tener lugar
ES [teˈneɾ luˈɣaɾ] · Spanish for “to take place” · literally “to have place”
Everyone learns take place early - a meeting takes place at noon, a concert takes place downtown. Spanish builds the phrase from the same parts: lugar is place (a spot), so tener lugar is literally to have a place. The only twist is the verb - English takes place, Spanish has it.
Every language grabs a light verb and a word for place to say that something happens, but they don't agree on the verb. Spanish holds it - tener lugar, to have place. English takes it - take place. German finds it - stattfinden, literally to find place. French sides with Spanish - avoir lieu, to have place. The meaning lines up perfectly, which is the trap: an English speaker calques take into tomar and reaches for tomar lugar, when Spanish wants tener. Recognise the idiom, then just swap the verb.