alternar
Spanish, verb/alteɾˈnaɾ/
alternar is spelled A-L-T-E-R-N-A-R (8 letters) and appears about once in every 1 million words in written Spanish, the 40,689th most frequent Spanish word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Alternar is a Spanish verb meaning “to alternate” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario) defines it as “Variar las acciones diciendo o haciendo ya unas cosas, ya otras, y repitiéndolas sucesivamente”.
What does alternar mean in English?
verb
- 1
to alternate
- 2
to interact, communicate, hang out, socialize
Source: English Wiktionary, Spanish section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How Spanish dictionaries define it
verb: 1. Variar las acciones diciendo o haciendo ya unas cosas, ya otras, y repitiéndolas sucesivamente. 2. Distribuir alguna cosa entre personas o cosas que se turnan sucesivamente. 3. Cambiar los lugares que ocupan respectivamente los términos medios o los extremos de una proporción.
verb: 1. Hacer o decir una cosa, desempeñar un cargo varias personas por turno. 2. Hacer o decir una persona varias cosas por turnos y sucesivamente. 3. Sucederse unas cosas a otras repetidamente. 4. Tener comunicación amistosa unas personas con otras.
The definition in the Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario), in Spanish.
Source: Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of alternar
- alterno first-person present singular
- alterné first-person preterite singular
- alternado participle past
- alternando gerund
- alternada feminine participle past
- alternados masculine participle past
- alternadas feminine participle past
- alternas indicative informal present
- alternás indicative informal present
- alterna indicative present singular
- alternamos first-person indicative plural
- alternáis indicative plural present
- alternan indicative plural present
- alternaba first-person imperfect indicative
- alternabas imperfect indicative second-person
- alternábamos first-person imperfect indicative
- alternabais imperfect indicative plural
- alternaban imperfect indicative plural
Source: English Wiktionary and Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce alternar?
- /alteɾˈnaɾ/
- [al̪.t̪eɾˈnaɾ]
- [al̪t̪eɾˈnaɾ]
Sources: English Wiktionary, Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to alternar
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is alternar in Spanish?
alternar appears about once in every 1 million words in written Spanish.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).