Verb conjugation

agarrar fuego el cañal

to have a situation or problem get more complicated or worse; to have a situation or problem go downhill.

Usage

A Salvadoran colloquial expression meaning for a situation or problem to escalate and get worse rather than improve — la reunión iba mal y, cuando llegó el jefe, agarró fuego el cañal. It's a fixed regional idiom, not something to build with other tenses or subjects the way an ordinary verb works.

Examples

Todo iba bien hasta que agarró fuego el cañal. — Everything was fine until things went south.
Si sigues discutiendo, va a agarrar fuego el cañal. — If you keep arguing, it's going to blow up.
En cuanto se enteraron, agarró fuego el cañal. — As soon as they found out, everything fell apart.

Common mistake

Trying to use this outside El Salvador and expecting it to be understood — it's a narrowly regional fixed expression, not a general Spanish verb phrase; complicarse las cosas is the widely understood equivalent.

Simple tenses

Present (presente)

yo	-
tú	-
nosotros	-
vosotros	-
ellos/ellas	-

Imperfect (imperfecto)

yo	-
tú	-
nosotros	-
vosotros	-
ellos/ellas	-

Preterite (pretérito)

yo	-
tú	-
nosotros	-
vosotros	-
ellos/ellas	-

Future (futuro)

yo	-
tú	-
nosotros	-
vosotros	-
ellos/ellas	-

Conditional (condicional)

yo	-
tú	-
nosotros	-
vosotros	-
ellos/ellas	-

Subjunctive (subjuntivo)

yo	-
tú	-
nosotros	-
vosotros	-
ellos/ellas	-

Subjunctive imperfect (subjuntivo imperfecto)

yo	-
tú	-
nosotros	-
vosotros	-
ellos/ellas	-

Imperative (imperativo)

tú	-
nosotros	-
vosotros	-

Want to practice? Try a conjugation exercise.

Frequently asked questions

What does "agarrar fuego el cañal" mean?

"agarrar fuego el cañal" means "to have a situation or problem get more complicated or worse; to have a situation or problem go downhill.".

How do you conjugate "agarrar fuego el cañal" in the present tense?

The present (presente) of "agarrar fuego el cañal" is: yo -, tú -, nosotros -, vosotros -, ellos/ellas -.

What is the Imperative (imperativo) of "agarrar fuego el cañal"?

The imperative (imperativo) of "agarrar fuego el cañal" is: tú -, nosotros -, vosotros -.

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