enfrentaron

Enfrentaron is the third-person plural form of the Spanish verb enfrentar in the preterite tense. It conveys that the subject group completed an action of facing, confronting, or opposing someone or something in the past. This form is common in narrative contexts to recount past encounters, battles, competitions, or attempts to deal with a situation.

Enfrentar, the infinitive, can describe facing an opponent, a problem, or a challenge. It is a transitive verb, often followed by a direct object or by the preposition a when naming the entity faced, such as enfrentar a un rival or enfrentar un obstáculo. The reflexive form, enfrentarse, is also widely used and takes the preposition a to indicate facing or confronting something actively, for example, enfrentarse a un reto.

Etymology and usage notes: Enfrentar derives from en- plus frente (front), signaling the idea of placing oneself or something against a front or opposition. The sense broadened to include meeting, opposing, or dealing with various kinds of adversities, whether physical, competitive, or metaphorical. In past narrative, enfrentaron is typically used with plural subjects, while the corresponding forms in other tenses align with the regular -ar conjugation pattern in the preterite: enfrenté, enfrentaste, enfrentó, enfrentamos, enfrentasteis, enfrentaron.

Particularities: The verb has a wide range of applications, from sports and military history to politics and everyday problem-solving. Related forms include the participle enfrentado, used with haber to form perfect tenses (han enfrentado) and the noun enfrentamiento, referring to the act of confrontation or the clash itself.

Examples: The teams faced the champion in the final. The communities confronted the drought with water-saving campaigns.