culpar

Catalan

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin culpāre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Northern, Balearic, Central, Northwestern) [kulˈpa]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [kulˈpaɾ]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

Verb

culpar (first-person singular present culpo, first-person singular preterite culpí, past participle culpat)

1. (transitive) to blame

Conjugation

    Central Catalan conjugation of culpar (first conjugation)

infinitive			culpar
gerund			culpant
past participle				masculine		feminine
		singular		culpat		culpada
		plural		culpats		culpades
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	ell/ella vostè	nosaltres nós	vosaltres vós	ells/elles vostès
	present	culpo	culpes	culpa	culpem	culpeu	culpen
	imperfect	culpava	culpaves	culpava	culpàvem	culpàveu	culpaven
	future	culparé	culparàs	culparà	culparem	culpareu	culparan
	preterite	culpí	culpares	culpà	culpàrem	culpàreu	culparen
	conditional	culparia	culparies	culparia	culparíem	culparíeu	culparien
subjunctive		jo	tu	ell/ella vostè	nosaltres nós	vosaltres vós	ells/elles vostès
	present	culpi	culpis	culpi	culpem	culpeu	culpin
	imperfect	culpés	culpessis	culpés	culpéssim	culpéssiu	culpessin
imperative		—	tu	vostè	nosaltres	vosaltres vós	vostès
	affirmative	—	culpa	culpi	culpem	culpeu	culpin
	negative (no)	—	no culpis	no culpi	no culpem	no culpeu	no culpin

Related terms

• culpa
• culpable
• disculpar

References

• Alcover, Antoni Maria; Moll, Francesc de Borja (1963), “culpar”, in Diccionari català-valencià-balear (in Catalan)

Further reading

• “culpar”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007

Galician

Etymology

Etymology tree

Latin culpa

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂

Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂

Proto-Indo-European *-yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu.

Proto-Italic *-ājō

Proto-Italic *-āō

Latin -ō

Latin culpārelbor.?

Old Galician-Portuguese culpar

Galician culpar

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese culpar, possibly a learned borrowing from Latin culpāre (“blame”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [kulˈpaɾ]

Verb

culpar (first-person singular present culpo, first-person singular preterite culpei, past participle culpado)

1. to blame

   Antonym: desculpar

2. to charge

   Synonyms: acusar, inculpar

Conjugation

    Conjugation of culpar

	Singular			Plural
	First-person (eu)	Second-person (ti)	Third-person (el / ela / Vde.)	First-person (nós)	Second-person (vós)	Third-person (eles / elas / Vdes.)
Infinitive
Impersonal	culpar
Personal	culpar	culpares	culpar	culparmos	culpardes	culparen
Gerund
	culpando
Past participle
Masculine	culpado			culpados
Feminine	culpada			culpadas
Indicative
Present	culpo	culpas	culpa	culpamos	culpades	culpan
Imperfect	culpaba	culpabas	culpaba	culpabamos	culpabades	culpaban
Preterite	culpei	culpaches	culpou	culpamos	culpastes	culparon
Pluperfect	culpara	culparas	culpara	culparamos	culparades	culparan
Future	culparei	culparás	culpará	culparemos	culparedes	culparán
Conditional	culparía	culparías	culparía	culpariamos	culpariades	culparían
Subjunctive
Present	culpe	culpes	culpe	culpemos	culpedes	culpen
Imperfect	culpase	culpases	culpase	culpásemos	culpásedes	culpasen
Future	culpar	culpares	culpar	culparmos	culpardes	culparen
Imperative
Affirmative		culpa	culpe	culpemos	culpade	culpen
Negative (non)		non culpes	non culpe	non culpemos	non culpedes	non culpen

    Reintegrated conjugation of culpar (See Appendix:Reintegrationism)

