trabar

Galician

Alternative forms

• travar (reintegrationist)

Etymology

From Old Galician-Portuguese trave, ultimately from Latin trabs (“beam”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɾaˈβaɾ/

Verb

trabar (first-person singular present trabo, first-person singular preterite trabei, past participle trabado)

1. (transitive, intransitive) to bite; to grab

   Synonyms: chanchar, morder, trincar

   Non teñas medo que este can non traba.

   Don't be afraid, this dog won't bite you.

   • 1409, J. L. Pensado Tomé, editor, Tratado de Albeitaria, Santiago de Compostela: Centro Ramón Piñeiro, page 89:

     Quando as ditas llandoas creçeren asy como Nozes, ou mais ou menos, traua dellas llogo et apretaas et fendeas ao llongo con canyuete agudo

     when these growths become big as nuts, give or take, grab them readily and squeeze them and cut them open lengthwise with a sharp knife

2. (transitive) to fetter

   Synonym: pexar

3. (transitive) to obstruct or impede
4. (transitive) to fasten, connect or join
5. (pronominal) to entangle

Conjugation

    Conjugation of trabar

	Singular			Plural
	First-person (eu)	Second-person (ti)	Third-person (el / ela / Vde.)	First-person (nós)	Second-person (vós)	Third-person (eles / elas / Vdes.)
Infinitive
Impersonal	trabar
Personal	trabar	trabares	trabar	trabarmos	trabardes	trabaren
Gerund
	trabando
Past participle
Masculine	trabado			trabados
Feminine	trabada			trabadas
Indicative
Present	trabo	trabas	traba	trabamos	trabades	traban
Imperfect	trababa	trababas	trababa	trababamos	trababades	trababan
Preterite	trabei	trabaches	trabou	trabamos	trabastes	trabaron
Pluperfect	trabara	trabaras	trabara	trabaramos	trabarades	trabaran
Future	trabarei	trabarás	trabará	trabaremos	trabaredes	trabarán
Conditional	trabaría	trabarías	trabaría	trabariamos	trabariades	trabarían
Subjunctive
Present	trabe	trabes	trabe	trabemos	trabedes	traben
Imperfect	trabase	trabases	trabase	trabásemos	trabásedes	trabasen
Future	trabar	trabares	trabar	trabarmos	trabardes	trabaren
Imperative
Affirmative		traba	trabe	trabemos	trabade	traben
Negative (non)		non trabes	non trabe	non trabemos	non trabedes	non traben

Derived terms

• trabada
• trabadela

Related terms

• trabe

References

• Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, Ana Isabel Boullón Agrelo (2006–2022) “travar”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006–2018) “trava”, in Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: ILG
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “trabar”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “trabar”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “trabar”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

Spanish

Etymology

From traba.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɾaˈbaɾ/ [t̪ɾaˈβ̞aɾ]
• Rhymes: -aɾ
• Syllabification: tra‧bar

Verb

trabar (first-person singular present trabo, first-person singular preterite trabé, past participle trabado)

1. to connect, to join (pieces of wood)

   Synonyms: conectar, juntar

2. to obstruct

   Antonym: destrabar

3. to hold back
4. to fasten
5. to thicken (sauce, pudding etc.)

   Synonyms: enganchar, sujetar, agarrar, espesar

6. (reflexive) to get caught up, to become entangled

   Synonym: enredarse

7. (reflexive) to jam, to get jammed, to get stuck, to seize up

   Synonym: atascarse

Conjugation

    Conjugation of trabar (See Appendix:Spanish verbs)

infinitive			trabar
gerund			trabando
past participle				masculine		feminine
		singular		trabado		trabada
		plural		trabados		trabadas
		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	trabo	trabastú trabásvos	traba	trabamos	trabáis	traban
	imperfect	trababa	trababas	trababa	trabábamos	trababais	trababan
	preterite	trabé	trabaste	trabó	trabamos	trabasteis	trabaron
	future	trabaré	trabarás	trabará	trabaremos	trabaréis	trabarán
	conditional	trabaría	trabarías	trabaría	trabaríamos	trabaríais	trabarían
subjunctive		yo	tú vos	él/ella/ello usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ellos/ellas ustedes
	present	trabe	trabestú trabésvos2	trabe	trabemos	trabéis	traben
	imperfect (ra)	trabara	trabaras	trabara	trabáramos	trabarais	trabaran
	imperfect (se)	trabase	trabases	trabase	trabásemos	trabaseis	trabasen
	future1	trabare	trabares	trabare	trabáremos	trabareis	trabaren
imperative		—	tú vos	usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ustedes
	affirmative		trabatú trabávos	trabe	trabemos	trabad	traben
	negative		no trabes	no trabe	no trabemos	no trabéis	no traben

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

    Selected combined forms of trabar

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 trabar	dative	trabarme	trabarte	trabarle, trabarse	trabarnos	trabaros	trabarles, trabarse
	accusative	trabarme	trabarte	trabarlo, trabarla, trabarse	trabarnos	trabaros	trabarlos, trabarlas, trabarse
with gerund trabando	dative	trabándome	trabándote	trabándole, trabándose	trabándonos	trabándoos	trabándoles, trabándose
	accusative	trabándome	trabándote	trabándolo, trabándola, trabándose	trabándonos	trabándoos	trabándolos, trabándolas, trabándose
with informal second-person singular tú imperative traba	dative	trábame	trábate	trábale	trábanos	not used	trábales
	accusative	trábame	trábate	trábalo, trábala	trábanos	not used	trábalos, trábalas
with informal second-person singular vos imperative trabá	dative	trabame	trabate	trabale	trabanos	not used	trabales
	accusative	trabame	trabate	trabalo, trabala	trabanos	not used	trabalos, trabalas
with formal second-person singular imperative trabe	dative	trábeme	not used	trábele, trábese	trábenos	not used	trábeles
	accusative	trábeme	not used	trábelo, trábela, trábese	trábenos	not used	trábelos, trábelas
with first-person plural imperative trabemos	dative	not used	trabémoste	trabémosle	trabémonos	trabémoos	trabémosles
	accusative	not used	trabémoste	trabémoslo, trabémosla	trabémonos	trabémoos	trabémoslos, trabémoslas
with informal second-person plural imperative trabad	dative	trabadme	not used	trabadle	trabadnos	trabaos	trabadles
	accusative	trabadme	not used	trabadlo, trabadla	trabadnos	trabaos	trabadlos, trabadlas
with formal second-person plural imperative traben	dative	trábenme	not used	trábenle	trábennos	not used	trábenles, trábense
	accusative	trábenme	not used	trábenlo, trábenla	trábennos	not used	trábenlos, trábenlas, trábense

Derived terms

• trabalenguas
• trabapalancas
• trabarse la lengua

 

Further reading

• “trabar”, 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