Reír

Reír is a Spanish verb meaning to laugh. It can be used intransitively as “to laugh” (for example, uno ríe) and, when used with the reflexive pronoun as reírse, it can convey laughing at someone or with someone, depending on the construction (reírse de alguien means to laugh at someone; one can also say reírse contigo to express laughing together). The noun related to the act is la risa.

In its conjugation, reír is irregular among -ir verbs and shows changes in several tenses. The present indicative forms are río, ríes, ríe, reímos, reís, ríen. The preterite forms are reí, reíste, rió, reímos, reísteis, rieron. The imperfect is reía, reías, reía, reíamos, reíais, reían. The gerund is riendo, and the past participle is reído. The present subjunctive forms are ría, rías, ría, riamos, riáis, rían. The imperative has forms such as ríe (tú), ría (usted), reíd (vosotros), rían (ustedes); the negative tú command is no rías. The verb also forms the rarely used future with accents, as in reiré, reirás, reirá, reiremos, reiréis, reirán.

Etymologically, reír derives from Latin ridēre, meaning to laugh. It is cognate with other Romance forms of “laugh” and has given rise to common phrases and idioms in Spanish, such as “reírse a carcajadas” (to laugh out loud) and the noun “la risa.”