protestar

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin prōtestor (“to testify; to protest”).

Pronunciation

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

Verb

protestar (first-person singular present protesto, first-person singular preterite protestí, past participle protestat); root stress: (Northern) /e̞/; (Balearic, Central, Northwestern, Valencia) /e/ (ambitransitive)

1. to protest
2. to declare

Conjugation

    Central Catalan conjugation of protestar (first conjugation)

infinitive			protestar
gerund			protestant
past participle				masculine		feminine
		singular		protestat		protestada
		plural		protestats		protestades
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	ell/ella vostè	nosaltres nós	vosaltres vós	ells/elles vostès
	present	protesto	protestes	protesta	protestem	protesteu	protesten
	imperfect	protestava	protestaves	protestava	protestàvem	protestàveu	protestaven
	future	protestaré	protestaràs	protestarà	protestarem	protestareu	protestaran
	preterite	protestí	protestares	protestà	protestàrem	protestàreu	protestaren
	conditional	protestaria	protestaries	protestaria	protestaríem	protestaríeu	protestarien
subjunctive		jo	tu	ell/ella vostè	nosaltres nós	vosaltres vós	ells/elles vostès
	present	protesti	protestis	protesti	protestem	protesteu	protestin
	imperfect	protestés	protestessis	protestés	protestéssim	protestéssiu	protestessin
imperative		—	tu	vostè	nosaltres	vosaltres vós	vostès
	affirmative	—	protesta	protesti	protestem	protesteu	protestin
	negative (no)	—	no protestis	no protesti	no protestem	no protesteu	no protestin

Derived terms

• protest
• protesta
• protestador
• protestament
• protestant
• protestatari

Related terms

• protestació
• protestatiu

Galician

Verb

protestar (first-person singular present protesto, first-person singular preterite protestei, past participle protestado)

1. to protest

Conjugation

    Conjugation of protestar

	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	protestar
Personal	protestar	protestares	protestar	protestarmos	protestardes	protestaren
Gerund
	protestando
Past participle
Masculine	protestado			protestados
Feminine	protestada			protestadas
Indicative
Present	protesto	protestas	protesta	protestamos	protestades	protestan
Imperfect	protestaba	protestabas	protestaba	protestabamos	protestabades	protestaban
Preterite	protestei	protestaches	protestou	protestamos	protestastes	protestaron
Pluperfect	protestara	protestaras	protestara	protestaramos	protestarades	protestaran
Future	protestarei	protestarás	protestará	protestaremos	protestaredes	protestarán
Conditional	protestaría	protestarías	protestaría	protestariamos	protestariades	protestarían
Subjunctive
Present	proteste	protestes	proteste	protestemos	protestedes	protesten
Imperfect	protestase	protestases	protestase	protestásemos	protestásedes	protestasen
Future	protestar	protestares	protestar	protestarmos	protestardes	protestaren
Imperative
Affirmative		protesta	proteste	protestemos	protestade	protesten
Negative (non)		non protestes	non proteste	non protestemos	non protestedes	non protesten

    Reintegrated conjugation of protestar (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	protestar
Personal	protestar	protestares	protestar	protestarmos	protestardes	protestarem
Gerund
	protestando
Past participle
Masculine	protestado			protestados
Feminine	protestada			protestadas
Indicative
Present	protesto	protestas	protesta	protestamos	protestades, protestais	protestam
Imperfect	protestava	protestavas	protestava	protestávamos	protestávades, protestáveis, protestávais1	protestavam
Preterite	protestei	protestaste, protestache1	protestou	protestamos	protestastes	protestárom, protestaram
Pluperfect	protestara	protestaras	protestara	protestáramos	protestárades, protestáreis, protestárais1	protestaram
Future	protestarei	protestarás	protestará	protestaremos	protestaredes, protestareis	protestarám, protestarão
Conditional	protestaria	protestarias	protestaria	protestaríamos	protestaríades, protestaríeis, protestaríais1	protestariam
Subjunctive
Present	proteste	protestes	proteste	protestemos	protestedes, protesteis	protestem
Imperfect	protestasse	protestasses	protestasse	protestássemos	protestássedes, protestásseis	protestassem
Future	protestar	protestares	protestar	protestarmos	protestardes	protestarem
Imperative
Affirmative		protesta	proteste	protestemos	protestade, protestai	protestem
Negative (nom)		nom protestes	nom proteste	nom protestemos	nom protestedes, nom protesteis	nom protestem

¹Less recommended.

Related terms

• protesta

Norwegian Nynorsk

Noun

protestar m

1. indefinite plural of protest

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin prōtestārī (“to protest; to testify”), from prō + testor, from testis (“witness”).

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /pɾo.tesˈta(ʁ)/ [pɾo.tesˈta(h)]

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

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /pɾu.tɨʃˈtaɾ/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /pɾu.tɨʃˈtaɾ/
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /pɾu.tɨʃˈta.ɾi/

• Audio (Brazil (Caipira)):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: pro‧tes‧tar

Verb

protestar (first-person singular present protesto, first-person singular preterite protestei, past participle protestado)

1. to protest (to make a strong objection)

   Synonyms: discordar, reclamar

   Antonyms: aceitar, ignorar

Conjugation

    Conjugation of protestar (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	protestar
Personal	protestar	protestares	protestar	protestarmos	protestardes	protestarem
Gerund
	protestando
Past participle
Masculine	protestado			protestados
Feminine	protestada			protestadas
Indicative
Present	protesto	protestas	protesta	protestamos	protestais	protestam
Imperfect	protestava	protestavas	protestava	protestávamos	protestáveis	protestavam
Preterite	protestei	protestaste	protestou	protestamos1, protestámos2	protestastes	protestaram
Pluperfect	protestara	protestaras	protestara	protestáramos	protestáreis	protestaram
Future	protestarei	protestarás	protestará	protestaremos	protestareis	protestarão
Conditional	protestaria	protestarias	protestaria	protestaríamos	protestaríeis	protestariam
Subjunctive
Present	proteste	protestes	proteste	protestemos	protesteis	protestem
Imperfect	protestasse	protestasses	protestasse	protestássemos	protestásseis	protestassem
Future	protestar	protestares	protestar	protestarmos	protestardes	protestarem
Imperative
Affirmative		protesta	proteste	protestemos	protestai	protestem
Negative (não)		não protestes	não proteste	não protestemos	não protesteis	não protestem

¹Brazilian Portuguese.
²European Portuguese.

