Equivocarte

Equivocarte is the infinitive form with the pronominal te attached to the Spanish reflexive verb equivocarse, and is commonly encountered in written and spoken Spanish as part of phrases indicating a personal mistake. The base verb equivocarse means “to be mistaken” or “to make a mistake,” and the reflexive form emphasizes that the action concerns the subject’s own error.

Grammatically, equivocarte functions as a non-finite form of the reflexive verb and appears in constructions where the pronoun te is attached to the infinitive. It can occur after prepositions or in periphrastic expressions, such as para no equivocarte (in order not to make a mistake) or al equivocarte (upon making a mistake). The verb itself is conjugated regularly in its finite forms: me equivoco, te equivocas, se equivoca, nos equivocamos, os equivocáis, se equivocan.

Etymology and related forms: equivocarse derives from the verb equivocarse’s root equivoc-, related to the concept of error or ambiguity, with the reflexive suffix -se forming the sense of the action affecting the subject. Related words include equivocación (the noun “mistake” or “error”) and equivocar (the transitive verb “to mislead” or “to make a mistake” in a non-reflexive sense). The adjective équívoco exists in Spanish as a loanword meaning “ambiguous” or “unclear.”

Usage notes: Equivocarte is primarily a grammatical form rather than a standalone lexical item; it occurs mainly in sentences involving the act of making a mistake by the subject. In cultural contexts, the phrase may appear as a title or motif in Spanish-language works, but there is no single canonical topic universally associated with it.

See also: Equivocar, Equivocación, Equívoco.