tergiversar

Catalan

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin tergiversārī.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [tər.ʒi.βərˈsa]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [tər.ʒi.vərˈsa]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [teɾ.d͡ʒi.veɾˈsaɾ]

Verb

tergiversar (first-person singular present tergiverso, first-person singular preterite tergiversí, past participle tergiversat); root stress: (Central) /ɛ/; (Valencia) /e/; (Balearic) /ə/

1. (transitive) to misrepresent, to twist or distort (the meaning of)

Conjugation

    Conjugation of tergiversar (first conjugation)

infinitive			tergiversar
gerund			tergiversant
past participle				masculine		feminine
		singular		tergiversat		tergiversada
		plural		tergiversats		tergiversades
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	ell/ella vostè	nosaltres nós	vosaltres vós	ells/elles vostès
	present	tergiverso	tergiverses	tergiversa	tergiversem	tergiverseu	tergiversen
	imperfect	tergiversava	tergiversaves	tergiversava	tergiversàvem	tergiversàveu	tergiversaven
	future	tergiversaré	tergiversaràs	tergiversarà	tergiversarem	tergiversareu	tergiversaran
	preterite	tergiversí	tergiversares	tergiversà	tergiversàrem	tergiversàreu	tergiversaren
	conditional	tergiversaria	tergiversaries	tergiversaria	tergiversaríem	tergiversaríeu	tergiversarien
subjunctive		jo	tu	ell/ella vostè	nosaltres nós	vosaltres vós	ells/elles vostès
	present	tergiversi	tergiversis	tergiversi	tergiversem	tergiverseu	tergiversin
	imperfect	tergiversés	tergiversessis	tergiversés	tergiverséssim	tergiverséssiu	tergiversessin
imperative		—	tu	vostè	nosaltres	vosaltres vós	vostès
	affirmative	—	tergiversa	tergiversi	tergiversem	tergiverseu	tergiversin
	negative (no)	—	no tergiversis	no tergiversi	no tergiversem	no tergiverseu	no tergiversin

Related terms

• tergiversable
• tergiversació
• tergiversador

 

Further reading

• “tergiversar” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

Portuguese

Etymology

From Latin tergiversāri.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /teʁ.ʒi.veʁˈsa(ʁ)/ [teɦ.ʒi.vehˈsa(h)]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /teʁ.ʒi.veʁˈsa(ʁ)/ [teɦ.ʒi.vehˈsa(h)]
  • (São Paulo) IPA^(key): /teɾ.ʒi.veɾˈsa(ɾ)/
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /teʁ.ʒi.veʁˈsa(ʁ)/ [teʁ.ʒi.veχˈsa(χ)]
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /teɻ.ʒi.veɻˈsa(ɻ)/

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /tɨɾ.ʒi.vɨɾˈsaɾ/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /tɨɾ.ʒi.vɨɾˈsaɾ/
  • (Northern Portugal) IPA^(key): /tɨɾ.ʒi.bɨɾˈsaɾ/ [tɨɾ.ʒi.βɨɾˈsaɾ]
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /tɨɾ.ʒi.vɨɾˈsa.ɾi/

• Hyphenation: ter‧gi‧ver‧sar

Verb

tergiversar (first-person singular present tergiverso, first-person singular preterite tergiversei, past participle tergiversado)

1. to tergiversate (to evade an issue)

Conjugation

    Conjugation of tergiversar (See Appendix:Portuguese verbs)

	Singular			Plural
	First-person (eu)	Second-person (tu)	Third-person (ele / ela / você)	First-person (nós)	Second-person (vós)	Third-person (eles / elas / vocês)
Infinitive
Impersonal	tergiversar
Personal	tergiversar	tergiversares	tergiversar	tergiversarmos	tergiversardes	tergiversarem
Gerund
	tergiversando
Past participle
Masculine	tergiversado			tergiversados
Feminine	tergiversada			tergiversadas
Indicative
Present	tergiverso	tergiversas	tergiversa	tergiversamos	tergiversais	tergiversam
Imperfect	tergiversava	tergiversavas	tergiversava	tergiversávamos	tergiversáveis	tergiversavam
Preterite	tergiversei	tergiversaste	tergiversou	tergiversamos1, tergiversámos2	tergiversastes	tergiversaram
Pluperfect	tergiversara	tergiversaras	tergiversara	tergiversáramos	tergiversáreis	tergiversaram
Future	tergiversarei	tergiversarás	tergiversará	tergiversaremos	tergiversareis	tergiversarão
Conditional	tergiversaria	tergiversarias	tergiversaria	tergiversaríamos	tergiversaríeis	tergiversariam
Subjunctive
Present	tergiverse	tergiverses	tergiverse	tergiversemos	tergiverseis	tergiversem
Imperfect	tergiversasse	tergiversasses	tergiversasse	tergiversássemos	tergiversásseis	tergiversassem
Future	tergiversar	tergiversares	tergiversar	tergiversarmos	tergiversardes	tergiversarem
Imperative
Affirmative		tergiversa	tergiverse	tergiversemos	tergiversai	tergiversem
Negative (não)		não tergiverses	não tergiverse	não tergiversemos	não tergiverseis	não tergiversem

¹Brazilian Portuguese.
²European Portuguese.

