How to Say "you lied" in Spanish
The Spanish word for “you lied” is “mentiste” — A2 level. This is a very common word in everyday Spanish.
Examples
Sabes que me mentiste sobre dónde fuiste anoche.
You know that you lied to me about where you went last night.
¿Por qué mentiste? Necesito la verdad.
Why did you lie? I need the truth.
Si mentiste, tienes que disculparte inmediatamente.
If you lied, you have to apologize immediately.
When to use 'mentiste'
'Mentiste' is the simple past (called the preterite) form for 'tú' (you). Use it when the lying happened once and finished completely in the past.
The 'Tú' Past Ending
The ending, -iste, is the standard way to conjugate the 'tú' form in the simple past for almost all verbs ending in -er and -ir, even irregular ones like 'mentir'.
Confusing informal vs. formal 'you'
Mistake: “Using 'mentiste' when addressing an elder or boss (instead of 'mintió').”
Correction: Use 'Usted mintió' (formal past tense) instead of 'Tú mentiste' (informal) unless you know the person well.
Forgetting the Stem Change in Other Forms
Mistake: “Thinking the verb is fully regular because 'mentiste' looks regular.”
Correction: The base verb 'mentir' is irregular! Notice how 'él/ella/usted' uses 'mintió' (e changes to i) and the present tense uses 'miento' (e changes to ie).
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