What does darse cuenta in Spanish mean?

What is the meaning of the word darse cuenta in Spanish? The article explains the full meaning, pronunciation along with bilingual examples and instructions on how to use darse cuenta in Spanish.

The word darse cuenta in Spanish means notice, realise, realize, finally understand, realize in time, not notice anything, not be aware of anything, without realizing, without realizing. To learn more, please see the details below.

Listen to pronunciation

Meaning of the word darse cuenta

notice

locución verbal (notar, ver)

(transitive verb: Verb taking a direct object--for example, "Say something." "She found the cat.")
¿Te diste cuenta? La casa olía a gasolina.
Did you notice? The house smelled of petrol.

realise

(notar que algo pasa) (UK)

(transitive verb: Verb taking a direct object--for example, "Say something." "She found the cat.")
Me doy cuenta de que estás enojado conmigo. En el avión, Adriana se dio cuenta de que se había olvidado las llaves.
On the plane, Adriana realised that she had forgotten her keys.

realize

locución verbal (percatarse de)

(transitive verb: Verb taking a direct object--for example, "Say something." "She found the cat.")
Me di cuenta de que me había olvidado las llaves.
I realized that I had forgotten the keys.

finally understand

locución verbal (coloquial (entenderlo, asimilarlo)

(verbal expression: Phrase with special meaning functioning as verb--for example, "put their heads together," "come to an end.")
Después de estudiar me di cuenta de lo que decía el profesor.
ⓘEsta oración no es una traducción de la original. I had wondered why he was acting so strangely, but it wasn't until Michael told me what happened that the penny dropped.

realize in time

locución verbal (percatarse a tiempo)

(verbal expression: Phrase with special meaning functioning as verb--for example, "put their heads together," "come to an end.")
Me di cuenta de que me faltaba la entrada a tiempo y volví a buscarla.
I realized I was missing the ticket in time and went back to get it.

not notice anything, not be aware of anything

expresión (no percatarse de lo que sucede)

(verbal expression: Phrase with special meaning functioning as verb--for example, "put their heads together," "come to an end.")

without realizing

locución adverbial (sin percatarse) (US)

(expression: Prepositional phrase, adverbial phrase, or other phrase or expression--for example, "behind the times," "on your own.")
Sin darse cuenta, Manuel se gastó todo el dinero que tenía ahorrado.
Without realizing, Manuel spent all the money that he had saved.

without realizing

locución adverbial (sin percatarse de algo) (US)

(expression: Prepositional phrase, adverbial phrase, or other phrase or expression--for example, "behind the times," "on your own.")
Sin darme cuenta de lo que pasaba, llegué a casa después del accidente.
Without realizing what happened, I got home after the accident.

Let's learn Spanish

So now that you know more about the meaning of darse cuenta in Spanish, you can learn how to use them through selected examples and how to read them. And remember to learn the related words that we suggest. Our website is constantly updating with new words and new examples so you can look up the meanings of other words you don't know in Spanish.

Do you know about Spanish

Spanish (español), also known as Castilla, is a language of the Iberian-Romance group of the Romance languages, and the 4th most common language in the world according to Some sources, while others list it as a 2nd or 3rd most common language. It is the mother tongue of about 352 million people, and is spoken by 417 million people when adding its speakers as a language. sub (estimated in 1999). Spanish and Portuguese have very similar grammar and vocabulary; The number of similar vocabulary of these two languages is up to 89%. Spanish is the primary language of 20 countries around the world. It is estimated that the total number of speakers of Spanish is between 470 and 500 million, making it the second most widely spoken language in the world by number of native speakers.