atrevar

Atrevar is a Spanish verb meaning to dare or to venture into something that is risky or uncertain. It is used to express taking a risk or deciding to undertake an action that requires courage or audacity. In modern Spanish, the common reflexive form atreverse a + infinitive is often used to convey “to dare to,” while the non-reflexive form atrevar is rarely employed and tends to appear in historical, literary, or regional registers.

Usage and patterns

The usual modern expression for daring oneself is atreverse a + infinitive, as in phrases meaning “to dare to do something.” The non-reflexive form atrevar exists in some dialects or older texts but is far less common today. Because of this, many speakers prefer sentences that use atreverse rather than atrevar to convey the sense of courage or audacity required to perform a task.

Conjugation and forms

Atrevar is part of the Spanish verb system, and its use is largely supplanted by the reflexive atreverse in everyday speech. When readers encounter atrevar in older or regional writing, it may appear with less familiar or irregular inflection patterns, reflecting its more archaic status relative to atreverse.

Etymology and related terms

Atrevar belongs to the family of romance verbs that express boldness or risk. It shares semantic space with osar (to dare), aventurarse (to venture), and arriesgarse (to risk). In many contexts, these verbs are used interchangeably with nuances of intensity or formality. Related terms in other Romance languages include Portuguese atrever-se and French oser.

See also

Osar, aventurarse, arriesgarse.