columpiar

Spanish

Etymology

From Old Leonese columbiare, from Ancient Greek κολυμβάω (kolumbáō, “to dive, plunge”) (with semantic shift "dive" > "swing"), from κόλυμβος (kólumbos, “little grebe”), a bird known for its diving skills.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kolumˈpjaɾ/ [ko.lũmˈpjaɾ]
• Rhymes: -aɾ
• Syllabification: co‧lum‧piar

Verb

columpiar (first-person singular present columpio, first-person singular preterite columpié, past participle columpiado)

1. to swing
   • a. 1873, Manuel Acuña, Historia del pensamiento‎^[1]:

     A veces le mandaba sus tímidos olores, / pensando que llegaba hasta su amada flor; / pero la brisa, al columpiar las flores, / llevábase muy lejos la pena de su amor.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. (pronominal, colloquial) blunder, mess up, screw up (make an embarrassing mistake)

   Synonyms: meter la pata, equivocarse

Conjugation

    Conjugation of columpiar (See Appendix:Spanish verbs)

infinitive			columpiar
gerund			columpiando
past participle				masculine		feminine
		singular		columpiado		columpiada
		plural		columpiados		columpiadas
		singular			plural
		1st person	2nd person	3rd person	1st person	2nd person	3rd person
indicative		yo	tú vos	él/ella/ello usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ellos/ellas ustedes
	present	columpio	columpiastú columpiásvos	columpia	columpiamos	columpiáis	columpian
	imperfect	columpiaba	columpiabas	columpiaba	columpiábamos	columpiabais	columpiaban
	preterite	columpié	columpiaste	columpió	columpiamos	columpiasteis	columpiaron
	future	columpiaré	columpiarás	columpiará	columpiaremos	columpiaréis	columpiarán
	conditional	columpiaría	columpiarías	columpiaría	columpiaríamos	columpiaríais	columpiarían
subjunctive		yo	tú vos	él/ella/ello usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ellos/ellas ustedes
	present	columpie	columpiestú columpiésvos2	columpie	columpiemos	columpiéis	columpien
	imperfect (ra)	columpiara	columpiaras	columpiara	columpiáramos	columpiarais	columpiaran
	imperfect (se)	columpiase	columpiases	columpiase	columpiásemos	columpiaseis	columpiasen
	future1	columpiare	columpiares	columpiare	columpiáremos	columpiareis	columpiaren
imperative		—	tú vos	usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ustedes
	affirmative		columpiatú columpiávos	columpie	columpiemos	columpiad	columpien
	negative		no columpies	no columpie	no columpiemos	no columpiéis	no columpien

¹Mostly obsolete, now mainly used in legal language.
²Argentine and Uruguayan voseo prefers the tú form for the present subjunctive.

    Selected combined forms of columpiar

These forms are generated automatically and may not actually be used. Pronoun usage varies by region.

		singular			plural
		1st person	2nd person	3rd person	1st person	2nd person	3rd person
with infinitive columpiar
	dative	columpiarme	columpiarte	columpiarle, columpiarse	columpiarnos	columpiaros	columpiarles, columpiarse
	accusative	columpiarme	columpiarte	columpiarlo, columpiarla, columpiarse	columpiarnos	columpiaros	columpiarlos, columpiarlas, columpiarse
with gerund columpiando
	dative	columpiándome	columpiándote	columpiándole, columpiándose	columpiándonos	columpiándoos	columpiándoles, columpiándose
	accusative	columpiándome	columpiándote	columpiándolo, columpiándola, columpiándose	columpiándonos	columpiándoos	columpiándolos, columpiándolas, columpiándose
with informal second-person singular tú imperative columpia
	dative	colúmpiame	colúmpiate	colúmpiale	colúmpianos	not used	colúmpiales
	accusative	colúmpiame	colúmpiate	colúmpialo, colúmpiala	colúmpianos	not used	colúmpialos, colúmpialas
with informal second-person singular vos imperative columpiá
	dative	columpiame	columpiate	columpiale	columpianos	not used	columpiales
	accusative	columpiame	columpiate	columpialo, columpiala	columpianos	not used	columpialos, columpialas
with formal second-person singular imperative columpie
	dative	colúmpieme	not used	colúmpiele, colúmpiese	colúmpienos	not used	colúmpieles
	accusative	colúmpieme	not used	colúmpielo, colúmpiela, colúmpiese	colúmpienos	not used	colúmpielos, colúmpielas
with first-person plural imperative columpiemos
	dative	not used	columpiémoste	columpiémosle	columpiémonos	columpiémoos	columpiémosles
	accusative	not used	columpiémoste	columpiémoslo, columpiémosla	columpiémonos	columpiémoos	columpiémoslos, columpiémoslas
with informal second-person plural imperative columpiad
	dative	columpiadme	not used	columpiadle	columpiadnos	columpiaos	columpiadles
	accusative	columpiadme	not used	columpiadlo, columpiadla	columpiadnos	columpiaos	columpiadlos, columpiadlas
with formal second-person plural imperative columpien
	dative	colúmpienme	not used	colúmpienle	colúmpiennos	not used	colúmpienles, colúmpiense
	accusative	colúmpienme	not used	colúmpienlo, colúmpienla	colúmpiennos	not used	colúmpienlos, colúmpienlas, colúmpiense

Derived terms

• columpio

 

Further reading

• “columpiar”, in Diccionario de la lengua española (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy, 2023 November 28