apatrullar

An informal, nonstandard variant of patrullar (to patrol), formed by adding the prefix a- to patrulla. It shows up in casual speech and some regional usage but patrullar remains the standard, dictionary-recognized verb for this meaning.

• Los vecinos apatrullaban la calle por turnos. — The neighbors patrolled the street in shifts.
• La policía apatrulla la zona por las noches. — The police patrol the area at night.
• Prefieren decir patrullar en vez de apatrullar en un texto formal. — They prefer to say patrullar rather than apatrullar in a formal text.

Using apatrullar in formal or written Spanish — it reads as a colloquial slip; patrullar is the form dictionaries and edited writing use.

Often confused with patrullar.