pretender [prɪˈtendəʳ]
pretender(
pruh
-
tehn
-
duhr
)A noun is a word referring to a person, animal, place, thing, feeling or idea (e.g. man, dog, house).
1. (claimant to a title)
a. el pretendiente , la pretendiente
(m) means that a noun is masculine. Spanish nouns have a gender, which is either feminine (like la mujer or la luna) or masculine (like el hombre or el sol).
(f) means that a noun is feminine. Spanish nouns have a gender, which is either feminine (like la mujer or la luna) or masculine (like el hombre or el sol).
Now that the president is retiring, there are many pretenders for his position.Ahora que se retira el presidente, hay muchos pretendientes para su puesto.
pretender(
preh
-
tehn
-
dehr
)A transitive verb is a verb that requires a direct object (e.g. I bought a book.).
1. (to want)
2. (to affirm)
Regionalism used in Latin America: all the countries in South America, Central America, and the Caribbean. Does not include Spain.
(Latin America)
a. to claim
No puedes pretender que no hay desigualdad salarial entre los hombres y las mujeres.You cannot claim that there is no wage inequality between men and women.
3. (to court)
a. to woo
En mi cultura, los hombres aún pretenden a las mujeres con ramos de rosas.In my culture, men still woo women with bouquets of roses.
pretender
A transitive verb is a verb that requires a direct object (e.g. I bought a book.).
1. (intentar)
a.
This refers to an idiomatic word or phrase for which there is no word-for-word translation.
no direct translation
pretender hacer algoto try to do something
2. (aspirar a)
a.
This refers to an idiomatic word or phrase for which there is no word-for-word translation.
no direct translation
pretender hacer algoto aspire o want to do something
pretender que alguien haga algoto want somebody to do something
¿qué pretendes decir?what do you mean?
3. (afirmar)
a. to claim
4. (solicitar)
a. to apply for
5. (cortejar)
a. to court
pretender
transitive verb
1 (aspirar a)
¿qué pretende usted? what are you after?; what do you hope to achieve?; pretender el trono to pretend to the throne
pretender hacer algo
pretendió convencerme he tried to convince me; pretendo sacar algo de provecho I intend to get something out of it; ¿qué pretende usted decir con eso? what do you mean by that?; no pretendo ser rico I've no aspirations to be rich; pretende llegar a ser médico she hopes to become a doctor; pretender que to expect that ...; ¡no pretenderás que te pague la comida! you're not expecting me to pay for your meal, are you?
Word Roots
Hover on a tile to learn new words with the same root.
Word Roots
Hover on a tile to learn new words with the same root.
Examples
Verb Conjugations for pretender
| Present | Preterite | Imperfect | Conditional | Future | |
| yo | |||||
| tú | |||||
| él/ella/Ud. | |||||
| nosotros | |||||
| vosotros | |||||
| ellos/ellas/Uds. |
Explore SpanishDict
We've combined the most accurate English to Spanish translations, dictionary, verb conjugations, and Spanish to English translators into one very powerful search box.
Learn Spanish with Fluencia
Try Fluencia, the new Spanish learning program from SpanishDict.
- Fun and interactive
- Highly effective
- Easy to use
- Works on any device
Did this page answer your question?
