tropezar

Galician

Alternative forms

• torpezar, trepezar, trompezar

Etymology

From Old Galician-Portuguese entrepeçar (13th century, Cantigas de Santa Maria), probably from Vulgar Latin *interpediare, from interpediō, from Latin inter- + pēs, pedis (“feet”) +‎ -iō, perhaps formed analogously to impediō (“to impede”). Cognate with Portuguese tropeçar and Spanish tropezar.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [tɾopeˈθaɾ], (western) [tɾopeˈsaɾ]

Verb

tropezar (first-person singular present tropezo, first-person singular preterite tropecei, past participle tropezado)

1. (intransitive) to trip, stumble, bump into

   O que tropeza e non cai, máis adiante un paso vai (proverb) ― He who trips and doesn't fall, a step ahead he goes

   • c. 1295, R. Lorenzo, editor, La traducción gallega de la Crónica General y de la Crónica de Castilla, Ourense: I.E.O.P.F, page 510:

     Et ontrepeçou o caualo do Çide enos mouros mortos et caeu en terra

     And the Cid's horse stumbled on the dead Moors and fell to the ground

2. (intransitive) to get tripped up

Conjugation

    Conjugation of tropezar (c-z alternation)

	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	tropezar
Personal	tropezar	tropezares	tropezar	tropezarmos	tropezardes	tropezaren
Gerund
	tropezando
Past participle
Masculine	tropezado			tropezados
Feminine	tropezada			tropezadas
Indicative
Present	tropezo	tropezas	tropeza	tropezamos	tropezades	tropezan
Imperfect	tropezaba	tropezabas	tropezaba	tropezabamos	tropezabades	tropezaban
Preterite	tropecei	tropezaches	tropezou	tropezamos	tropezastes	tropezaron
Pluperfect	tropezara	tropezaras	tropezara	tropezaramos	tropezarades	tropezaran
Future	tropezarei	tropezarás	tropezará	tropezaremos	tropezaredes	tropezarán
Conditional	tropezaría	tropezarías	tropezaría	tropezariamos	tropezariades	tropezarían
Subjunctive
Present	tropece	tropeces	tropece	tropecemos	tropecedes	tropecen
Imperfect	tropezase	tropezases	tropezase	tropezásemos	tropezásedes	tropezasen
Future	tropezar	tropezares	tropezar	tropezarmos	tropezardes	tropezaren
Imperative
Affirmative		tropeza	tropece	tropecemos	tropezade	tropecen
Negative (non)		non tropeces	non tropece	non tropecemos	non tropecedes	non tropecen

References

• Seoane, Ernesto Xosé González; Granja, María Álvarez de la; Agrelo, Ana Isabel Boullón (2006–2022), “entrepeçar”, 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), “tropezar”, 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 Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “tropezar”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “tropezar”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “tropezar”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

Spanish

Alternative forms

• entropezar, estropezar (obsolete)
• trompezar (Latin America)

Etymology

Inherited from Vulgar Latin *interpediāre, from *interpediō (“to impede”), from Latin inter- + pēs, pedis (“feet”) +‎ -iō, perhaps formed analogously to impediō (“to impede”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɾopeˈθaɾ/ [t̪ɾo.peˈθaɾ] (Equatorial Guinea, Spain)
• IPA^(key): /tɾopeˈsaɾ/ [t̪ɾo.peˈsaɾ] (Latin America, Philippines)
• Rhymes: -aɾ
• Syllabification: tro‧pe‧zar

Verb

tropezar (first-person singular present tropiezo, first-person singular preterite tropecé, past participle tropezado)

1. (intransitive, pronominal) to trip, stumble, bump into

   tropezar con dificultades ― to run into difficulties

2. (intransitive) to get tripped up
3. (reflexive) to meet (someone) by chance; to run into

   Synonym: topar

Usage notes

• Constructed as tropezar(se) con algo/alguien.

