detener
Spanish, verb/deteˈneɾ/
detener is a Spanish verb meaning “to detain” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario) defines it as “Suspender una cosa, impedir, estorbar que pase adelante”.
What does detener mean in English?
verb
- 1
to detain
- 2
to arrest
- 3
to stop, halt, to pause
- 4
to pull over
Source: English Wiktionary, Spanish section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How Spanish dictionaries define it
verb: 1. Suspender una cosa, impedir, estorbar que pase adelante. 2. Arrestar, poner en prisión. 3. Retener, conservar o guardar. 4. Retardar o bajar la velocidad de algo, hasta pararlo.
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 detener
- detengo first-person present singular
- detuve first-person preterite singular
- detenido participle past
- e-ie alternation
- deteniendo gerund
- detenida feminine participle past
- detenidos masculine participle past
- detenidas feminine participle past
- detienes indicative informal present
- detenés indicative informal present
- detiene indicative present singular
- detenemos first-person indicative plural
- detenéis indicative plural present
- detienen indicative plural present
- detenía first-person imperfect indicative
- detenías imperfect indicative second-person
- deteníamos first-person imperfect indicative
- deteníais imperfect indicative plural
Source: English Wiktionary and Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce detener?
- /deteˈneɾ/
- [d̪e.t̪eˈneɾ]
- [d̪et̪eˈneɾ]
Sources: English Wiktionary, Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to detener
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is detener in Spanish?
detener appears 25 times per million words in written Spanish.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).