Empeñó

Empeñé is the first-person singular form of the Spanish verb empeñar in the preterite tense. Empeñar has several related senses, including to pawn an object, to pledge something as collateral, and to commit or dedicate something to a purpose. In the preterite, empeñé signals a completed action in the past.

Conjugation in the preterite indicative:

yo empeñé

tú empeñaste

él/ella/Usted empeñó

nosotros empeñamos

vosotros empeñasteis

ellos/ellas/Ustedes empeñaron

Usage and examples:

In the sense of pawning, empeñar is used with a direct object: “Empeñé mi reloj para conseguir dinero.” In the sense of pledging as collateral or depositing as security, the verb can take a similar construction: “Empeñó su casa como garantía.” The noun empeño shares related meanings and can refer to a determined effort or a pledge, as in “con gran empeño” (with great determination) or “dar en empeño” (to pledge as security).

Related forms:

The verb’s infinitive is empeñar; the past participle is empeñado; the gerund is empeñando. The noun empeño means both a pledge or security and, more commonly, determined effort or diligence.

Notes:

Empeñé contains the letter ñ and carries an accented vowel to indicate the correct stress. The term is widely used in Spanish-speaking contexts to describe past actions relating to pawning or pledging, as well as to describe past acts of commitment or resolve when used in extended meanings of empeñar. See also: empeño, empeñar (infinitive).