Conjugation

    Conjugation of tropezar (e-ie alternation; c-z alternation) (See Appendix:Spanish verbs)

infinitive			tropezar
gerund			tropezando
past participle				masculine		feminine
		singular		tropezado		tropezada
		plural		tropezados		tropezadas
		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	tropiezo	tropiezastú tropezásvos	tropieza	tropezamos	tropezáis	tropiezan
	imperfect	tropezaba	tropezabas	tropezaba	tropezábamos	tropezabais	tropezaban
	preterite	tropecé	tropezaste	tropezó	tropezamos	tropezasteis	tropezaron
	future	tropezaré	tropezarás	tropezará	tropezaremos	tropezaréis	tropezarán
	conditional	tropezaría	tropezarías	tropezaría	tropezaríamos	tropezaríais	tropezarían
subjunctive		yo	tú vos	él/ella/ello usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ellos/ellas ustedes
	present	tropiece	tropiecestú tropecésvos2	tropiece	tropecemos	tropecéis	tropiecen
	imperfect (ra)	tropezara	tropezaras	tropezara	tropezáramos	tropezarais	tropezaran
	imperfect (se)	tropezase	tropezases	tropezase	tropezásemos	tropezaseis	tropezasen
	future1	tropezare	tropezares	tropezare	tropezáremos	tropezareis	tropezaren
imperative		—	tú vos	usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ustedes
	affirmative		tropiezatú tropezávos	tropiece	tropecemos	tropezad	tropiecen
	negative		no tropieces	no tropiece	no tropecemos	no tropecéis	no tropiecen

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

    Selected combined forms of tropezar (e-ie alternation; c-z 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 tropezar	dative	tropezarme	tropezarte	tropezarle, tropezarse	tropezarnos	tropezaros	tropezarles, tropezarse
	accusative	tropezarme	tropezarte	tropezarlo, tropezarla, tropezarse	tropezarnos	tropezaros	tropezarlos, tropezarlas, tropezarse
with gerund tropezando	dative	tropezándome	tropezándote	tropezándole, tropezándose	tropezándonos	tropezándoos	tropezándoles, tropezándose
	accusative	tropezándome	tropezándote	tropezándolo, tropezándola, tropezándose	tropezándonos	tropezándoos	tropezándolos, tropezándolas, tropezándose
with informal second-person singular tuteo imperative tropieza	dative	tropiézame	tropiézate	tropiézale	tropiézanos	not used	tropiézales
	accusative	tropiézame	tropiézate	tropiézalo, tropiézala	tropiézanos	not used	tropiézalos, tropiézalas
with informal second-person singular voseo imperative tropezá	dative	tropezame	tropezate	tropezale	tropezanos	not used	tropezales
	accusative	tropezame	tropezate	tropezalo, tropezala	tropezanos	not used	tropezalos, tropezalas
with formal second-person singular imperative tropiece	dative	tropiéceme	not used	tropiécele, tropiécese	tropiécenos	not used	tropiéceles
	accusative	tropiéceme	not used	tropiécelo, tropiécela, tropiécese	tropiécenos	not used	tropiécelos, tropiécelas
with first-person plural imperative tropecemos	dative	not used	tropecémoste	tropecémosle	tropecémonos	tropecémoos	tropecémosles
	accusative	not used	tropecémoste	tropecémoslo, tropecémosla	tropecémonos	tropecémoos	tropecémoslos, tropecémoslas
with informal second-person plural imperative tropezad	dative	tropezadme	not used	tropezadle	tropezadnos	tropezaos	tropezadles
	accusative	tropezadme	not used	tropezadlo, tropezadla	tropezadnos	tropezaos	tropezadlos, tropezadlas
with formal second-person plural imperative tropiecen	dative	tropiécenme	not used	tropiécenle	tropiécennos	not used	tropiécenles, tropiécense
	accusative	tropiécenme	not used	tropiécenlo, tropiécenla	tropiécennos	not used	tropiécenlos, tropiécenlas, tropiécense

Derived terms

• tropezar en lo parejo (Central America)
• tropezón
• tropiezo

Further reading

• “tropezar”, 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
• “tropezar”, in Diccionario de americanismos [Dictionary of Americanisms] (in Spanish), Association of Academies of the Spanish Language [Spanish: Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española], 2010
• “tropezar”, in Diccionario panhispánico de dudas [Panhispanic Dictionary of Uncertainties] (in Spanish), 2nd edition, Royal Spanish Academy; Association of Academies of the Spanish Language, 2023, →ISBN
• Seco, Manuel; Andrés, Olimpia; Ramos, Gabino (2023), “tropezar”, in Diccionario del español actual (in Spanish), third digital edition, Fundación BBVA