dependimos

Dependimos is a verb form that occurs in both Spanish and Portuguese, presenting different functions depending on the language and grammatical tense.

In Spanish, dependimos is the first-person plural form of the preterite (pretérito indefinido) of the verb depender, meaning we depended on or we relied on. It is used to describe past actions in which the subject depended on someone or something. For example: Dependimos de su ayuda para terminar el proyecto.

In Portuguese, dependimos is far less common in contemporary standard usage. The regular present tense form for the verb depend- (depender) is dependemos (we depend). Dependimos may appear in some dialects, as an older or less standard variant of the same verb, or as a present-tense form of a less common variant such as dependir, which is not widely used in modern Portuguese. In standard contemporary Portuguese, one would typically say Nós dependemos de alguém to express “we depend on someone,” rather than dependimos.

Etymology: both forms derive from the Latin dependere, literally de- (away, off) + pendere (to hang), a root that produced related words in several Romance languages.

Usage notes: The meaning in both languages centers on dependency or reliance, but the tense and dialectal status differ. In Spanish, dependimos reliably conveys a past action. In Portuguese, dependimos is much rarer in everyday speech and grammars generally recommend dependemos for present meaning and dependência for the concept of dependence.

See also: depender, dependência, dependência de recursos.