Among those verbs that might seem ordinary but carry significant legal weight, girar deserves special attention.
Outside of legal or financial contexts, it usually means to “turn” or “spin.” But within legal Spanish, girar takes on a far more technical and specialized meaning.
In legal and financial contexts
Girar is frequently used when dealing with credit instruments and commercial documents. A corporate lawyer, notary, or finance professional knows what it means to girar un cheque, girar una letra de cambio, or dar giro a un pagaré.
In these cases, girar means to issue, draw, or put into circulation a document with legal or financial force.
Common examples:
- El banco giró un cheque por el importe de la deuda.
→ The bank issued a check for the amount of the debt. - El proveedor giró una factura con vencimiento a 30 días.
→ The supplier issued an invoice with 30-day payment terms. - Se dio giro a una letra a favor del acreedor.
→ A bill of exchange was drawn in favor of the creditor.
Giro, dar giro, and its nuances
Be careful not to automatically equate giro with a simple bank transfer. While in some contexts they may be synonymous, dar giro a una cuenta may also refer to the formal movement or dispatch of funds in institutional or business contexts.
Additionally, in legal writing, dar un giro can be used metaphorically to indicate a change of course — as in: “The case took a turn after the witness testimony.”
In short
In legal language, girar doesn’t just mean to move — it means to formalize, to commit, to give legal life to a transaction. It’s a word of action and obligation. Like many terms in legal Spanish, its weight lies in precision and context. dc
