sospechar
verbCEFR B2
What does “sospechar” mean in English?
to suspect
to suspect (sospechar que + clause — form a belief based on incomplete evidence)
Example sentences
Los investigadores sospechan que la causa real del accidente fue ocultada deliberadamente por los responsables.
Investigators suspect that the real cause of the accident was deliberately concealed by those responsible.
La policía sospechaba de tres individuos que habían sido vistos en las proximidades horas antes.
Police suspected three individuals who had been seen in the vicinity hours earlier.
Nadie sospechaba que aquella reunión rutinaria sería la última antes del cierre de la empresa.
Nobody suspected that that routine meeting would be the last before the company closed.
How to use it
Sospechar means 'to suspect'. Main structures: sospechar que + indicative (suspect that...); sospechar de alguien (suspect someone). The past tense is often used: los investigadores sospechaban que... (investigators suspected that...). The noun is sospecha (suspicion) and the adjective sospechoso/a (suspicious/suspect). Unlike English 'suspect', sospechar does not mean 'to think/expect' in casual speech — that is creer or suponer. It implies specifically negative or criminal suspicion.
Common mistake
Sospechar is specifically about negative suspicion — you do not use it for positive hunches (that is intuir or suponer). 'I suspect he is right' = Sospecho que tiene razón — this works in Spanish too, slightly less common than in English. Sospechoso/a as a noun means a suspect (the police have a sospechoso).