cuidar

Catalan

Etymology

Inherited from Latin cogitāre. Compare Old Occitan cuidar, Middle French cuider, Spanish cuidar. Doublet of cogitar, a borrowing from Latin.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [kujˈða]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [kujˈðaɾ]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -a(ɾ)

Verb

cuidar (first-person singular present cuido, first-person singular preterite cuidí, past participle cuidat)

1. to think, to believe
2. to be about to do something, especially having an accident
3. to care for, to take care of

Conjugation

    Conjugation of cuidar (first conjugation)

infinitive			cuidar
gerund			cuidant
past participle				masculine		feminine
		singular		cuidat		cuidada
		plural		cuidats		cuidades
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	ell/ella vostè	nosaltres nós	vosaltres vós	ells/elles vostès
	present	cuido	cuides	cuida	cuidem	cuideu	cuiden
	imperfect	cuidava	cuidaves	cuidava	cuidàvem	cuidàveu	cuidaven
	future	cuidaré	cuidaràs	cuidarà	cuidarem	cuidareu	cuidaran
	preterite	cuidí	cuidares	cuidà	cuidàrem	cuidàreu	cuidaren
	conditional	cuidaria	cuidaries	cuidaria	cuidaríem	cuidaríeu	cuidarien
subjunctive		jo	tu	ell/ella vostè	nosaltres nós	vosaltres vós	ells/elles vostès
	present	cuidi	cuidis	cuidi	cuidem	cuideu	cuidin
	imperfect	cuidés	cuidessis	cuidés	cuidéssim	cuidéssiu	cuidessin
imperative		—	tu	vostè	nosaltres	vosaltres vós	vostès
	affirmative	—	cuida	cuidi	cuidem	cuideu	cuidin
	negative (no)	—	no cuidis	no cuidi	no cuidem	no cuideu	no cuidin

Derived terms

• cuidador

Further reading

• “cuidar”, 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
• “cuidar” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Old Occitan

Etymology

From Latin cogitāre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kyjˈdaɾ/

Verb

cuidar

1. to believe
2. to think

Descendants

• Occitan: coidar

Portuguese

Alternative forms

• cuydar (obsolete)

Etymology

From Old Galician-Portuguese cuidar, from Latin cōgitāre (“to think, to consider”), from co- + agitō (“to agitate”). Doublet of cogitar, a borrowing.

Pronunciation

 

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

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /kujˈda(ʁ)/ [kuɪ̯ˈda(h)]
  • (São Paulo) IPA^(key): /kujˈda(ɾ)/ [kuɪ̯ˈda(ɾ)]
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /kujˈda(ʁ)/ [kuɪ̯ˈda(χ)]
  • (Porto Alegre) IPA^(key): /kujˈda(ɻ)/ [kuɪ̯ˈda(ɻ)]

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /kujˈdaɾ/ [kujˈðaɾ]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /kujˈdaɾ/ [kujˈðaɾ]
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /kujˈda.ɾi/ [kujˈða.ɾi]

• Audio (Portugal (Porto)):

  (file)

• Audio (Portugal):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: cui‧dar

Verb

cuidar (first-person singular present cuido, first-person singular preterite cuidei, past participle cuidado)

1. (transitive) to take care (of); to look after (to provide care for) [with de]

   A mãe cuida das crianças. ― The mother tends the children.

2. (intransitive) to take care; to be careful
3. (transitive) to take care (of); to deal (with); to handle [with de]

   Não te preocupes, cuidarei deste problema. ― Don’t worry, I’ll take care of this problem.

4. (transitive) to mind (to concern oneself with, to pay attention to) [with de]

   Cuida da tua vida! ― Mind your own business! (literally, “Mind your life!”)

5. (transitive, archaic, dialectal) to think, to suppose to, to believe [with que]
6. (reflexive) to take care (be cautious, careful)
7. (reflexive, imperative) take care (used as a farewell)

Conjugation

    Conjugation of cuidar (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	cuidar
Personal	cuidar	cuidares	cuidar	cuidarmos	cuidardes	cuidarem
Gerund
	cuidando
Past participle
Masculine	cuidado			cuidados
Feminine	cuidada			cuidadas
Indicative
Present	cuido	cuidas	cuida	cuidamos	cuidais	cuidam
Imperfect	cuidava	cuidavas	cuidava	cuidávamos	cuidáveis	cuidavam
Preterite	cuidei	cuidaste	cuidou	cuidamos1, cuidámos2	cuidastes	cuidaram
Pluperfect	cuidara	cuidaras	cuidara	cuidáramos	cuidáreis	cuidaram
Future	cuidarei	cuidarás	cuidará	cuidaremos	cuidareis	cuidarão
Conditional	cuidaria	cuidarias	cuidaria	cuidaríamos	cuidaríeis	cuidariam
Subjunctive
Present	cuide	cuides	cuide	cuidemos	cuideis	cuidem
Imperfect	cuidasse	cuidasses	cuidasse	cuidássemos	cuidásseis	cuidassem
Future	cuidar	cuidares	cuidar	cuidarmos	cuidardes	cuidarem
Imperative
Affirmative		cuida	cuide	cuidemos	cuidai	cuidem
Negative (não)		não cuides	não cuide	não cuidemos	não cuideis	não cuidem

¹Brazilian Portuguese.
²European Portuguese.

Related terms

• cogitar
• cuidação
• cuidadeira
• cuidado
• cuidador
• cuidadosamente
• cuidadoso
• cuidança

Further reading

• “cuidar”, in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2025
• “cuidar”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2025

Spanish

Etymology

Inherited from Old Spanish coidar, from Latin cogitāre (“think”). Doublet of cogitar, a borrowing from Latin, whence also English cogitate.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kwiˈdaɾ/ [kwiˈð̞aɾ]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɾ
• Syllabification: cui‧dar

Verb

cuidar (first-person singular present cuido, first-person singular preterite cuidé, past participle cuidado)

1. (transitive, intransitive) to take care of, to care for

   A usted le sugiero que cuide a sus propios niños, y yo voy a preocuparme de los míos.

