"Contestar" versus "Responder"
Both mean "to answer" or "to reply", but when do you use one over the other?
Is there a difference in their meanings?
7 Answers
If you are asking whether they can be used synonymously then yes, in many cases they can, in the same way that the English "tell" and "say" can (as in "He told me no" or "He said no to me"). You might also look at them as being similar to "reply" or "answer" (as in "He replied to my question" or "He answered my question.").
When they are used synonymously you might consider responder being along the lines of its English cognate respond and contestar as being similar to "to give a response" (actually, contestar can be used exactly like this as in "contestar a una pregunta").
Interestingly, if you look at the root of the word contestar, it comes from the same root that gives us the English words contest and testament, and if you examine these two words carefully it might help clue you in to how the verb contestar can be used in Spanish. For example:
?She contested his statement ? She gave her answer or testimony in response to what he said.
?She gave her testament ? She gave her account in response to the question at hand.
Responder means more to respond.
Contestar is more like answer.
You wouldn't say yo respondo la pregunta, you would say yo contesto la pregunta.
But could you say:
Yo respondo a la pregunta.
Yes you could; although, you might want to note that the subject pronoun 'yo' would be unnecessary here. One other thing that you might want to recognize is that the verb is most often accompanied by an indirect object in order to describe who is being responded to:
Le respondo a la pregunta ? I answered his question or I responded to his question.
You can respond to a question without answering it in English or in Spanish--many people do this for a living.
Lorenzo said:
You can respond to a question without answering it in English or in Spanish--many people do this for a living.
He he...When I read this statement, I couldn't help but think of this:
Just keep in mind, however, that these two words, though sometimes synonymous, can not always be used in the same context. For example, the following would be fine to say the following in both Spanish and English:
Mi padre estaba muy enfermo pero ha respondido al tratamiento ? My father was very sick but he has responded to the treatment.
However, using words that are synonymous in one context, does not always work in others:
But could you say:
Yo respondo a la pregunta.
