puntuar
grade
Definition & meaning
Puntuar is a Spanish verb with several related meanings:
-
To award or earn points, especially in a game, competition, or exam.
- El equipo puntuó en el último minuto. — “The team scored in the last minute.”
- La respuesta puntúa dos puntos. — “The answer is worth two points.”
-
To rate, grade, or score something according to a scale.
- Los usuarios puntuaron la película con cuatro estrellas. — “Users rated the film four stars.”
- El jurado puntuó cada actuación. — “The jury scored each performance.”
-
To punctuate a text, meaning to add punctuation marks.
- Hay que puntuar correctamente esta frase. — “This sentence must be punctuated correctly.”
Depending on the context, puntuar can therefore mean “to score,” “to rate,” “to grade,” or “to punctuate.”
Grammar & Word origin
Puntuar is a regular -ar verb, although its present-tense forms contain an accent to preserve the pronunciation:
- yo puntúo — I score/rate/punctuate
- tú puntúas — you score/rate/punctuate
- él/ella puntúa — he/she scores/rates/punctuates
- ellos puntúan — they score/rate/punctuate
The accent marks show that the u is pronounced as a separate syllable: pun-tú-o, pun-tú-an.
The verb is formed from punto “” or “,” ultimately from Latin punctum, “a point” or “a prick,” with the verbal ending -uar. The same origin is connected with puntuación “” and puntuación “.”
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonyms
The best synonym depends on the meaning:
- calificar — usually refers to assigning a grade or mark, especially in education.
- evaluar — broader and more formal; it means judging quality or performance, not necessarily assigning points.
- valorar — emphasizes forming an opinion about value or quality.
- anotar — often used when recording points in a game.
- marcar — common in sports, especially for scoring a goal or point.
- poner signos de puntuación — an explicit phrase used for the punctuation sense.
Antonyms
There is no single universal antonym for puntuar, but these expressions can be opposites in particular contexts:
- quitar puntos — the direct opposite of awarding points.
- penalizar — to punish an error by reducing a score.
- descalificar — to remove someone from a competition rather than giving or recording points.
- ignorar — in assessment, to disregard something instead of evaluating or scoring it.
Common phrases & collocations
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Examples
Voy a puntuar el examen hoy.verb
I am going to grade the exam today.
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