criticar Preterite Conjugation
criticar — to criticize
The preterite of criticar has a spelling change in the 'yo' form (critiqué) to keep the hard 'c' sound.
criticar Preterite Forms
When to Use the Preterite
Use the preterite to describe a specific instance where someone voiced a criticism or when a review was published.
Notes on criticar in the Preterite
It is a 'c to qu' verb. Only the 'yo' form changes to 'critiqué' to maintain the hard 'k' sound before the letter 'e'.
Example Sentences
Critiqué el restaurante en mi blog ayer.
I criticized the restaurant on my blog yesterday.
yo
El jefe criticó mi informe en la reunión.
The boss criticized my report in the meeting.
él/ella/usted
Nosotros criticamos el plan, pero nadie nos escuchó.
We criticized the plan, but nobody listened to us.
nosotros
Los expertos criticaron duramente la nueva ley.
The experts harshly criticized the new law.
ellos/ellas/ustedes
Common Mistakes
Mistake: Writing 'criticé' for the yo form.
Correct: The correct spelling is 'critiqué'.
Why: In Spanish, 'ce' sounds like 's'. To keep the hard 'k' sound of 'criticar', you must use 'qu' before an 'e'.
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Related Tenses
Present
yo: critico
The present tense of criticar is regular: critico, criticas, critica, criticamos, criticáis, critican.
Imperfect
yo: criticaba
The imperfect of criticar is regular: criticaba, criticabas, criticaba, criticábamos, criticabais, criticaban.
Future
yo: criticaré
The future of criticar is regular: criticaré, criticarás, criticará, criticaremos, criticaréis, criticarán.
Conditional
yo: criticaría
The conditional of criticar is regular: criticaría, criticarías, criticaría, criticaríamos, criticaríais, criticarían.
Present Subjunctive
yo: critique
The present subjunctive of criticar uses the 'qu' spelling change: critique, critiques, critique, critiquemos, critiquéis, critiquen.
Imperfect Subjunctive
yo: criticara
The imperfect subjunctive of criticar is: criticara, criticaras, criticara, criticáramos, criticarais, criticaran.
Affirmative Imperative
yo: critica
The affirmative imperative of criticar is: critica (tú), critique (usted), critiquemos (nosotros), criticad (vosotros), critiquen (ustedes).
Negative Imperative
yo: no critiques
The negative imperative of criticar uses subjunctive forms: no critiques, no critique, no critiquemos, no critiquéis, no critiquen.