delegar

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin delegāre (“to delegate”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Northern, Balearic, Central) [də.ləˈɣa]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [de.leˈɣaɾ]
• IPA^(key): (Northwestern) [de.leˈɣa]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

• Homophone: delegà
• Rhymes: -a(ɾ)

Verb

delegar (first-person singular present delego, first-person singular preterite deleguí, past participle delegat); root stress: (Northern) /e̞/; (Balearic, Central, Northwestern, Valencia) /e/

1. (transitive) to delegate

Conjugation

    Central Catalan conjugation of delegar (first conjugation, g-gu alternation)

infinitive			delegar
gerund			delegant
past participle				masculine		feminine
		singular		delegat		delegada
		plural		delegats		delegades
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	ell/ella vostè	nosaltres nós	vosaltres vós	ells/elles vostès
	present	delego	delegues	delega	deleguem	delegueu	deleguen
	imperfect	delegava	delegaves	delegava	delegàvem	delegàveu	delegaven
	future	delegaré	delegaràs	delegarà	delegarem	delegareu	delegaran
	preterite	deleguí	delegares	delegà	delegàrem	delegàreu	delegaren
	conditional	delegaria	delegaries	delegaria	delegaríem	delegaríeu	delegarien
subjunctive		jo	tu	ell/ella vostè	nosaltres nós	vosaltres vós	ells/elles vostès
	present	delegui	deleguis	delegui	deleguem	delegueu	deleguin
	imperfect	delegués	deleguessis	delegués	deleguéssim	deleguéssiu	deleguessin
imperative		—	tu	vostè	nosaltres	vosaltres vós	vostès
	affirmative	—	delega	delegui	deleguem	delegueu	deleguin
	negative (no)	—	no deleguis	no delegui	no deleguem	no delegueu	no deleguin

Derived terms

• delegable

Related terms

• delegació
• delegat

Further reading

• “delegar”, 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
• “delegar”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026
• “delegar” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• Alcover, Antoni Maria; Moll, Francesc de Borja (1963), “delegar”, in Diccionari català-valencià-balear (in Catalan)

Portuguese

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *de

Proto-Indo-European *-h₁

Proto-Indo-European *déh₁

Proto-Italic *dē

Latin dē

Latin dē-

Proto-Indo-European *leǵ-

Proto-Indo-European *-s

Proto-Indo-European *lḗǵs?

Proto-Indo-European *legʰ-

Proto-Indo-European *-s

Proto-Indo-European *lḗgʰs?

Proto-Italic *lēks

Latin lēx

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 lēgō

Latin delegārelbor.

Portuguese delegar

Learned borrowing from Latin delegāre (“to delegate”).

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /de.leˈɡa(ʁ)/ [de.leˈɡa(h)]

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

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /dɨ.lɨˈɡaɾ/ [dɨ.lɨˈɣaɾ]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /dɨ.lɨˈɡaɾ/ [dɨ.lɨˈɣaɾ]
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /dɨ.lɨˈɡa.ɾi/

Verb

delegar (first-person singular present delego, first-person singular preterite deleguei, past participle delegado)

1. to delegate

Conjugation

    Conjugation of delegar (g-gu alternation) (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	delegar
Personal	delegar	delegares	delegar	delegarmos	delegardes	delegarem
Gerund
	delegando
Past participle
Masculine	delegado			delegados
Feminine	delegada			delegadas
Indicative
Present	delego	delegas	delega	delegamos	delegais	delegam
Imperfect	delegava	delegavas	delegava	delegávamos	delegáveis	delegavam
Preterite	deleguei	delegaste	delegou	delegamos1, delegámos2	delegastes	delegaram
Pluperfect	delegara	delegaras	delegara	delegáramos	delegáreis	delegaram
Future	delegarei	delegarás	delegará	delegaremos	delegareis	delegarão
Conditional	delegaria	delegarias	delegaria	delegaríamos	delegaríeis	delegariam
Subjunctive
Present	delegue	delegues	delegue	deleguemos	delegueis	deleguem
Imperfect	delegasse	delegasses	delegasse	delegássemos	delegásseis	delegassem
Future	delegar	delegares	delegar	delegarmos	delegardes	delegarem
Imperative
Affirmative		delega	delegue	deleguemos	delegai	deleguem
Negative (não)		não delegues	não delegue	não deleguemos	não delegueis	não deleguem

¹Brazilian Portuguese.
²European Portuguese.