	Singular			Plural
	First-person (eu)	Second-person (ti / tu)	Third-person (ele / ela / você)	First-person (nós)	Second-person (vós)	Third-person (eles / elas / vocês)
Infinitive
Impersonal	culpar
Personal	culpar	culpares	culpar	culparmos	culpardes	culparem
Gerund
	culpando
Past participle
Masculine	culpado			culpados
Feminine	culpada			culpadas
Indicative
Present	culpo	culpas	culpa	culpamos	culpades, culpais	culpam
Imperfect	culpava	culpavas	culpava	culpávamos	culpávades, culpáveis, culpávais1	culpavam
Preterite	culpei	culpaste, culpache1	culpou	culpamos	culpastes	culpárom, culparam
Pluperfect	culpara	culparas	culpara	culpáramos	culpárades, culpáreis, culpárais1	culparam
Future	culparei	culparás	culpará	culparemos	culparedes, culpareis	culparám, culparão
Conditional	culparia	culparias	culparia	culparíamos	culparíades, culparíeis, culparíais1	culpariam
Subjunctive
Present	culpe	culpes	culpe	culpemos	culpedes, culpeis	culpem
Imperfect	culpasse	culpasses	culpasse	culpássemos	culpássedes, culpásseis	culpassem
Future	culpar	culpares	culpar	culparmos	culpardes	culparem
Imperative
Affirmative		culpa	culpe	culpemos	culpade, culpai	culpem
Negative (nom)		nom culpes	nom culpe	nom culpemos	nom culpedes, nom culpeis	nom culpem

¹Less recommended.

References

• Seoane, Ernesto Xosé González; Granja, María Álvarez de la; Agrelo, Ana Isabel Boullón (2006–2022), “culpar”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval [Dictionary of dictionaries of Medieval Galician] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Barreiro, Xavier Varela; Guinovart, Xavier Gómez (2006–2018), “culpar”, in Corpus Xelmírez: corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval [Corpus Xelmírez: linguistic corpus of Medieval Galicia] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Santamarina, editor (2006–2013), “culpar”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• “culpar”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2026
• Antón Santamarina, Ernesto X. González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “culpar”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega

Portuguese

Etymology

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese culpar, probably borrowed from Latin culpāre (“to blame”). By surface analysis, culpa +‎ -ar.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /kuwˈpa(ʁ)/ [kuʊ̯ˈpa(h)]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /kuwˈpa(ʁ)/ [kuʊ̯ˈpa(h)]
  • (São Paulo) IPA^(key): /kuwˈpa(ɾ)/ [kuʊ̯ˈpa(ɾ)]
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /kuwˈpa(ʁ)/ [kuʊ̯ˈpa(χ)]
  • (Caipira) IPA^(key): /kuwˈpa(ɻ)/ [kuʊ̯ˈpa(ɻ)]

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /kulˈpaɾ/ [kuɫˈpaɾ]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /kulˈpaɾ/ [kuɫˈpaɾ]
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /kulˈpa.ɾi/ [kuɫˈpa.ɾi]

• Hyphenation: cul‧par

Verb

culpar (first-person singular present culpo, first-person singular preterite culpei, past participle culpado)

1. to blame

   Synonyms: acusar, incriminar

Conjugation

    Conjugation of culpar (See Appendix:Portuguese verbs)

	Singular			Plural
	First-person (eu)	Second-person (tu)	Third-person (ele / ela / você)	First-person (nós)	Second-person (vós)	Third-person (eles / elas / vocês)
Infinitive
Impersonal	culpar
Personal	culpar	culpares	culpar	culparmos	culpardes	culparem
Gerund
	culpando
Past participle
Masculine	culpado			culpados
Feminine	culpada			culpadas
Indicative
Present	culpo	culpas	culpa	culpamos	culpais	culpam
Imperfect	culpava	culpavas	culpava	culpávamos	culpáveis	culpavam
Preterite	culpei	culpaste	culpou	culpamos1, culpámos2	culpastes	culparam
Pluperfect	culpara	culparas	culpara	culpáramos	culpáreis	culparam
Future	culparei	culparás	culpará	culparemos	culpareis	culparão
Conditional	culparia	culparias	culparia	culparíamos	culparíeis	culpariam
Subjunctive
Present	culpe	culpes	culpe	culpemos	culpeis	culpem
Imperfect	culpasse	culpasses	culpasse	culpássemos	culpásseis	culpassem
Future	culpar	culpares	culpar	culparmos	culpardes	culparem
Imperative
Affirmative		culpa	culpe	culpemos	culpai	culpem
Negative (não)		não culpes	não culpe	não culpemos	não culpeis	não culpem

¹Brazilian Portuguese.
²European Portuguese.

