tontear

Spanish

Etymology

From tonto (“silly”) +‎ -ear.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tonteˈaɾ/ [t̪õn̪.t̪eˈaɾ]
• Rhymes: -aɾ
• Syllabification: ton‧te‧ar

Verb

tontear (first-person singular present tonteo, first-person singular preterite tonteé, past participle tonteado)

1. to do or say stupid things
2. to flirt

   Synonym: flirtear

Conjugation

    Conjugation of tontear (See Appendix:Spanish verbs)

infinitive			tontear
gerund			tonteando
past participle				masculine		feminine
		singular		tonteado		tonteada
		plural		tonteados		tonteadas
		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	tonteo	tonteastú tonteásvos	tontea	tonteamos	tonteáis	tontean
	imperfect	tonteaba	tonteabas	tonteaba	tonteábamos	tonteabais	tonteaban
	preterite	tonteé	tonteaste	tonteó	tonteamos	tonteasteis	tontearon
	future	tontearé	tontearás	tonteará	tontearemos	tontearéis	tontearán
	conditional	tontearía	tontearías	tontearía	tontearíamos	tontearíais	tontearían
subjunctive		yo	tú vos	él/ella/ello usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ellos/ellas ustedes
	present	tontee	tonteestú tonteésvos2	tontee	tonteemos	tonteéis	tonteen
	imperfect (ra)	tonteara	tontearas	tonteara	tonteáramos	tontearais	tontearan
	imperfect (se)	tontease	tonteases	tontease	tonteásemos	tonteaseis	tonteasen
	future1	tonteare	tonteares	tonteare	tonteáremos	tonteareis	tontearen
imperative		—	tú vos	usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ustedes
	affirmative		tonteatú tonteávos	tontee	tonteemos	tontead	tonteen
	negative		no tontees	no tontee	no tonteemos	no tonteéis	no tonteen

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

Further reading

• “tontear”, 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