Derived terms

• delegável

Related terms

• delegação

Further reading

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

Spanish

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *de

Proto-Indo-European *-h₁

Proto-Indo-European *déh₁

Proto-Italic *dē

Latin dē

Latin dē-

Proto-Indo-European *leǵ-

Proto-Indo-European *-s

Proto-Indo-European *lḗǵs?

Proto-Indo-European *legʰ-

Proto-Indo-European *-s

Proto-Indo-European *lḗgʰs?

Proto-Italic *lēks

Latin lēx

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 lēgō

Latin delegārelbor.

Spanish delegar

Learned borrowing from Latin delegāre (“to delegate”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /deleˈɡaɾ/ [d̪e.leˈɣ̞aɾ]
• Rhymes: -aɾ
• Syllabification: de‧le‧gar

Verb

delegar (first-person singular present delego, first-person singular preterite delegué, past participle delegado)

1. to delegate

Conjugation

    Conjugation of delegar (g-gu alternation) (See Appendix:Spanish verbs)

infinitive			delegar
gerund			delegando
past participle				masculine		feminine
		singular		delegado		delegada
		plural		delegados		delegadas
		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	delego	delegastú delegásvos	delega	delegamos	delegáis	delegan
	imperfect	delegaba	delegabas	delegaba	delegábamos	delegabais	delegaban
	preterite	delegué	delegaste	delegó	delegamos	delegasteis	delegaron
	future	delegaré	delegarás	delegará	delegaremos	delegaréis	delegarán
	conditional	delegaría	delegarías	delegaría	delegaríamos	delegaríais	delegarían
subjunctive		yo	tú vos	él/ella/ello usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ellos/ellas ustedes
	present	delegue	deleguestú deleguésvos2	delegue	deleguemos	deleguéis	deleguen
	imperfect (ra)	delegara	delegaras	delegara	delegáramos	delegarais	delegaran
	imperfect (se)	delegase	delegases	delegase	delegásemos	delegaseis	delegasen
	future1	delegare	delegares	delegare	delegáremos	delegareis	delegaren
imperative		—	tú vos	usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ustedes
	affirmative		delegatú delegávos	delegue	deleguemos	delegad	deleguen
	negative		no delegues	no delegue	no deleguemos	no deleguéis	no deleguen

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

    Selected combined forms of delegar (g-gu alternation)

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 delegar	dative	delegarme	delegarte	delegarle, delegarse	delegarnos	delegaros	delegarles, delegarse
	accusative	delegarme	delegarte	delegarlo, delegarla, delegarse	delegarnos	delegaros	delegarlos, delegarlas, delegarse
with gerund delegando	dative	delegándome	delegándote	delegándole, delegándose	delegándonos	delegándoos	delegándoles, delegándose
	accusative	delegándome	delegándote	delegándolo, delegándola, delegándose	delegándonos	delegándoos	delegándolos, delegándolas, delegándose
with informal second-person singular tuteo imperative delega	dative	delégame	delégate	delégale	deléganos	not used	delégales
	accusative	delégame	delégate	delégalo, delégala	deléganos	not used	delégalos, delégalas
with informal second-person singular voseo imperative delegá	dative	delegame	delegate	delegale	deleganos	not used	delegales
	accusative	delegame	delegate	delegalo, delegala	deleganos	not used	delegalos, delegalas
with formal second-person singular imperative delegue	dative	delégueme	not used	deléguele, deléguese	deléguenos	not used	delégueles
	accusative	delégueme	not used	deléguelo, deléguela, deléguese	deléguenos	not used	deléguelos, deléguelas
with first-person plural imperative deleguemos	dative	not used	deleguémoste	deleguémosle	deleguémonos	deleguémoos	deleguémosles
	accusative	not used	deleguémoste	deleguémoslo, deleguémosla	deleguémonos	deleguémoos	deleguémoslos, deleguémoslas
with informal second-person plural imperative delegad	dative	delegadme	not used	delegadle	delegadnos	delegaos	delegadles
	accusative	delegadme	not used	delegadlo, delegadla	delegadnos	delegaos	delegadlos, delegadlas
with formal second-person plural imperative deleguen	dative	deléguenme	not used	deléguenle	deléguennos	not used	deléguenles, deléguense
	accusative	deléguenme	not used	deléguenlo, deléguenla	deléguennos	not used	deléguenlos, deléguenlas, deléguense

Derived terms

• delegable

Related terms

• delegación

Further reading

• “delegar”, 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