sofocar

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin suffōcāre. Compare English suffocate.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sofoˈkaɾ/ [so.foˈkaɾ]

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɾ
• Syllabification: so‧fo‧car

Verb

sofocar (first-person singular present sofoco, first-person singular preterite sofoqué, past participle sofocado)

1. to suffocate, to stifle, to smother
2. to quell, to suppress, to put down, to crush, to quash, to squelch

   Intentábamos sofocar la rebelión antes de que empezara.

   We were trying to quell the rebellion before it started.

Conjugation

    Conjugation of sofocar (c-qu alternation) (See Appendix:Spanish verbs)

infinitive			sofocar
gerund			sofocando
past participle				masculine		feminine
		singular		sofocado		sofocada
		plural		sofocados		sofocadas
		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	sofoco	sofocastú sofocásvos	sofoca	sofocamos	sofocáis	sofocan
	imperfect	sofocaba	sofocabas	sofocaba	sofocábamos	sofocabais	sofocaban
	preterite	sofoqué	sofocaste	sofocó	sofocamos	sofocasteis	sofocaron
	future	sofocaré	sofocarás	sofocará	sofocaremos	sofocaréis	sofocarán
	conditional	sofocaría	sofocarías	sofocaría	sofocaríamos	sofocaríais	sofocarían
subjunctive		yo	tú vos	él/ella/ello usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ellos/ellas ustedes
	present	sofoque	sofoquestú sofoquésvos2	sofoque	sofoquemos	sofoquéis	sofoquen
	imperfect (ra)	sofocara	sofocaras	sofocara	sofocáramos	sofocarais	sofocaran
	imperfect (se)	sofocase	sofocases	sofocase	sofocásemos	sofocaseis	sofocasen
	future1	sofocare	sofocares	sofocare	sofocáremos	sofocareis	sofocaren
imperative		—	tú vos	usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ustedes
	affirmative		sofocatú sofocávos	sofoque	sofoquemos	sofocad	sofoquen
	negative		no sofoques	no sofoque	no sofoquemos	no sofoquéis	no sofoquen

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

    Selected combined forms of sofocar (c-qu alternation)

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 sofocar
	dative	sofocarme	sofocarte	sofocarle, sofocarse	sofocarnos	sofocaros	sofocarles, sofocarse
	accusative	sofocarme	sofocarte	sofocarlo, sofocarla, sofocarse	sofocarnos	sofocaros	sofocarlos, sofocarlas, sofocarse
with gerund sofocando
	dative	sofocándome	sofocándote	sofocándole, sofocándose	sofocándonos	sofocándoos	sofocándoles, sofocándose
	accusative	sofocándome	sofocándote	sofocándolo, sofocándola, sofocándose	sofocándonos	sofocándoos	sofocándolos, sofocándolas, sofocándose
with informal second-person singular tú imperative sofoca
	dative	sofócame	sofócate	sofócale	sofócanos	not used	sofócales
	accusative	sofócame	sofócate	sofócalo, sofócala	sofócanos	not used	sofócalos, sofócalas
with informal second-person singular vos imperative sofocá
	dative	sofocame	sofocate	sofocale	sofocanos	not used	sofocales
	accusative	sofocame	sofocate	sofocalo, sofocala	sofocanos	not used	sofocalos, sofocalas
with formal second-person singular imperative sofoque
	dative	sofóqueme	not used	sofóquele, sofóquese	sofóquenos	not used	sofóqueles
	accusative	sofóqueme	not used	sofóquelo, sofóquela, sofóquese	sofóquenos	not used	sofóquelos, sofóquelas
with first-person plural imperative sofoquemos
	dative	not used	sofoquémoste	sofoquémosle	sofoquémonos	sofoquémoos	sofoquémosles
	accusative	not used	sofoquémoste	sofoquémoslo, sofoquémosla	sofoquémonos	sofoquémoos	sofoquémoslos, sofoquémoslas
with informal second-person plural imperative sofocad
	dative	sofocadme	not used	sofocadle	sofocadnos	sofocaos	sofocadles
	accusative	sofocadme	not used	sofocadlo, sofocadla	sofocadnos	sofocaos	sofocadlos, sofocadlas
with formal second-person plural imperative sofoquen
	dative	sofóquenme	not used	sofóquenle	sofóquennos	not used	sofóquenles, sofóquense
	accusative	sofóquenme	not used	sofóquenlo, sofóquenla	sofóquennos	not used	sofóquenlos, sofóquenlas, sofóquense

Derived terms

• sofocador
• sofocamiento
• sofocante
• sofoco

 

Related terms

• sofocación

 

Further reading

• “sofocar”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2023 November 28