
medicar Preterite Conjugation
medicar — to prescribe medicine
Medicar is regular except for the 'yo' form, which changes to 'mediqué' to preserve the sound.
medicar Preterite Forms
When to Use the Preterite
Use the preterite to describe a specific instance in the past when medicine was administered or prescribed.
Notes on medicar in the Preterite
There is a spelling change in the 'yo' form (c becomes qu) to keep the hard 'k' sound. All other forms are regular -ar preterite endings.
Example Sentences
Ayer mediqué al paciente a las seis.
Yesterday I medicated the patient at six.
yo
El veterinario medicó a mi perro.
The vet medicated my dog.
él/ella/usted
Nosotros medicamos a los heridos rápidamente.
We medicated the wounded quickly.
nosotros
Common Mistakes
Mistake: Writing 'medicé' for the first person.
Correct: mediqué
Why: In Spanish, 'cé' is pronounced like 'say'. To get the 'kay' sound, you must use 'qué'.
Master Spanish verbs in context
Memorizing tables only gets you so far. Read 200+ illustrated and narrated Spanish stories to see verbs like 'medicar' used naturally — in the tenses you're learning.
Related Tenses
Present
yo: medico
Medicar is completely regular in the present indicative: medico, medicas, medica, medicamos, medicáis, medican.
Imperfect
yo: medicaba
The imperfect of medicar is regular: medicaba, medicabas, medicaba, medicábamos, medicabais, medicaban.
Future
yo: medicaré
The future of medicar is regular: medicaré, medicarás, medicará, medicaremos, medicaréis, medicarán.
Conditional
yo: medicaría
The conditional of medicar is regular: medicaría, medicarías, medicaría, medicaríamos, medicaríais, medicarían.
Present Subjunctive
yo: medique
Medicar undergoes a c to qu spelling change in all persons: medique, mediques, medique, mediquemos, mediquéis, mediquen.
Imperfect Subjunctive
yo: medicara
The imperfect subjunctive of medicar is regular based on the preterite: medicara, medicaras, medicara, medicáramos, medicarais, medicaran.
Affirmative Imperative
yo: medica
The imperative uses regular -ar endings, but the 'usted' and 'ustedes' forms use the 'qu' spelling change.
Negative Imperative
yo: no mediques
The negative imperative always uses the 'qu' spelling change: no mediques, no medique, no mediquemos, no mediquéis, no mediquen.