Related terms

• tergiversação

Further reading

• “tergiversar”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2024

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin tergiversāri. Cognate with English tergiversate.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /teɾxibeɾˈsaɾ/ [t̪eɾ.xi.β̞eɾˈsaɾ]
• Rhymes: -aɾ
• Syllabification: ter‧gi‧ver‧sar

Verb

tergiversar (first-person singular present tergiverso, first-person singular preterite tergiversé, past participle tergiversado)

1. to misrepresent, to twist, to distort
2. to tergiversate, to prevaricate

   Synonym: prevaricar

Conjugation

    Conjugation of tergiversar (See Appendix:Spanish verbs)

infinitive			tergiversar
gerund			tergiversando
past participle				masculine		feminine
		singular		tergiversado		tergiversada
		plural		tergiversados		tergiversadas
		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	tergiverso	tergiversastú tergiversásvos	tergiversa	tergiversamos	tergiversáis	tergiversan
	imperfect	tergiversaba	tergiversabas	tergiversaba	tergiversábamos	tergiversabais	tergiversaban
	preterite	tergiversé	tergiversaste	tergiversó	tergiversamos	tergiversasteis	tergiversaron
	future	tergiversaré	tergiversarás	tergiversará	tergiversaremos	tergiversaréis	tergiversarán
	conditional	tergiversaría	tergiversarías	tergiversaría	tergiversaríamos	tergiversaríais	tergiversarían
subjunctive		yo	tú vos	él/ella/ello usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ellos/ellas ustedes
	present	tergiverse	tergiversestú tergiversésvos2	tergiverse	tergiversemos	tergiverséis	tergiversen
	imperfect (ra)	tergiversara	tergiversaras	tergiversara	tergiversáramos	tergiversarais	tergiversaran
	imperfect (se)	tergiversase	tergiversases	tergiversase	tergiversásemos	tergiversaseis	tergiversasen
	future1	tergiversare	tergiversares	tergiversare	tergiversáremos	tergiversareis	tergiversaren
imperative		—	tú vos	usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ustedes
	affirmative		tergiversatú tergiversávos	tergiverse	tergiversemos	tergiversad	tergiversen
	negative		no tergiverses	no tergiverse	no tergiversemos	no tergiverséis	no tergiversen

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

    Selected combined forms of tergiversar

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 tergiversar	dative	tergiversarme	tergiversarte	tergiversarle, tergiversarse	tergiversarnos	tergiversaros	tergiversarles, tergiversarse
	accusative	tergiversarme	tergiversarte	tergiversarlo, tergiversarla, tergiversarse	tergiversarnos	tergiversaros	tergiversarlos, tergiversarlas, tergiversarse
with gerund tergiversando	dative	tergiversándome	tergiversándote	tergiversándole, tergiversándose	tergiversándonos	tergiversándoos	tergiversándoles, tergiversándose
	accusative	tergiversándome	tergiversándote	tergiversándolo, tergiversándola, tergiversándose	tergiversándonos	tergiversándoos	tergiversándolos, tergiversándolas, tergiversándose
with informal second-person singular tú imperative tergiversa	dative	tergivérsame	tergivérsate	tergivérsale	tergivérsanos	not used	tergivérsales
	accusative	tergivérsame	tergivérsate	tergivérsalo, tergivérsala	tergivérsanos	not used	tergivérsalos, tergivérsalas
with informal second-person singular vos imperative tergiversá	dative	tergiversame	tergiversate	tergiversale	tergiversanos	not used	tergiversales
	accusative	tergiversame	tergiversate	tergiversalo, tergiversala	tergiversanos	not used	tergiversalos, tergiversalas
with formal second-person singular imperative tergiverse	dative	tergivérseme	not used	tergivérsele, tergivérsese	tergivérsenos	not used	tergivérseles
	accusative	tergivérseme	not used	tergivérselo, tergivérsela, tergivérsese	tergivérsenos	not used	tergivérselos, tergivérselas
with first-person plural imperative tergiversemos	dative	not used	tergiversémoste	tergiversémosle	tergiversémonos	tergiversémoos	tergiversémosles
	accusative	not used	tergiversémoste	tergiversémoslo, tergiversémosla	tergiversémonos	tergiversémoos	tergiversémoslos, tergiversémoslas
with informal second-person plural imperative tergiversad	dative	tergiversadme	not used	tergiversadle	tergiversadnos	tergiversaos	tergiversadles
	accusative	tergiversadme	not used	tergiversadlo, tergiversadla	tergiversadnos	tergiversaos	tergiversadlos, tergiversadlas
with formal second-person plural imperative tergiversen	dative	tergivérsenme	not used	tergivérsenle	tergivérsennos	not used	tergivérsenles, tergivérsense
	accusative	tergivérsenme	not used	tergivérsenlo, tergivérsenla	tergivérsennos	not used	tergivérsenlos, tergivérsenlas, tergivérsense

Related terms

• tergiversación

 

Further reading

• “tergiversar”, 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