picar Affirmative Imperative Conjugation
picar — to sting or bite
The imperative of picar involves a spelling change (qu) for formal commands and 'nosotros'.
picar Affirmative Imperative Forms
When to Use the Affirmative Imperative
Use this to tell someone to chop the food, or for a fish to 'bite' the bait.
Notes on picar in the Affirmative Imperative
The 'tú' form is 'pica' (regular), but 'usted' and 'ustedes' use the 'qu' spelling change (pique, piquen).
Example Sentences
Pica la verdura muy fina, por favor.
Chop the vegetables very fine, please.
tú
Pique usted el ajo ahora.
Chop the garlic now (formal).
usted
¡Piquen, peces, piquen!
Bite, fish, bite!
ustedes
Common Mistakes
Mistake: Using 'pice' for the formal command.
Correct: pique
Why: The spelling change to 'qu' is necessary to keep the hard 'k' sound.
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Related Tenses
Present
yo: pico
The present tense of picar is completely regular: pico, picas, pica, picamos, picáis, pican.
Preterite
yo: piqué
The preterite of picar is regular except for the 'yo' form, which changes to 'piqué' to keep the hard 'k' sound.
Imperfect
yo: picaba
The imperfect of picar is regular: picaba, picabas, picaba, picábamos, picabais, picaban.
Future
yo: picaré
The future tense of picar is regular: picaré, picarás, picará, picaremos, picaréis, picarán.
Conditional
yo: picaría
The conditional of picar is regular: picaría, picarías, picaría, picaríamos, picaríais, picarían.
Present Subjunctive
yo: pique
The present subjunctive of picar features a spelling change from 'c' to 'qu' in all forms: pique, piques, pique, piquemos, piquéis, piquen.
Imperfect Subjunctive
yo: picara
The imperfect subjunctive of picar is formed from the third-person plural preterite: picara, picaras, picara, picáramos, picarais, picaran.
Negative Imperative
yo: no piques
The negative imperative of picar uses the 'qu' spelling change for all forms: no piques, no pique, no piquemos, no piquéis, no piquen.