resolver

What it means

1. 1.

   To get hold of something scarce by informal means — through a contact, a swap, a diverted state supply. The verb is used absolutely, with no object, and the absence of an object is the point: nobody asks how.

2. 2.

   With an object, to source a specific thing: resolver unos huevos, resolver el cemento.

Examples with translations

• Tranquilo, yo te resuelvo.

  Relax, I'll sort you out.

  Note: The most common form. Naming the method would be a breach of etiquette.

• Hay que resolver el aceite antes del fin de semana.

  We need to get hold of some cooking oil before the weekend.

Where it comes from

Standard Spanish 'to resolve', narrowed in Cuba to a single economic meaning. Together with inventar ('to improvise a solution') and escapar ('to just about manage') it forms the core verbal triad of the informal economy — the vocabulary the Special Period generated and then made permanent.

First attested: 1990s in this sense

Other forms

Similar terms:

inventar, conseguir