collaborar

Colaborar is a Spanish verb meaning to collaborate or to cooperate, that is, to work together with others toward a common goal. It is commonly used in academic, professional, and community contexts to describe joint effort, shared responsibility, and complementary contributions. The noun form is colaboración, and a person who collaborates is colaborador or colaboradora. The standard Spanish spelling is colaborar with a single l; a form spelled with double l (collaborar) is not considered standard and is usually a misspelling influenced by English or branding.

Etymology: Colaborar comes from Latin collaborare, formed from con- (together) and laborare (to work). Over time, the word evolved in the Romance languages to express working jointly with others.

Usage and grammar: Colaborar is a regular -ar verb. It takes the preposition con when specifying the partner of the collaboration (colaborar con alguien) and en for the project or activity (colaborar en un proyecto). Examples of conjugation in common tenses include: present indicative yo colaboro, tú colaboras, él/ella/usted colabora, nosotros colaboramos, vosotros colaboráis, ellos colaboran; preterite, yo colaboré, tú colaboraste, él colaboró, nosotros colaboramos, vosotros colaborasteis, ellos colaboraron; imperfect, yo colaboraba, tú colaborabas, él colaboraba, etc. The gerund is colaborando and the past participle is colaborado. The corresponding subjunctive forms follow regular -ar patterns (colabore, colabores, colabore, colaboremos, colaboréis, colaboren).

See also: Colaboración, colaborador, colaboración institucional. In English, the equivalent verb is to collaborate, often used to describe joint research, partnerships, or teamwork.