   I suggest that you care for your own children and I'll worry about mine.

2. (transitive) to look after, to look out for, to keep an eye on, to guard, to protect, to watch over, to watch out for (implies doing so with care)

   Por favor, cuida de mi hija después de que muera.

   Please, look out for my daughter after I'm gone.

   El perro leal siempre cuida la casa.

   The loyal dog always guards the house.

3. (transitive) to mind, to watch, to pay attention

   Por favor cuide su lengua, ¿de acuerdo?

   Please watch your tongue, all right?

   Creo que debes cuidar tus modales, muchacho.

   I think you should mind your manners, boy.

4. to babysit
5. to keep, to sit on (e.g. one's house, keeping the place in order)
6. (transitive) to nurse, to nurture, to tend, to tend to, to attend to (e.g. nurse back to health, to tend a garden or yard, tend to a herd or flock)
7. (reflexive) to take care, to take care of, to look after, to care for (oneself)

   Cuídate!

   Take care of yourself!

8. (reflexive) to be careful of/with, to beware, to watch out for, to be wary of (+ de)

Usage notes

• Cuidar does not require the preposition de to signify "take care of" unlike English (which requires "of"). Both cuidar and cuidar de mean to "take care of". In other words, cuidar can be used both transitively and intransitively.

Conjugation

    Conjugation of cuidar (See Appendix:Spanish verbs)

infinitive			cuidar
gerund			cuidando
past participle				masculine		feminine
		singular		cuidado		cuidada
		plural		cuidados		cuidadas
		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	cuido	cuidastú cuidásvos	cuida	cuidamos	cuidáis	cuidan
	imperfect	cuidaba	cuidabas	cuidaba	cuidábamos	cuidabais	cuidaban
	preterite	cuidé	cuidaste	cuidó	cuidamos	cuidasteis	cuidaron
	future	cuidaré	cuidarás	cuidará	cuidaremos	cuidaréis	cuidarán
	conditional	cuidaría	cuidarías	cuidaría	cuidaríamos	cuidaríais	cuidarían
subjunctive		yo	tú vos	él/ella/ello usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ellos/ellas ustedes
	present	cuide	cuidestú cuidésvos2	cuide	cuidemos	cuidéis	cuiden
	imperfect (ra)	cuidara	cuidaras	cuidara	cuidáramos	cuidarais	cuidaran
	imperfect (se)	cuidase	cuidases	cuidase	cuidásemos	cuidaseis	cuidasen
	future1	cuidare	cuidares	cuidare	cuidáremos	cuidareis	cuidaren
imperative		—	tú vos	usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ustedes
	affirmative		cuidatú cuidávos	cuide	cuidemos	cuidad	cuiden
	negative		no cuides	no cuide	no cuidemos	no cuidéis	no cuiden

¹Mostly obsolete, now mainly used in legal language.
²Argentine and Uruguayan voseo prefers the tú form for the present subjunctive.

    Selected combined forms of cuidar

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 cuidar	dative	cuidarme	cuidarte	cuidarle, cuidarse	cuidarnos	cuidaros	cuidarles, cuidarse
	accusative	cuidarme	cuidarte	cuidarlo, cuidarla, cuidarse	cuidarnos	cuidaros	cuidarlos, cuidarlas, cuidarse
with gerund cuidando	dative	cuidándome	cuidándote	cuidándole, cuidándose	cuidándonos	cuidándoos	cuidándoles, cuidándose
	accusative	cuidándome	cuidándote	cuidándolo, cuidándola, cuidándose	cuidándonos	cuidándoos	cuidándolos, cuidándolas, cuidándose
with informal second-person singular tú imperative cuida	dative	cuídame	cuídate	cuídale	cuídanos	not used	cuídales
	accusative	cuídame	cuídate	cuídalo, cuídala	cuídanos	not used	cuídalos, cuídalas
with informal second-person singular vos imperative cuidá	dative	cuidame	cuidate	cuidale	cuidanos	not used	cuidales
	accusative	cuidame	cuidate	cuidalo, cuidala	cuidanos	not used	cuidalos, cuidalas
with formal second-person singular imperative cuide	dative	cuídeme	not used	cuídele, cuídese	cuídenos	not used	cuídeles
	accusative	cuídeme	not used	cuídelo, cuídela, cuídese	cuídenos	not used	cuídelos, cuídelas
with first-person plural imperative cuidemos	dative	not used	cuidémoste	cuidémosle	cuidémonos	cuidémoos	cuidémosles
	accusative	not used	cuidémoste	cuidémoslo, cuidémosla	cuidémonos	cuidémoos	cuidémoslos, cuidémoslas
with informal second-person plural imperative cuidad	dative	cuidadme	not used	cuidadle	cuidadnos	cuidaos	cuidadles
	accusative	cuidadme	not used	cuidadlo, cuidadla	cuidadnos	cuidaos	cuidadlos, cuidadlas
with formal second-person plural imperative cuiden	dative	cuídenme	not used	cuídenle	cuídennos	not used	cuídenles, cuídense
	accusative	cuídenme	not used	cuídenlo, cuídenla	cuídennos	not used	cuídenlos, cuídenlas, cuídense

Derived terms

• zamuro cuidando carne

Related terms

• cuidacoches
• cuidado
• cuidador
• cuidadosamente
• cuidadoso
• cuidarse
• descuidar
• descuido

See also

• velar

Further reading

• “cuidar”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024