pifiar

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [pi.fiˈa]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [pi.fiˈaɾ]
• Homophone: pifià
• Rhymes: -a(ɾ)

Verb

pifiar (first-person singular present pifio, first-person singular preterite pifií, past participle pifiat)

1. (intransitive) to mess up

   Synonym: espifiar

Conjugation

    Conjugation of pifiar (first conjugation)

infinitive			pifiar
gerund			pifiant
past participle				masculine		feminine
		singular		pifiat		pifiada
		plural		pifiats		pifiades
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	ell/ella vostè	nosaltres nós	vosaltres vós	ells/elles vostès
	present	pifio	pifies	pifia	pifiem	pifieu	pifien
	imperfect	pifiava	pifiaves	pifiava	pifiàvem	pifiàveu	pifiaven
	future	pifiaré	pifiaràs	pifiarà	pifiarem	pifiareu	pifiaran
	preterite	pifií	pifiares	pifià	pifiàrem	pifiàreu	pifiaren
	conditional	pifiaria	pifiaries	pifiaria	pifiaríem	pifiaríeu	pifiarien
subjunctive		jo	tu	ell/ella vostè	nosaltres nós	vosaltres vós	ells/elles vostès
	present	pifiï	pifiïs	pifiï	pifiem	pifieu	pifiïn
	imperfect	pifiés	pifiessis	pifiés	pifiéssim	pifiéssiu	pifiessin
imperative		—	tu	vostè	nosaltres	vosaltres vós	vostès
	affirmative	—	pifia	pifiï	pifiem	pifieu	pifiïn
	negative (no)	—	no pifiïs	no pifiï	no pifiem	no pifieu	no pifiïn

Further reading

• “pifiar”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
• “pifiar” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “pifiar” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Spanish

FWOTD – 12 October 2018

Etymology

From Middle High German pfīfen (modern German pfeifen (“to whistle”)).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /piˈfjaɾ/ [piˈfjaɾ]
• Rhymes: -aɾ
• Syllabification: pi‧fiar

Verb

pifiar (first-person singular present pifio, first-person singular preterite pifié, past participle pifiado)

1. (intransitive) to drop the ball, screw up, mess up

   Pifié en la primera nota.

   I screwed up the very first note.

2. (transitive, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Peru) to boo
3. (transitive, Bolivia, Peru) to mock, dig, make fun of
4. (transitive, Mexico) to nick, rob
   • 2016, Juan Cadavid, El envenenador de Tarragona, Punto Rojo, →ISBN, page 236:

     Su madre era una buena mujer, pero había vivido esclavizada por las drogas y por su marido, que no tenía la hombría de salir cada día a rebuscar el dinero para sus vicios, sino que le ordenaba a ella que se acostara con hombres para luego pifiar todo su dinero.

     His mother was a good woman but she had lived enslaved to drugs and her husband, who didn't have the manhood to leave the house each day to seek after the money for his his vices but ordered her to lay with men so that later he could nick all their money.

5. (intransitive, music) to blow across a flute or other reedless woodwind instrument

Conjugation

    Conjugation of pifiar (See Appendix:Spanish verbs)

infinitive			pifiar
gerund			pifiando
past participle				masculine		feminine
		singular		pifiado		pifiada
		plural		pifiados		pifiadas
		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	pifio	pifiastú pifiásvos	pifia	pifiamos	pifiáis	pifian
	imperfect	pifiaba	pifiabas	pifiaba	pifiábamos	pifiabais	pifiaban
	preterite	pifié	pifiaste	pifió	pifiamos	pifiasteis	pifiaron
	future	pifiaré	pifiarás	pifiará	pifiaremos	pifiaréis	pifiarán
	conditional	pifiaría	pifiarías	pifiaría	pifiaríamos	pifiaríais	pifiarían
subjunctive		yo	tú vos	él/ella/ello usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ellos/ellas ustedes
	present	pifie	pifiestú pifiésvos2	pifie	pifiemos	pifiéis	pifien
	imperfect (ra)	pifiara	pifiaras	pifiara	pifiáramos	pifiarais	pifiaran
	imperfect (se)	pifiase	pifiases	pifiase	pifiásemos	pifiaseis	pifiasen
	future1	pifiare	pifiares	pifiare	pifiáremos	pifiareis	pifiaren
imperative		—	tú vos	usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ustedes
	affirmative		pifiatú pifiávos	pifie	pifiemos	pifiad	pifien
	negative		no pifies	no pifie	no pifiemos	no pifiéis	no pifien

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

    Selected combined forms of pifiar

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 pifiar	dative	pifiarme	pifiarte	pifiarle, pifiarse	pifiarnos	pifiaros	pifiarles, pifiarse
	accusative	pifiarme	pifiarte	pifiarlo, pifiarla, pifiarse	pifiarnos	pifiaros	pifiarlos, pifiarlas, pifiarse
with gerund pifiando	dative	pifiándome	pifiándote	pifiándole, pifiándose	pifiándonos	pifiándoos	pifiándoles, pifiándose
	accusative	pifiándome	pifiándote	pifiándolo, pifiándola, pifiándose	pifiándonos	pifiándoos	pifiándolos, pifiándolas, pifiándose
with informal second-person singular tú imperative pifia	dative	pífiame	pífiate	pífiale	pífianos	not used	pífiales
	accusative	pífiame	pífiate	pífialo, pífiala	pífianos	not used	pífialos, pífialas
with informal second-person singular vos imperative pifiá	dative	pifiame	pifiate	pifiale	pifianos	not used	pifiales
	accusative	pifiame	pifiate	pifialo, pifiala	pifianos	not used	pifialos, pifialas
with formal second-person singular imperative pifie	dative	pífieme	not used	pífiele, pífiese	pífienos	not used	pífieles
	accusative	pífieme	not used	pífielo, pífiela, pífiese	pífienos	not used	pífielos, pífielas
with first-person plural imperative pifiemos	dative	not used	pifiémoste	pifiémosle	pifiémonos	pifiémoos	pifiémosles
	accusative	not used	pifiémoste	pifiémoslo, pifiémosla	pifiémonos	pifiémoos	pifiémoslos, pifiémoslas
with informal second-person plural imperative pifiad	dative	pifiadme	not used	pifiadle	pifiadnos	pifiaos	pifiadles
	accusative	pifiadme	not used	pifiadlo, pifiadla	pifiadnos	pifiaos	pifiadlos, pifiadlas
with formal second-person plural imperative pifien	dative	pífienme	not used	pífienle	pífiennos	not used	pífienles, pífiense
	accusative	pífienme	not used	pífienlo, pífienla	pífiennos	not used	pífienlos, pífienlas, pífiense

Related terms

• pifia

Further reading

• “pifiar”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10