liquidar Preterite Conjugation
liquidar — to settle
The preterite of liquidar is regular: liquidé, liquidaste, liquidó, liquidamos, liquidasteis, liquidaron.
liquidar Preterite Forms
When to Use the Preterite
Use the preterite to describe a completed action of settling or liquidating that happened at a specific point in the past. For example, 'I settled the bill yesterday' (Liquidé la factura ayer) or 'They liquidated the company last year' (Liquidaron la empresa el año pasado).
Notes on liquidar in the Preterite
Liquidar is fully regular in the preterite. All forms follow the standard -ar verb pattern.
Example Sentences
Liquidé todas mis deudas el mes pasado.
I settled all my debts last month.
yo
¿Liquidaste el pago final?
Did you settle the final payment?
tú
La tienda liquidó el stock antiguo.
The store liquidated the old stock.
él/ella/usted
Ellos liquidaron la empresa por bancarrota.
They liquidated the company due to bankruptcy.
ellos/ellas/ustedes
Common Mistakes
Mistake: Using the imperfect instead of the preterite for a completed action.
Correct: For a specific, finished action like settling a debt on a certain day, use the preterite: 'Liquidé', not 'Liquidaba'.
Why: The preterite marks completed past actions, while the imperfect describes ongoing or habitual past actions.
Mistake: Forgetting the accent on the 'yo' and 'él/ella/usted' forms.
Correct: The yo form is 'liquidé' and the él/ella/usted form is 'liquidó'.
Why: The written accent marks the stress on the final syllable for these preterite forms.
Master Spanish verbs in context
Memorizing tables only gets you so far. Read 200+ illustrated and narrated Spanish stories to see verbs like 'liquidar' used naturally — in the tenses you're learning.
Related Tenses
Present
yo: liquido
The present tense 'liquido', 'liquidas', 'liquida', 'liquidamos', 'liquidáis', 'lquidan' is for now, habits, or truths.
Imperfect
yo: liquidaba
The imperfect 'liquidaba', 'liquidabas', 'liquidaba', 'liquidábamos', 'liquidabais', 'liquidaban' describes past habits or ongoing actions.
Future
yo: liquidaré
The future tense 'liquidaré', 'liquidarás', 'liquidará', 'liquidaremos', 'liquidaréis', 'liquidarán' talks about future actions.
Conditional
yo: liquidaría
The conditional 'liquidaría', 'liquidarías', 'liquidaría', 'liquidaríamos', 'liquidaríais', 'liquidarían' means 'would settle'.
Present Subjunctive
yo: liquide
The present subjunctive 'liquide', 'liquides', 'liquidemos', 'liquiden' expresses wishes, doubts, or emotions.
Imperfect Subjunctive
yo: liquidara
The imperfect subjunctive 'liquidara' or 'liquidase' is for past hypotheticals or wishes.
Affirmative Imperative
yo: liquida
Use 'liquida', 'liquide', 'liquidemos', 'liquiden', 'liquidad' for direct commands with liquidar.
Negative Imperative
yo: no liquides
Use 'no liquides', 'no liquide', 'no liquidemos', 'no liquiden', 'no liquidéis' for negative commands with liquidar.