refutarlas

Refutarlas is the infinitive form of the Spanish verb refutar with the feminine plural direct object pronoun las attached. It means “to refute them,” with las referring to feminine plural nouns or clauses that are being disputed. This construction combines a verb with a clitic pronoun and is common in Spanish to indicate precisely what is being refuted.

Formation and use: The clitic las attaches to the end of the infinitive, producing refutarlas. It can also appear in other constructions depending on tense, such as las refutaré (I will refute them) or voy a refutarlas (I am going to refute them). The form refutarlas specifically refers to feminine plural antecedents, such as las pruebas, las afirmaciones, or las ideas. For masculine plural antecedents the corresponding form is refutarlos; for mixed or unspecified gender the masculine form is often used in everyday speech.

Examples: Debo refutarlas con evidencia; Vamos a refutarlas en el debate; No puedo refutarlas sin presentar datos.

Origin and related forms: Refutarlas is built from refutar (to refute) plus the direct object pronouns las. The masculine parallel is refutarlos, and the feminine singular would be refutarla (to refute her) or refutarlo for masculine singular. These forms illustrate how Spanish attaches pronouns to infinitives to specify the target of the action.

See also: refutar, pronombres de complemento directo, grammar of clitic pronouns.