Demandar

Demandar is a verb used in Spanish and Portuguese with two main senses. Primarily, it means to sue or to bring a legal action against someone in a court. It can also mean to demand or claim something in a formal way, though in everyday Spanish this second sense is more commonly expressed with reclamar or exigir.

In legal contexts, demandar denotes initiating litigation. The person who brings the action is the demandante (plaintiff), the party sued is the demandado (defendant), and the process leads to a demanda (the lawsuit). Common constructions include “presentar una demanda,” “demandar a alguien por…,” and “demandar por daños y perjuicios.” The verb is transitive and regular in conjugation (yo demando, tú demandas, él demanda, nosotros demandamos, vosotros demandáis, ellos demandan).

Regional usage varies. In Latin America, demandar is widely understood and routinely used in legal discourse to mean filing suit. In Spain, it is also understood, though terms like “presentar una demanda” are frequent in everyday language. In Portuguese, demandar has the same core meaning of filing a legal action before a court, and it is common in formal texts.

Etymology generally connects demandar to the noun demanda, with roots in Latin through historical legal vocabulary. The term reflects the act of formalizing a claim or lawsuit before a judicial authority.