Policy analysis

El coste de cumplimiento para el ciudadano recae sobre quien menos puede: the cost of compliance for the citizen falls on whoever can least bear it. Compliance — one of five English words that cumplir does the work of on its own, and nothing in the Spanish says which is meant. You « comply with » a rule, which is this list's sense. You « fulfil » a condition or a requirement. You « keep » a promise, and no English speaker has ever complied with one. You « turn » an age: mañana cumplo cuarenta is tomorrow I turn forty, and feliz cumpleaños is built from the same verb. And you « serve » a sentence — cumplir condena. So the question to ask first is not what cumplir means but what is being cumplido: a rule, a condition, a promise, a birthday or a sentence.