navegar Preterite Conjugation
navegar — to sail
Navegar has a spelling change in the 'yo' form (navegué) to keep the hard 'g' sound; others are regular.
navegar Preterite Forms
When to Use the Preterite
Use the preterite for completed actions in the past, like a specific boat trip you took or a specific time you visited a website.
Notes on navegar in the Preterite
The 'yo' form changes 'g' to 'gu' (navegué). Without the 'u', the 'e' would make the 'g' sound like an 'h' (navejé), which we want to avoid.
Example Sentences
Ayer navegué por horas buscando un regalo.
Yesterday I browsed for hours looking for a gift.
yo
Ellos navegaron hasta la isla el martes.
They sailed to the island on Tuesday.
ellos/ellas/ustedes
Navegamos por el río el fin de semana pasado.
We sailed down the river last weekend.
nosotros
Common Mistakes
Mistake: Writing 'navegé' instead of 'navegué'.
Correct: navegué
Why: In Spanish, 'ge' sounds like 'he'. To keep the hard 'g' sound from the infinitive, you must add a silent 'u'.
Master Spanish verbs in context
Memorizing tables only gets you so far. Read 200+ illustrated and narrated Spanish stories to see verbs like 'navegar' used naturally — in the tenses you're learning.
Related Tenses
Present
yo: navego
The present tense of navegar is regular: navego, navegas, navega, navegamos, navegáis, navegan.
Imperfect
yo: navegaba
The imperfect of navegar is regular: navegaba, navegabas, navegaba, navegábamos, navegabais, navegaban.
Future
yo: navegaré
The future of navegar is regular: navegaré, navegarás, navegará, navegaremos, navegaréis, navegarán.
Conditional
yo: navegaría
The conditional of navegar is regular: navegaría, navegarías, navegaría, navegaríamos, navegaríais, navegarían.
Present Subjunctive
yo: navegue
The present subjunctive uses a 'gu' spelling in all forms: navegue, navegues, navegue, naveguemos, naveguéis, naveguen.
Imperfect Subjunctive
yo: navegara
The imperfect subjunctive of navegar is regular: navegara, navegaras, navegara, navegáramos, navegarais, navegaran.
Affirmative Imperative
yo: navega
The imperative uses 'navega' for tú and 'navegue(n)' for formal commands.
Negative Imperative
yo: no navegues
Negative commands always use the present subjunctive forms: no navegues, no navegue, no naveguemos, no naveguéis, no naveguen.