Related terms

• protestação
• protestado
• protestador
• protestante
• protestantismo
• protestantizar
• protestatário
• protestativo
• protestatório
• protesto

Further reading

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

Spanish

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *per-der.?

Proto-Indo-European *per-der.?

Proto-Indo-European *pér

Proto-Indo-European *-o

Proto-Indo-European *pró

Proto-Indo-European *pro-

Proto-Italic *pro-

Latin prō-

Proto-Indo-European *tri-

Proto-Indo-European *steh₂-

Proto-Indo-European *trito-sth₂-o-s

Proto-Italic *tristos

Latin *terstis

Latin testis

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 -o

Latin testor

Latin prōtestor

Proto-Indo-European *-ḗy

Proto-Italic *-ēi(s)

Latin -ēs

Latin -īder.

Latin -ārī

Latin prōtestārilbor.

Spanish protestar

Learned borrowing from Latin prōtestārī (“to protest; to testify”), from prō + testor, from testis (“witness”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɾotesˈtaɾ/ [pɾo.t̪esˈt̪aɾ]
• Rhymes: -aɾ
• Syllabification: pro‧tes‧tar

Verb

protestar (first-person singular present protesto, first-person singular preterite protesté, past participle protestado)

1. to protest
2. to protest (to publicly demonstrate) [with contra ‘against’]

   Synonym: manifestarse

Conjugation

    Conjugation of protestar (See Appendix:Spanish verbs)

infinitive			protestar
gerund			protestando
past participle				masculine		feminine
		singular		protestado		protestada
		plural		protestados		protestadas
		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	protesto	protestastú protestásvos	protesta	protestamos	protestáis	protestan
	imperfect	protestaba	protestabas	protestaba	protestábamos	protestabais	protestaban
	preterite	protesté	protestaste	protestó	protestamos	protestasteis	protestaron
	future	protestaré	protestarás	protestará	protestaremos	protestaréis	protestarán
	conditional	protestaría	protestarías	protestaría	protestaríamos	protestaríais	protestarían
subjunctive		yo	tú vos	él/ella/ello usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ellos/ellas ustedes
	present	proteste	protestestú protestésvos2	proteste	protestemos	protestéis	protesten
	imperfect (ra)	protestara	protestaras	protestara	protestáramos	protestarais	protestaran
	imperfect (se)	protestase	protestases	protestase	protestásemos	protestaseis	protestasen
	future1	protestare	protestares	protestare	protestáremos	protestareis	protestaren
imperative		—	tú vos	usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ustedes
	affirmative		protestatú protestávos	proteste	protestemos	protestad	protesten
	negative		no protestes	no proteste	no protestemos	no protestéis	no protesten

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

    Selected combined forms of protestar

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 protestar	dative	protestarme	protestarte	protestarle, protestarse	protestarnos	protestaros	protestarles, protestarse
	accusative	protestarme	protestarte	protestarlo, protestarla, protestarse	protestarnos	protestaros	protestarlos, protestarlas, protestarse
with gerund protestando	dative	protestándome	protestándote	protestándole, protestándose	protestándonos	protestándoos	protestándoles, protestándose
	accusative	protestándome	protestándote	protestándolo, protestándola, protestándose	protestándonos	protestándoos	protestándolos, protestándolas, protestándose
with informal second-person singular tuteo imperative protesta	dative	protéstame	protéstate	protéstale	protéstanos	not used	protéstales
	accusative	protéstame	protéstate	protéstalo, protéstala	protéstanos	not used	protéstalos, protéstalas
with informal second-person singular voseo imperative protestá	dative	protestame	protestate	protestale	protestanos	not used	protestales
	accusative	protestame	protestate	protestalo, protestala	protestanos	not used	protestalos, protestalas
with formal second-person singular imperative proteste	dative	protésteme	not used	protéstele, protéstese	protéstenos	not used	protésteles
	accusative	protésteme	not used	protéstelo, protéstela, protéstese	protéstenos	not used	protéstelos, protéstelas
with first-person plural imperative protestemos	dative	not used	protestémoste	protestémosle	protestémonos	protestémoos	protestémosles
	accusative	not used	protestémoste	protestémoslo, protestémosla	protestémonos	protestémoos	protestémoslos, protestémoslas
with informal second-person plural imperative protestad	dative	protestadme	not used	protestadle	protestadnos	protestaos	protestadles
	accusative	protestadme	not used	protestadlo, protestadla	protestadnos	protestaos	protestadlos, protestadlas
with formal second-person plural imperative protesten	dative	protéstenme	not used	protéstenle	protéstennos	not used	protéstenles, protéstense
	accusative	protéstenme	not used	protéstenlo, protéstenla	protéstennos	not used	protéstenlos, protéstenlas, protéstense

Related terms

• protesta

Further reading

• “protestar”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), 24th edition, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 30 October 2026