Related terms

• culpa
• culpabilidade
• culpado
• culpável
• culposo
• desculpa
• desculpar

Further reading

• “culpar”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “culpar”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Spanish

Etymology

Etymology tree

Latin culpa

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂

Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂

Proto-Indo-European *-yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu.

Proto-Italic *-ājō

Proto-Italic *-āō

Latin -ō

Latin culpārelbor.

Spanish culpar

Learned borrowing from Latin culpāre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kulˈpaɾ/ [kulˈpaɾ]
• Rhymes: -aɾ
• Syllabification: cul‧par

Verb

culpar (first-person singular present culpo, first-person singular preterite culpé, past participle culpado)

1. (transitive, reflexive) to blame

   Synonyms: culpabilizar, inculpar

Conjugation

    Conjugation of culpar (See Appendix:Spanish verbs)

infinitive			culpar
gerund			culpando
past participle				masculine		feminine
		singular		culpado		culpada
		plural		culpados		culpadas
		singular			plural
		1st person	2nd person	3rd person	1st person	2nd person	3rd person
indicative		yo	tú vos	él/ella/ello usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ellos/ellas ustedes
	present	culpo	culpastú culpásvos	culpa	culpamos	culpáis	culpan
	imperfect	culpaba	culpabas	culpaba	culpábamos	culpabais	culpaban
	preterite	culpé	culpaste	culpó	culpamos	culpasteis	culparon
	future	culparé	culparás	culpará	culparemos	culparéis	culparán
	conditional	culparía	culparías	culparía	culparíamos	culparíais	culparían
subjunctive		yo	tú vos	él/ella/ello usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ellos/ellas ustedes
	present	culpe	culpestú culpésvos2	culpe	culpemos	culpéis	culpen
	imperfect (ra)	culpara	culparas	culpara	culpáramos	culparais	culparan
	imperfect (se)	culpase	culpases	culpase	culpásemos	culpaseis	culpasen
	future1	culpare	culpares	culpare	culpáremos	culpareis	culparen
imperative		—	tú vos	usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ustedes
	affirmative		culpatú culpávos	culpe	culpemos	culpad	culpen
	negative		no culpes	no culpe	no culpemos	no culpéis	no culpen

¹Rare; now chiefly used in legal language.
²Argentine and Uruguayan voseo prefers the tuteo-form for the present subjunctive.

    Selected combined forms of culpar

These forms are generated automatically and may not actually be used. Pronoun usage varies by region.

