cachetear

Spanish

Etymology

Etymology tree

Spanish cacha

Proto-Indo-European *-tós

Proto-Italic *-tosder.?

Late Latin -ittus

Old French -et

Middle French -et

French -etbor.

Spanish -ete

Spanish cachete

Proto-Indo-European *-id-

Proto-Indo-European *-yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti

Proto-Hellenic *-íďďō

Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō)bor.

Latin -izāre

Spanish -ear

Spanish cachetear

From cachete + -ear.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kat͡ʃeteˈaɾ/ [ka.t͡ʃe.t̪eˈaɾ]
• Rhymes: -aɾ
• Syllabification: ca‧che‧te‧ar

Verb

cachetear (first-person singular present cacheteo, first-person singular preterite cacheteé, past participle cacheteado)

1. (transitive, Canary Islands, Latin America) to slap (in the face)
2. (transitive, Puerto Rico) to get for free

Conjugation

    Conjugation of cachetear (See Appendix:Spanish verbs)

infinitive			cachetear
gerund			cacheteando
past participle				masculine		feminine
		singular		cacheteado		cacheteada
		plural		cacheteados		cacheteadas
		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	cacheteo	cacheteastú cacheteásvos	cachetea	cacheteamos	cacheteáis	cachetean
	imperfect	cacheteaba	cacheteabas	cacheteaba	cacheteábamos	cacheteabais	cacheteaban
	preterite	cacheteé	cacheteaste	cacheteó	cacheteamos	cacheteasteis	cachetearon
	future	cachetearé	cachetearás	cacheteará	cachetearemos	cachetearéis	cachetearán
	conditional	cachetearía	cachetearías	cachetearía	cachetearíamos	cachetearíais	cachetearían
subjunctive		yo	tú vos	él/ella/ello usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ellos/ellas ustedes
	present	cachetee	cacheteestú cacheteésvos2	cachetee	cacheteemos	cacheteéis	cacheteen
	imperfect (ra)	cacheteara	cachetearas	cacheteara	cacheteáramos	cachetearais	cachetearan
	imperfect (se)	cachetease	cacheteases	cachetease	cacheteásemos	cacheteaseis	cacheteasen
	future1	cacheteare	cacheteares	cacheteare	cacheteáremos	cacheteareis	cachetearen
imperative		—	tú vos	usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ustedes
	affirmative		cacheteatú cacheteávos	cachetee	cacheteemos	cachetead	cacheteen
	negative		no cachetees	no cachetee	no cacheteemos	no cacheteéis	no cacheteen

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

    Selected combined forms of cachetear

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 cachetear	dative	cachetearme	cachetearte	cachetearle, cachetearse	cachetearnos	cachetearos	cachetearles, cachetearse
	accusative	cachetearme	cachetearte	cachetearlo, cachetearla, cachetearse	cachetearnos	cachetearos	cachetearlos, cachetearlas, cachetearse
with gerund cacheteando	dative	cacheteándome	cacheteándote	cacheteándole, cacheteándose	cacheteándonos	cacheteándoos	cacheteándoles, cacheteándose
	accusative	cacheteándome	cacheteándote	cacheteándolo, cacheteándola, cacheteándose	cacheteándonos	cacheteándoos	cacheteándolos, cacheteándolas, cacheteándose
with informal second-person singular tuteo imperative cachetea	dative	cachetéame	cachetéate	cachetéale	cachetéanos	not used	cachetéales
	accusative	cachetéame	cachetéate	cachetéalo, cachetéala	cachetéanos	not used	cachetéalos, cachetéalas
with informal second-person singular voseo imperative cacheteá	dative	cacheteame	cacheteate	cacheteale	cacheteanos	not used	cacheteales
	accusative	cacheteame	cacheteate	cachetealo, cacheteala	cacheteanos	not used	cachetealos, cachetealas
with formal second-person singular imperative cachetee	dative	cachetéeme	not used	cachetéele, cachetéese	cachetéenos	not used	cachetéeles
	accusative	cachetéeme	not used	cachetéelo, cachetéela, cachetéese	cachetéenos	not used	cachetéelos, cachetéelas
with first-person plural imperative cacheteemos	dative	not used	cacheteémoste	cacheteémosle	cacheteémonos	cacheteémoos	cacheteémosles
	accusative	not used	cacheteémoste	cacheteémoslo, cacheteémosla	cacheteémonos	cacheteémoos	cacheteémoslos, cacheteémoslas
with informal second-person plural imperative cachetead	dative	cacheteadme	not used	cacheteadle	cacheteadnos	cacheteaos	cacheteadles
	accusative	cacheteadme	not used	cacheteadlo, cacheteadla	cacheteadnos	cacheteaos	cacheteadlos, cacheteadlas
with formal second-person plural imperative cacheteen	dative	cachetéenme	not used	cachetéenle	cachetéennos	not used	cachetéenles, cachetéense
	accusative	cachetéenme	not used	cachetéenlo, cachetéenla	cachetéennos	not used	cachetéenlos, cachetéenlas, cachetéense

Related terms

• cachetada
• cachete

Further reading

• “cachetear”, 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
• “cachetear”, in Diccionario Básico de Canarismos [Basic Dictionary of Canarianisms] (in Spanish), Canarian Academy of the Language [Spanish: Academia Canaria de La Lengua], 2010
• “cachetear”, 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