actúan

Actúan is the third-person plural present indicative form of the Spanish verb actuar, meaning they act or you all act. It is used with subjects such as ellos, ellas, or ustedes and denotes current actions, behaviors, or operations carried out by the subject.

In use, actúan appears in various contexts. In everyday language, it can describe people taking action or performing tasks: “Los investigadores actúan con cautela ante los hallazgos.” In politics, business, or social discourse, it often signals responses or interventions: “Las autoridades actúan para evitar la propagación del riesgo.” In the arts, it can describe performers’ activity in a scene: “Los actores actúan en la obra.”

Morphology and related forms: actuar is a regular verb of the -ar class. Besides actúan, the present indicative forms are actúo, actúas, actúa, actuamos, actuáis. Other tenses include actué (pretérito), actuabas, actuaba, actuaremos, actuaréis, actuarán, among others. The present subjunctive singular form is actúe, with plural actúen.

Etymology: actuar derives from the Spanish verb actúare/adquirido via Latin roots related to actus (act) and agere (to do), evolving through medieval Spanish to its current form. It is cognate with verbs in other Romance languages such as Portuguese atuar and French agir.

See also: actuación (the noun meaning performance or act), acto (an act), actuación jurídica (legal act). Actúan, as a common verbal form, appears widely across genres and registers in Spanish-language writing and speech.