recargar Preterite Conjugation
recargar — to recharge
Recargar is regular except for the 'yo' form, which changes 'g' to 'gu': recargué.
recargar Preterite Forms
When to Use the Preterite
Use the preterite for completed actions in the past, like when you finished charging your phone or topped up your credit at a specific time.
Notes on recargar in the Preterite
Only the 'yo' form is irregular (recargué) to preserve the hard 'g' sound. All other forms follow the regular -ar pattern.
Example Sentences
Recargué mi teléfono anoche.
I recharged my phone last night.
yo
¿Recargaste la tarjeta de crédito?
Did you top up the credit card?
tú
Recargamos el coche antes del viaje.
We recharged the car before the trip.
nosotros
Common Mistakes
Mistake: Writing 'recargé' instead of 'recargué'.
Correct: recargué
Why: Without the 'u', the 'g' followed by 'é' would sound like the Spanish letter 'j'.
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Related Tenses
Present
yo: recargo
Recargar is a completely regular -ar verb in the present tense: recargo, recargas, recarga, recargamos, recargáis, recargan.
Imperfect
yo: recargaba
The imperfect is regular for recargar: recargaba, recargabas, recargaba, recargábamos, recargabais, recargaban.
Future
yo: recargaré
The future tense is regular; just add the endings to the infinitive: recargaré, recargarás, recargará, recargaremos, recargaréis, recargarán.
Conditional
yo: recargaría
The conditional is regular; add -ía endings to the infinitive: recargaría, recargarías, recargaría, recargaríamos, recargaríais, recargarían.
Present Subjunctive
yo: recargue
The present subjunctive of recargar requires a spelling change from 'g' to 'gu' in all persons: recargue, recargues, recargue, recarguemos, recarguéis, recarguen.
Imperfect Subjunctive
yo: recargara
The imperfect subjunctive is regular based on the preterite stem: recargara, recargaras, recargara, recargáramos, recargarais, recargaran.
Affirmative Imperative
yo: recarga
The imperative uses regular forms for 'tú' (recarga) and 'vosotros' (recargad), but requires 'gu' for formal/plural forms (recargue, recarguen).
Negative Imperative
yo: no recargues
The negative imperative always uses the present subjunctive forms: no recargues, no recargue, no recarguemos, no recarguen.