rejeitei

Rejeitei is the first-person singular preterite form of the Portuguese verb rejeitar, meaning I rejected or I declined. It is used to describe a past action in which someone refused or dismissed something, such as an offer, a proposal, or a suggestion.

Etymology and form: rejeitar comes from the Portuguese verb family meaning to refuse or discard, with its roots traced to the Romance language tradition and ultimately to Latin reicere, “to throw back.” As a regular -ar verb, rejeitar follows standard Portuguese conjugation patterns in the preterite: eu rejeitei, tu rejeitaste (Portugal), ele/ela rejeitou, nós rejeitamos, vós rejeitastes (Portugal), eles rejeitaram. In Brazilian Portuguese, the second-person form tu is less common, and you typically encounter eu rejeitei with você rejeitou.

Usage: The form rejeitei appears in narrative or factual past tense contexts. It can convey a straightforward act of refusal, or a more formal or measured dismissal. Examples include: “Eu rejeitei a proposta.” “Ela rejeitou a sugestão sem hesitar.” The choice of subject pronoun can vary by dialect, but the underlying meaning remains “I rejected.”

Related terms: The noun rejeição denotes rejection, refusal, or a rejected item. The past participle rejeitado functions as an adjective meaning “rejected.” Other related forms include rejeitar (to reject) and rejeitante (a less common noun for a person who rejects or a resistant factor in certain contexts).

See also: rejection in general linguistic terms; other Portuguese verb forms and conjugations for rejeitar.