fabricar Preterite Conjugation
fabricar — to manufacture
Fabricar is regular except for the 'yo' form, which changes to 'fabriqué'.
fabricar Preterite Forms
When to Use the Preterite
Use the preterite to talk about a specific manufacturing event that finished, like when a factory produced a batch last week.
Notes on fabricar in the Preterite
Only the 'yo' form is irregular (spelling change): 'fabriqué'. All other forms (fabricaste, fabricó, etc.) follow standard -ar patterns.
Example Sentences
Ayer fabriqué el primer prototipo.
Yesterday I manufactured the first prototype.
yo
La empresa fabricó mil coches el mes pasado.
The company manufactured a thousand cars last month.
él/ella/usted
Nosotros fabricamos estas piezas a mano.
We manufactured these parts by hand.
nosotros
Common Mistakes
Mistake: Writing 'fabricé' instead of 'fabriqué'.
Correct: fabriqué
Why: A 'c' before 'e' would change the pronunciation to a 'th' or 's' sound. The 'qu' preserves the hard 'k' sound.
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Related Tenses
Present
yo: fabrico
Fabricar is fully regular in the present tense: fabrico, fabricas, fabrica, fabricamos, fabricáis, fabrican.
Imperfect
yo: fabricaba
The imperfect of fabricar is regular: fabricaba, fabricabas, fabricaba, fabricábamos, fabricabais, fabricaban.
Future
yo: fabricaré
The future of fabricar is regular: fabricaré, fabricarás, fabricará, fabricaremos, fabricaréis, fabricarán.
Conditional
yo: fabricaría
The conditional of fabricar is regular: fabricaría, fabricarías, fabricaría, fabricaríamos, fabricaríais, fabricarían.
Present Subjunctive
yo: fabrique
Fabricar undergoes a spelling change from 'c' to 'qu' in all forms: fabrique, fabriques, fabrique, fabriquemos, fabriquéis, fabriquen.
Imperfect Subjunctive
yo: fabricara
The imperfect subjunctive of fabricar is regular: fabricara, fabricaras, fabricara, fabricáramos, fabricarais, fabricaran.
Affirmative Imperative
yo: fabrica
The imperative uses 'fabrica' (tú) and 'fabrique' (usted), with a spelling change in most forms.
Negative Imperative
yo: no fabriques
Negative commands always use the 'qu' spelling change: no fabriques, no fabrique, no fabriquemos, no fabriquen.