Perjudicar in Spanish: causing harm

Describe how an action harms someone or undermines an outcome.

The idea

Perjudicar means to harm or disadvantage. The affected person or thing is the direct object; a person normally takes a.

La sequía perjudica a las familias agricultoras.The drought harms farming families.
El ruido constante perjudica mi concentración.Constant noise harms my concentration.
La decisión perjudicó al pequeño comercio del barrio.The decision harmed the neighbourhood’s small businesses.
No quiero que el retraso perjudique tus planes.I don’t want the delay to harm your plans.
Las obras nocturnas perjudican el descanso de los vecinos.Night-time construction disrupts the neighbours’ rest.
Si ocultamos el error, perjudicaremos al equipo.If we hide the mistake, we will harm the team.

Read-aloud uses a synthetic Spanish voice available on your device. Voice quality and availability vary; it does not assess your pronunciation.

Do not confuse perjudicar with a neutral effect: it implies harm. Before e, c changes to qu, as in perjudiqué and perjudique.

Choose the correct form: El humo ___ la salud. (perjudica / perjudican)
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perjudica
Perjudica agrees with the singular subject el humo.
Choose the correct form: Ayer yo ___ a mi compañera sin querer. (perjudiqué / perjudicé)
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perjudiqué
Perjudiqué places the past action with the speaker and keeps the hard sound.
Choose the correct form: Es posible que la tormenta ___ la cosecha. (perjudique / perjudice)
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perjudique
Perjudique follows the expression of possibility es posible que.

Write an original sentence about a decision that harms someone.