Echar

Echar is a versatile Spanish verb whose core sense is to throw or cast something. It also covers pouring liquids, adding ingredients, and emitting effects or outcomes. Because it combines with many prepositions and forms numerous phrasal verbs, echar is one of the most common and productive verbs in everyday speech across Spanish-speaking regions.

Core meanings include: to throw an object (echar la pelota); to pour or spill liquids (echar agua); to add ingredients (echar sal); to cause something to start or to spoil (echar a andar, echar a perder); and to dismiss or expel someone (echar a alguien del trabajo, though despedir is more formal). It can also mean to throw out or exile (echar fuera) and to emit or release (la casa echa humo).

Common idioms and fixed expressions include echar de menos (miss); echar la culpa a alguien (blame); echar una mano (lend a hand); echar un vistazo (take a quick look); echarse a + infinitive (to begin doing something suddenly, e.g., echarse a llorar); echarse atrás (to back out); and echar la casa por la ventana (to spend freely or extravagantly).

Grammar notes: echar is regular in conjugation, with preterite forms eché, echaste, echó, echamos, echasteis, echaron; present indicative forms echo, echas, echa, echamos, echáis, echan. It is transitive and combines with reflexive forms to form many phrasal verbs. Prepositions following echar determine the sense, so context is important for correct usage.