refrenar

Spanish

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Italic *wre-

Latin re-

Proto-Indo-European *dʰer-der.

Proto-Indo-European *dʰr-eh₁-nom

Proto-Italic *θrēnomder.

Proto-Italic *frēnom

Latin frēnum

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 frēnō

Latin refrēnāre

Spanish refrenar

Inherited from Latin refrēnāre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /refɾeˈnaɾ/ [re.fɾeˈnaɾ]
• Rhymes: -aɾ
• Syllabification: re‧fre‧nar

Verb

refrenar (first-person singular present refreno, first-person singular preterite refrené, past participle refrenado)

1. (transitive) to rein in, contain

Conjugation

    Conjugation of refrenar (See Appendix:Spanish verbs)

infinitive			refrenar
gerund			refrenando
past participle				masculine		feminine
		singular		refrenado		refrenada
		plural		refrenados		refrenadas
		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	refreno	refrenastú refrenásvos	refrena	refrenamos	refrenáis	refrenan
	imperfect	refrenaba	refrenabas	refrenaba	refrenábamos	refrenabais	refrenaban
	preterite	refrené	refrenaste	refrenó	refrenamos	refrenasteis	refrenaron
	future	refrenaré	refrenarás	refrenará	refrenaremos	refrenaréis	refrenarán
	conditional	refrenaría	refrenarías	refrenaría	refrenaríamos	refrenaríais	refrenarían
subjunctive		yo	tú vos	él/ella/ello usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ellos/ellas ustedes
	present	refrene	refrenestú refrenésvos2	refrene	refrenemos	refrenéis	refrenen
	imperfect (ra)	refrenara	refrenaras	refrenara	refrenáramos	refrenarais	refrenaran
	imperfect (se)	refrenase	refrenases	refrenase	refrenásemos	refrenaseis	refrenasen
	future1	refrenare	refrenares	refrenare	refrenáremos	refrenareis	refrenaren
imperative		—	tú vos	usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ustedes
	affirmative		refrenatú refrenávos	refrene	refrenemos	refrenad	refrenen
	negative		no refrenes	no refrene	no refrenemos	no refrenéis	no refrenen

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

    Selected combined forms of refrenar

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 refrenar	dative	refrenarme	refrenarte	refrenarle, refrenarse	refrenarnos	refrenaros	refrenarles, refrenarse
	accusative	refrenarme	refrenarte	refrenarlo, refrenarla, refrenarse	refrenarnos	refrenaros	refrenarlos, refrenarlas, refrenarse
with gerund refrenando	dative	refrenándome	refrenándote	refrenándole, refrenándose	refrenándonos	refrenándoos	refrenándoles, refrenándose
	accusative	refrenándome	refrenándote	refrenándolo, refrenándola, refrenándose	refrenándonos	refrenándoos	refrenándolos, refrenándolas, refrenándose
with informal second-person singular tuteo imperative refrena	dative	refréname	refrénate	refrénale	refrénanos	not used	refrénales
	accusative	refréname	refrénate	refrénalo, refrénala	refrénanos	not used	refrénalos, refrénalas
with informal second-person singular voseo imperative refrená	dative	refrename	refrenate	refrenale	refrenanos	not used	refrenales
	accusative	refrename	refrenate	refrenalo, refrenala	refrenanos	not used	refrenalos, refrenalas
with formal second-person singular imperative refrene	dative	refréneme	not used	refrénele, refrénese	refrénenos	not used	refréneles
	accusative	refréneme	not used	refrénelo, refrénela, refrénese	refrénenos	not used	refrénelos, refrénelas
with first-person plural imperative refrenemos	dative	not used	refrenémoste	refrenémosle	refrenémonos	refrenémoos	refrenémosles
	accusative	not used	refrenémoste	refrenémoslo, refrenémosla	refrenémonos	refrenémoos	refrenémoslos, refrenémoslas
with informal second-person plural imperative refrenad	dative	refrenadme	not used	refrenadle	refrenadnos	refrenaos	refrenadles
	accusative	refrenadme	not used	refrenadlo, refrenadla	refrenadnos	refrenaos	refrenadlos, refrenadlas
with formal second-person plural imperative refrenen	dative	refrénenme	not used	refrénenle	refrénennos	not used	refrénenles, refrénense
	accusative	refrénenme	not used	refrénenlo, refrénenla	refrénennos	not used	refrénenlos, refrénenlas, refrénense

Related terms

• desenfrenar
• enfrenar
• frenar
• freno

Further reading

• “refrenar”, 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