felicitar Preterite Conjugation
felicitar — to congratulate
The preterite of felicitar is regular: felicité, felicitaste, felicitó, felicitamos, felicitasteis, felicitaron.
felicitar Preterite Forms
When to Use the Preterite
Use the preterite of felicitar to talk about the specific act of congratulating someone that happened and finished at a particular point in the past.
Notes on felicitar in the Preterite
Felicitar is fully regular in the preterite. All forms follow the standard pattern for -ar verbs.
Example Sentences
Ayer te felicité por tu cumpleaños.
Yesterday I congratulated you on your birthday.
yo
El jefe felicitó a todo el equipo por el éxito.
The boss congratulated the whole team on the success.
él/ella/usted
¿Nos felicitasteis por la buena noticia?
Did you (plural, informal) congratulate us on the good news?
vosotros
Ellos nos felicitaron por ganar el premio.
They congratulated us on winning the prize.
ellos/ellas/ustedes
Common Mistakes
Mistake: Using the imperfect 'felicita' instead of the preterite 'felicitó' for a single past event.
Correct: Use 'felicitó' for a completed action: 'El director felicitó al empleado'.
Why: The preterite marks a specific, completed action, while the imperfect describes ongoing or habitual past actions.
Mistake: Forgetting accents on 'yo' and 'él/ella/usted' forms.
Correct: Remember the accents: 'felicité' (yo) and 'felicitó' (él/ella/usted).
Why: Accents are crucial for pronunciation and distinguishing forms (e.g., 'felicito' present vs. 'felicité' preterite).
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Related Tenses
Present
yo: felicito
The present tense of felicitar (felicito, felicitas, felicita, felicitamos, felicitáis, felicitan) describes habitual actions or things happening now.
Imperfect
yo: felicitaba
The imperfect of felicitar (felicitaba, felicitabas, felicitaba, felicitábamos, felicitabais, felicitaban) describes ongoing or habitual past congratulations.
Future
yo: felicitaré
The future tense of felicitar (felicitaré, felicitarás, felicitará, etc.) indicates an action that will happen.
Conditional
yo: felicitaría
The conditional of felicitar (felicitaría, felicitarías, felicitaría, etc.) is used for hypotheticals, polite requests, and future-in-the-past.
Present Subjunctive
yo: felicite
The present subjunctive of felicitar (felicite, felicites, felicitemos, felicitéis, feliciten) is used after expressions of doubt, desire, emotion, and uncertainty.
Imperfect Subjunctive
yo: felicitara
The imperfect subjunctive of felicitar (felicitara/felicitase) is used for past hypotheticals, wishes, or polite requests.
Affirmative Imperative
yo: felicita
The imperative of felicitar uses 'felicita' (tú), 'felicite' (usted), 'felicitemos' (nosotros), 'felicitéis' (vosotros), 'felicite' (ustedes).
Negative Imperative
yo: no felicites
Negative commands for felicitar use 'no' plus the present subjunctive: no felicites (tú), no felicite (usted), no felicitemos (nosotros), no felicitéis (vosotros), no feliciten (ustedes).