volcar Preterite Conjugation
volcar — to tip over
Volcar has a spelling change in the 'yo' form (volqué) to keep the hard 'k' sound.
volcar Preterite Forms
When to Use the Preterite
Use the preterite to describe a specific moment when something tipped over, crashed, or was overturned in the past.
Notes on volcar in the Preterite
It is a -car verb, so the 'c' changes to 'qu' in the 'yo' form (volqué). The rest of the forms are regular and do NOT have the o > ue stem change.
Example Sentences
Volqué el camión en la curva.
I flipped the truck on the curve.
yo
El viento volcó varias sombrillas.
The wind knocked over several umbrellas.
él/ella/usted
Los niños volcaron el cubo de juguetes.
The children tipped over the toy bucket.
ellos/ellas/ustedes
Common Mistakes
Mistake: Writing 'volcé' for the yo form.
Correct: volqué
Why: In Spanish, 'cé' sounds like 's' or 'th'. To keep the hard 'k' sound of the infinitive, we use 'qué'.
Mistake: Using the stem change: 'vuelcó'.
Correct: volcó
Why: Stem changes for -ar verbs like volcar do not apply in the preterite.
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Related Tenses
Present
yo: vuelco
Volcar is a stem-changing verb where the 'o' becomes 'ue' in all forms except nosotros and vosotros.
Imperfect
yo: volcaba
Volcar is completely regular in the imperfect: volcaba, volcabas, volcaba...
Future
yo: volcaré
Volcar is regular in the future; just add endings to the infinitive: volcaré, volcarás...
Conditional
yo: volcaría
Volcar is regular in the conditional: volcaría, volcarías, volcaría...
Present Subjunctive
yo: vuelque
Volcar combines the 'o > ue' stem change with the 'c > qu' spelling change in all forms.
Imperfect Subjunctive
yo: volcara
Volcar is regular in the imperfect subjunctive, based on the third-person preterite 'volcaron'.
Affirmative Imperative
yo: vuelca
Use 'vuelca' (tú) or 'vuelquen' (ustedes) to tell someone to tip or dump something.
Negative Imperative
yo: no vuelques
Negative commands use the present subjunctive forms: no vuelques, no vuelque.