		singular			plural
		1st person	2nd person	3rd person	1st person	2nd person	3rd person
with infinitive culpar	dative	culparme	culparte	culparle, culparse	culparnos	culparos	culparles, culparse
	accusative	culparme	culparte	culparlo, culparla, culparse	culparnos	culparos	culparlos, culparlas, culparse
with gerund culpando	dative	culpándome	culpándote	culpándole, culpándose	culpándonos	culpándoos	culpándoles, culpándose
	accusative	culpándome	culpándote	culpándolo, culpándola, culpándose	culpándonos	culpándoos	culpándolos, culpándolas, culpándose
with informal second-person singular tuteo imperative culpa	dative	cúlpame	cúlpate	cúlpale	cúlpanos	not used	cúlpales
	accusative	cúlpame	cúlpate	cúlpalo, cúlpala	cúlpanos	not used	cúlpalos, cúlpalas
with informal second-person singular voseo imperative culpá	dative	culpame	culpate	culpale	culpanos	not used	culpales
	accusative	culpame	culpate	culpalo, culpala	culpanos	not used	culpalos, culpalas
with formal second-person singular imperative culpe	dative	cúlpeme	not used	cúlpele, cúlpese	cúlpenos	not used	cúlpeles
	accusative	cúlpeme	not used	cúlpelo, cúlpela, cúlpese	cúlpenos	not used	cúlpelos, cúlpelas
with first-person plural imperative culpemos	dative	not used	culpémoste	culpémosle	culpémonos	culpémoos	culpémosles
	accusative	not used	culpémoste	culpémoslo, culpémosla	culpémonos	culpémoos	culpémoslos, culpémoslas
with informal second-person plural imperative culpad	dative	culpadme	not used	culpadle	culpadnos	culpaos	culpadles
	accusative	culpadme	not used	culpadlo, culpadla	culpadnos	culpaos	culpadlos, culpadlas
with formal second-person plural imperative culpen	dative	cúlpenme	not used	cúlpenle	cúlpennos	not used	cúlpenles, cúlpense
	accusative	cúlpenme	not used	cúlpenlo, cúlpenla	cúlpennos	not used	cúlpenlos, cúlpenlas, cúlpense

    Conjugation of culparse (See Appendix:Spanish verbs)

infinitive			culparse
gerund			culpándose
past participle				masculine		feminine
		singular		culpado		culpada
		plural		culpados		culpadas
		singular			plural
		1st person	2nd person	3rd person	1st person	2nd person	3rd person
personal non-finite		yo	tú vos	él/ella/ello usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ellos/ellas ustedes
	infinitive	culparme	culparte	culparse	culparnos	culparos	culparse
	gerund	culpándome	culpándote	culpándose	culpándonos	culpándoos	culpándose
indicative		yo	tú vos	él/ella/ello usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ellos/ellas ustedes
	present	me culpo	te culpastú te culpásvos	se culpa	nos culpamos	os culpáis	se culpan
	imperfect	me culpaba	te culpabas	se culpaba	nos culpábamos	os culpabais	se culpaban
	preterite	me culpé	te culpaste	se culpó	nos culpamos	os culpasteis	se culparon
	future	me culparé	te culparás	se culpará	nos culparemos	os culparéis	se culparán
	conditional	me culparía	te culparías	se culparía	nos culparíamos	os culparíais	se culparían
subjunctive		yo	tú vos	él/ella/ello usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ellos/ellas ustedes
	present	me culpe	te culpestú te culpésvos2	se culpe	nos culpemos	os culpéis	se culpen
	imperfect (ra)	me culpara	te culparas	se culpara	nos culpáramos	os culparais	se culparan
	imperfect (se)	me culpase	te culpases	se culpase	nos culpásemos	os culpaseis	se culpasen
	future1	me culpare	te culpares	se culpare	nos culpáremos	os culpareis	se culparen
imperative		—	tú vos	usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ustedes
	affirmative		cúlpatetú culpatevos	cúlpese	culpémonos	culpaos	cúlpense
	negative		no te culpes	no se culpe	no nos culpemos	no os culpéis	no se culpen

¹Rare; now chiefly used in legal language.
²Argentine and Uruguayan voseo prefers the tuteo-form for the present subjunctive.

Related terms

• culpa
• culpabilidad
• culpabilizar
• culpable
• disculpar
• exculpar

References

• Coromines, Joan; Pascual, José Antonio (1984), “culpa”, in Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico [Critical Castilian and Hispanic etymological dictionary]‎^[1] (in Spanish), volume I (A–Ca), Madrid: Gredos, →ISBN, page 288

Further reading

• “culpar”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025
• Seco, Manuel; Andrés, Olimpia; Ramos, Gabino (2023), “culpar”, in Diccionario del español actual [Dictionary of Current Spanish] (in Spanish), third digital edition, Fundación BBVA