustedes se pusieron · ellos/ellas se pusieron
Do it now — on paper
Say all 9 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the Spanish spelling alone — begin with se puso a llorar.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the Spanish.
Write out ponerse, pretérito in full from memory, every person, and check each form against the table above.
This free course is the reading half. The writing half — write-in lessons, daily practice pages with built-in review, self-checks and a full answer key — is the companion workbook series, The Spanish Ladder: one workbook per module, fifteen in all, released band by band with the Basic band (Modules 1–5) first.
Keep these words
Turn this lesson’s words into flashcards, then space your reviews — the two habits the research behind our study guides backs hardest.