Subir, bajar, cambiar
Half of these verbs need someone doing the action and half do not, and mixing them up is the commonest mistake in a Spanish report. The intensity ladders here are worth doing twice.
subir
verboto go uprepuntarformal
goes up slightly after falling
aumentarneutro
goes up, neutral, and works both ways
incrementarformal
the same, but needs someone doing it
La empresa incrementó su inversión.
dispararseneutro
shoots up, suddenly and a lot
Los precios se dispararon en marzo.
multiplicarseneutro
goes up several times over
Lo contrario
- caer · falls, on its own
- desplomarse · collapses, sharply
- estancarse · stops moving at all
bajar
verboto go downdescenderformal
goes down, formal and neutral
disminuirformal
goes down, and can take someone doing it
mermarformal
goes down by being eaten away
desplomarseneutro
collapses
Las ventas se desplomaron un 40 %.
recortarneutro
cuts it, always with someone doing the cutting
Lo contrario
- elevar · raises it, with an agent
- dispararse · shoots up
cambiar
verboto changemodificarformal
changes part of it, deliberately
transformarformal
changes what it fundamentally is
ajustarneutro
changes it slightly to make it fit
alterarformal
changes it, often for the worse
sustituirformal
replaces it with another
Lo contrario
- mantener · leaves it as it is
- conservar · keeps it, deliberately
- consolidar · makes it firmer rather than different