vacar

See also: văcar and vãcar

Catalan

Alternative forms

• vagar

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin vacāre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Northern, Central) [bəˈka]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [vəˈka]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [vaˈkaɾ]
• IPA^(key): (Northwestern) [baˈka]
• Homophones: becà, becar, vacà
• Rhymes: -a(ɾ)

Verb

vacar (first-person singular present vaco, first-person singular preterite vaquí, past participle vacat)

1. (intransitive) (an office or position) to be vacant, not occupied

Conjugation

    Central Catalan conjugation of vacar (first conjugation, c-qu alternation)

infinitive			vacar
gerund			vacant
past participle				masculine		feminine
		singular		vacat		vacada
		plural		vacats		vacades
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	ell/ella vostè	nosaltres nós	vosaltres vós	ells/elles vostès
	present	vaco	vaques	vaca	vaquem	vaqueu	vaquen
	imperfect	vacava	vacaves	vacava	vacàvem	vacàveu	vacaven
	future	vacaré	vacaràs	vacarà	vacarem	vacareu	vacaran
	preterite	vaquí	vacares	vacà	vacàrem	vacàreu	vacaren
	conditional	vacaria	vacaries	vacaria	vacaríem	vacaríeu	vacarien
subjunctive		jo	tu	ell/ella vostè	nosaltres nós	vosaltres vós	ells/elles vostès
	present	vaqui	vaquis	vaqui	vaquem	vaqueu	vaquin
	imperfect	vaqués	vaquessis	vaqués	vaquéssim	vaquéssiu	vaquessin
imperative		—	tu	vostè	nosaltres	vosaltres vós	vostès
	affirmative	—	vaca	vaqui	vaquem	vaqueu	vaquin
	negative (no)	—	no vaquis	no vaqui	no vaquem	no vaqueu	no vaquin

Derived terms

• vacança
• vacant

Related terms

• vacació

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• cavar, varca

Portuguese

Alternative forms

• vagar

Etymology

From Latin vacāre.

Pronunciation

 

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

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

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /vɐˈkaɾ/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /vɐˈkaɾ/
  • (Northern Portugal) IPA^(key): /bɐˈkaɾ/
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /vɐˈka.ɾi/

• Hyphenation: va‧car

Verb

vacar (first-person singular present vaco, first-person singular preterite vaquei, past participle vacado)

1. to vacate (move out of a given place)

Conjugation

    Conjugation of vacar (c-qu 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	vacar
Personal	vacar	vacares	vacar	vacarmos	vacardes	vacarem
Gerund
	vacando
Past participle
Masculine	vacado			vacados
Feminine	vacada			vacadas
Indicative
Present	vaco	vacas	vaca	vacamos	vacais	vacam
Imperfect	vacava	vacavas	vacava	vacávamos	vacáveis	vacavam
Preterite	vaquei	vacaste	vacou	vacamos1, vacámos2	vacastes	vacaram
Pluperfect	vacara	vacaras	vacara	vacáramos	vacáreis	vacaram
Future	vacarei	vacarás	vacará	vacaremos	vacareis	vacarão
Conditional	vacaria	vacarias	vacaria	vacaríamos	vacaríeis	vacariam
Subjunctive
Present	vaque	vaques	vaque	vaquemos	vaqueis	vaquem
Imperfect	vacasse	vacasses	vacasse	vacássemos	vacásseis	vacassem
Future	vacar	vacares	vacar	vacarmos	vacardes	vacarem
Imperative
Affirmative		vaca	vaque	vaquemos	vacai	vaquem
Negative (não)		não vaques	não vaque	não vaquemos	não vaqueis	não vaquem

¹Brazilian Portuguese.
²European Portuguese.

Further reading

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

Spanish

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *h₁weh₂-der.

Proto-Indo-European *h₁uh₂-kos

Proto-Italic *wakos

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 vacārelbor.

Spanish vacar

Learned borrowing from Latin vacāre. Doublet of vagar.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /baˈkaɾ/ [baˈkaɾ]
• Rhymes: -aɾ
• Syllabification: va‧car

Verb

vacar (first-person singular present vaco, first-person singular preterite vaqué, past participle vacado)

1. to take a break
2. to vacate
3. to dedicate time to
4. to lack
5. (Peru) to impeach

Conjugation

    Conjugation of vacar (c-qu alternation) (See Appendix:Spanish verbs)

infinitive			vacar
gerund			vacando
past participle				masculine		feminine
		singular		vacado		vacada
		plural		vacados		vacadas
		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	vaco	vacastú vacásvos	vaca	vacamos	vacáis	vacan
	imperfect	vacaba	vacabas	vacaba	vacábamos	vacabais	vacaban
	preterite	vaqué	vacaste	vacó	vacamos	vacasteis	vacaron
	future	vacaré	vacarás	vacará	vacaremos	vacaréis	vacarán
	conditional	vacaría	vacarías	vacaría	vacaríamos	vacaríais	vacarían
subjunctive		yo	tú vos	él/ella/ello usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ellos/ellas ustedes
	present	vaque	vaquestú vaquésvos2	vaque	vaquemos	vaquéis	vaquen
	imperfect (ra)	vacara	vacaras	vacara	vacáramos	vacarais	vacaran
	imperfect (se)	vacase	vacases	vacase	vacásemos	vacaseis	vacasen
	future1	vacare	vacares	vacare	vacáremos	vacareis	vacaren
imperative		—	tú vos	usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ustedes
	affirmative		vacatú vacávos	vaque	vaquemos	vacad	vaquen
	negative		no vaques	no vaque	no vaquemos	no vaquéis	no vaquen

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

    Selected combined forms of vacar (c-qu 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 vacar	dative	vacarme	vacarte	vacarle, vacarse	vacarnos	vacaros	vacarles, vacarse
	accusative	vacarme	vacarte	vacarlo, vacarla, vacarse	vacarnos	vacaros	vacarlos, vacarlas, vacarse
with gerund vacando	dative	vacándome	vacándote	vacándole, vacándose	vacándonos	vacándoos	vacándoles, vacándose
	accusative	vacándome	vacándote	vacándolo, vacándola, vacándose	vacándonos	vacándoos	vacándolos, vacándolas, vacándose
with informal second-person singular tuteo imperative vaca	dative	vácame	vácate	vácale	vácanos	not used	vácales
	accusative	vácame	vácate	vácalo, vácala	vácanos	not used	vácalos, vácalas
with informal second-person singular voseo imperative vacá	dative	vacame	vacate	vacale	vacanos	not used	vacales
	accusative	vacame	vacate	vacalo, vacala	vacanos	not used	vacalos, vacalas
with formal second-person singular imperative vaque	dative	váqueme	not used	váquele, váquese	váquenos	not used	váqueles
	accusative	váqueme	not used	váquelo, váquela, váquese	váquenos	not used	váquelos, váquelas
with first-person plural imperative vaquemos	dative	not used	vaquémoste	vaquémosle	vaquémonos	vaquémoos	vaquémosles
	accusative	not used	vaquémoste	vaquémoslo, vaquémosla	vaquémonos	vaquémoos	vaquémoslos, vaquémoslas
with informal second-person plural imperative vacad	dative	vacadme	not used	vacadle	vacadnos	vacaos	vacadles
	accusative	vacadme	not used	vacadlo, vacadla	vacadnos	vacaos	vacadlos, vacadlas
with formal second-person plural imperative vaquen	dative	váquenme	not used	váquenle	váquennos	not used	váquenles, váquense
	accusative	váquenme	not used	váquenlo, váquenla	váquennos	not used	váquenlos, váquenlas, váquense

Further reading

• “vacar”, 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