What does “tomar declaración” mean in Spanish?
Francisco Kaminski explica su detención y declaración policial
B1 Spanish listening practice · Andean Spanish · Picked for people who know some
In crime and news Spanish, tomar declaración is the fixed phrase for police “taking a statement” from a witness or suspect. Here declaración is a formal statement given to authorities, not just any “declaration.” Notice the direction: police toman declaración, so from your side you’d say me tomaron declaración, “they took my statement” — exactly what Kaminski describes about his questioning.
The flip side is prestar declaración — “to give a statement” — the action of the person being questioned; in court it edges toward “to testify.” So the same interview is tomar declaración from the officer’s angle and prestar declaración from the witness’s. Register is neutral-to-formal, and both collocations are everywhere in true-crime and legal reporting.
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Source: wordfreq 3.1.1 (general) · SUBTLEX-ESP 2011 (spoken). These numbers are close, not perfect.