controlar

Controlar is a verb in both Spanish and Portuguese that denotes exercising control over someone or something, managing, regulating, or monitoring. It covers actions from guiding a process or device to restraining a tendency or verifying that conditions meet a standard. In everyday language it is used with concrete objects (controlar una máquina, controlar el gasto) and with abstract domains (controlar las emociones, controlar una situación).

Spanish conjugation follows regular -ar verb patterns. Present indicative forms include: yo controlo, tú controlas, él/ella/usted controla, nosotros controlamos, vosotros controláis, ellos/ellas/ustedes controlan. Portuguese uses the same -ar pattern, for example: eu controlo, tu controlas, ele controla, nós controlamos, vós controláis, eles controlam. The past participle is controlado in both languages, used in compound tenses.

Usage notes: in medicine, controlar puede mean to manage symptoms or disease; in engineering and information technology it refers to keeping a system within desired limits (control de sistemas, control de calidad). In social or interpersonal contexts, it can imply domination or supervision of people or situations; reflexive forms like controlarse express bringing one’s own behavior or emotions under control. The noun form control (Spanish) or controle/controle (Portuguese) is common in technical terms, while controlar remains the active verb in most communicative contexts.

Related terms include controlador (controller) and controlado (the governed or controlled). Etymology links the verb to the noun control, with common Romance-language roots; it is cognate with the English word control and the French verb contrôler.