verb

divertir

have fun · entertain

Hacer que alguien se sienta feliz o pase un buen rato con algo agradable.

Definition & meaning

Divertir is a Spanish verb with two main meanings:

To entertain or amuse someone
It means to make someone enjoy themselves or laugh.
- El payaso divierte a los niños. — “The clown entertains the children.”
To distract or divert someone’s attention
In this sense, it can mean to take someone’s mind off something.
- La música me divierte de mis preocupaciones. — “The music distracts me from my worries.”

The reflexive form, divertirse , is very common and means to have fun, to enjoy oneself, or to be entertained.

Nos divertimos mucho en la fiesta. — “We had a lot of fun at the party.”

Grammar & word origin

Divertir is a regular -ir verb, but it has a stem change in several present-tense forms:

yo divierto
tú diviertes
él/ella divierte
nosotros divertimos
ellos divierten

The change is e → ie except in the first- and second-person plural forms. The past participle is divertido , meaning “entertained,” “amusing,” or “fun,” depending on context.

The reflexive form is divertirse , with reflexive pronouns: me divierto, te diviertes, se divierte, and so on.

The verb comes from Latin dīvertere, meaning “to turn aside” or “to divert.”

Synonyms & antonyms

Synonyms

entretener — “to entertain”; focuses on providing enjoyment or occupying someone’s attention.
recrear — “to amuse” or “to entertain”; often sounds somewhat more formal.
distraer — “to distract”; emphasizes taking someone’s attention away from something, rather than necessarily making them happy.
alegrar — “to cheer up” or “to make happy”; focuses more on producing happiness than on entertainment.

Antonyms

aburrir — “to bore”; the clearest opposite when divertir means “to entertain.”
entristecer — “to sadden”; an opposite when divertir means “to cheer or amuse.”
preocupar — “to worry”; contrasts with divertir in the sense of distracting someone from worries.