enfermaron

Enfermaron is the pretérito indefinido (simple past) form of the Spanish verb enfermar for the third-person plural subject (ellos, ellas, ustedes). The verb enfermar means to cause someone to become ill or, intransitively, to become ill oneself. Therefore, enfermaron can describe either an act of causing illness or, when used with a reflexive or in certain contexts, the subjects themselves becoming sick.

In its intransitive use, the sense is "they got sick." This typically appears with se or other constructions: se enfermaron. In its transitive use, enfermar means to cause illness in someone else, as in "La bacteria enfermó a varios trabajadores" (the bacteria sickened several workers). The distinction depends on the presence of a direct or indirect object and on the surrounding context.

Conjugation note: enfermar is a regular -ar verb. In the pretérito indefinido, its forms are: yo enfermé, tú enfermaste, él/ella/Ud. enfermó, nosotros enfermamos, vosotros enfermasteis, ellos/ellas/Uds. enfermaron. The past participle is enfermado, and the gerund is enfermando.

Etymology can be traced to the base concept of illness; enfermar derives from enfermo (ill) and the causative sense of the verb, indicating a cause or occurrence of illness rather than a mere state.

See also: illness and disease terminology; grammar notes on the reflexive se form in Spanish; related verbs such as contaminar and enfermarse.