Conjugar

Conjugar is a verb that means to conjugate verbs, i.e., to inflect verbs to reflect grammatical categories such as person, number, tense, mood, and voice. The concept is central to the grammar of many languages, especially Romance languages, where verbs change form to indicate who is performing the action and when.

Etymology of the term traces to Latin coniugare, from con- meaning “together” and iugare meaning “to join” or “to yoke.” The word thus conveys the idea of joining together different verb forms to express meaning.

In Spanish, conjugar describes the process of forming the various forms of a verb. The verb conjugar itself is a regular -ar verb, with common present-tense forms such as: yo conjugo, tú conjugas, él conjuga, nosotros conjugamos, vosotros conjugáis, ellos conjugan. Other tenses are formed through regular patterns as well, for example, conjugué, conjugaste, conjugó, conjugamos, conjugasteis, conjugaron in the pretérito perfecto simple. Conjugación is the noun for the full set of forms.

In Portuguese, the verb also exists with a similar meaning. The present indicative forms typically are: eu conjugo, tu conjugas, ele conjuga, nós conjugamos, vocês conjugam. Variants exist across dialects, particularly regarding the second-person pronouns, but the basic concept is the same: to produce the inflected forms of a verb.

In linguistic usage, conjugation refers to the complete paradigm of forms for a given verb, often organized in a conjugation table. The terms conjugación (Spanish) and conjugação (Portuguese) are the corresponding noun forms.