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"to dare" in seven languages

Meaningto dare

Spanish

atreverse

/atɾeˈbeɾse/

other source · Latin TRIBUERE 'to assign' (in the sense 'to take upon oneself')

Osar exists too, but sounds literary.

French

oser

/oze/

inherited

Italian

osare

/oˈzare/

inherited

Portuguese

ousar

/oˈzah/

inherited

Romanian

îndrăzni

/ɨndrəzˈni/

other source · Slavic (Old Church Slavonic drŭzati 'to be bold')

Catalan

gosar

/ɡuˈza/

inherited

The initial g- is a Catalan peculiarity; Coromines leaves it unexplained.

English

dare

/dɛɹ/

native English · Old English durran

English → Italianto dareosareNot relatedDifferent sources — learn this one fresh. But English has relatives: audacious, audacity.What English and Italian share

The Latin ancestor

*AUSĀRE‘to dare (from AUSUM, participle of AUDĒRE)’

All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.

The story

Spoken Latin built *AUSĀRE on the participle of AUDĒRE, and AU became o: oser, osare, osar. Everyday Spanish prefers atreverse, from TRIBUERE, the verb behind attribute.

English relatives: audacious, audacity

Sound laws at work

AU becomes o

Learn it

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In a sentence

  • esNo me atreví a decir nada.
  • frJe n'ai rien osé dire.
  • itNon ho osato dire niente.
  • ptNão ousei dizer nada.
  • roN-am îndrăznit să spun nimic.
  • caNo vaig gosar dir res.
  • enI didn't dare say anything.

More in Core verbs

All Core verbs words