rió

Rió is the third-person singular preterite (simple past) form of the Spanish verb reír, meaning “to laugh.” It denotes a completed act of laughing in the past and is used with él, ella, or a named subject. Reír is irregular in the preterite, with the stem vowels changing across forms: reí, reíste, rió, reímos, reísteis, rieron. The form rió specifically corresponds to the past action by a single third-person subject.

In usage, rió appears in narrative or descriptive passages to indicate that someone laughed in response to a situation or remark. Examples include: Él rió al escuchar el chiste; La audiencia rió durante la presentación. The verb can also appear in reflexive constructions such as se rió, meaning “he laughed (at herself/himself/this).”

Phonology and orthography notes: the acute accent on the final syllable (ó) signals stress on the last syllable in this past-tense form, helping distinguish it from other forms of reír. The word is derived from Latin ridēre, and its irregular preterite forms reflect historical vowel alternations typical of the verb’s conjugation.

See also: reír, preterite mood, Spanish irregular verbs, accentuation in Spanish. It is distinct from Rio (rí o) or Río, which can refer to the river or a place name when capitalized, and should not be confused with this verb form.