comunicar Preterite Conjugation
comunicar — to communicate
The preterite of comunicar has a spelling change in the first person: comuniqué, comunicaste, comunicó, comunicamos, comunicasteis, comunicaron.
comunicar Preterite Forms
When to Use the Preterite
Use the preterite for a specific instance of communication that has ended, like a phone call or an official announcement made yesterday.
Notes on comunicar in the Preterite
This verb has a 'c' to 'qu' spelling change in the 'yo' form (comuniqué) to preserve the hard 'k' sound before the letter 'é'.
Example Sentences
Le comuniqué la decisión ayer por la tarde.
I communicated the decision to him yesterday afternoon.
yo
¿Le comunicaste la noticia a tu jefe?
Did you communicate the news to your boss?
tú
Ellos nos comunicaron los resultados del examen.
They communicated the exam results to us.
ellos/ellas/ustedes
Common Mistakes
Mistake: Writing 'comunicé' instead of 'comuniqué'.
Correct: comuniqué
Why: In Spanish, 'ce' sounds like 's' or 'th'. To keep the hard 'k' sound of the infinitive, you must use 'qu' before an 'e'.
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Related Tenses
Present
yo: comunico
The present tense of comunicar is regular: comunico, comunicas, comunica, comunicamos, comunicáis, comunican.
Imperfect
yo: comunicaba
The imperfect of comunicar is regular: comunicaba, comunicabas, comunicaba, comunicábamos, comunicabais, comunicaban.
Future
yo: comunicaré
The future of comunicar is regular: comunicaré, comunicarás, comunicará, comunicaremos, comunicaréis, comunicarán.
Conditional
yo: comunicaría
The conditional of comunicar is regular: comunicaría, comunicarías, comunicaría, comunicaríamos, comunicaríais, comunicarían.
Present Subjunctive
yo: comunique
The present subjunctive of comunicar uses a spelling change in all forms: comunique, comuniques, comunique, comuniquemos, comuniquéis, comuniquen.
Imperfect Subjunctive
yo: comunicara
The imperfect subjunctive of comunicar follows the third-person preterite: comunicara, comunicaras, comunicara, comunicáramos, comunicarais, comunicaran.
Affirmative Imperative
yo: comunica
The imperative of comunicar gives commands: comunica (tú), comunique (usted), comunicad (vosotros), comuniquen (ustedes).
Negative Imperative
yo: no comuniques
The negative imperative of comunicar uses 'no' + present subjunctive: no comuniques, no comunique, no comuniquemos, no comuniquéis, no comuniquen.