constituir

to constitute

verb kons-tee-too-EER Less Common

Origin: From Latin constituere.

Also means

to make up

Usage Note

Constituir is irregular in the present tense — a -y- is inserted before endings that don't begin with i: constituye, constituyen, etc. It is formal and most common in legal, academic, and journalistic writing. In everyday speech, formar or ser are more natural: say eso es un delito, not eso constituye un delito, in casual conversation.

Examples

"Eso constituye una violación de las normas."

Natural Translation

That constitutes a violation of the rules.

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