busca
“busca” means “he/she/it looks for” in Spanish. It has 2 different meanings depending on context:
he/she/it looks for, you (formal) look for, look for!
Also: he/she/it searches, he/she/it fetches
📝 In Action
Mi mamá busca una receta en internet.
A1My mom is looking for a recipe on the internet.
Ana, busca tus zapatos, por favor.
A2Ana, look for your shoes, please.
El detective busca pistas para resolver el caso.
B1The detective looks for clues to solve the case.
search, quest
Also: hunt
📝 In Action
La policía organizó una busca para encontrar al niño perdido.
B1The police organized a search to find the lost child.
Partieron en busca de oro y fortuna.
B2They set off in search of gold and fortune.
Indicative
Present
Imperfect
Preterite
Subjunctive
Present Subjunctive
Imperfect Subjunctive
✏️ Quick Practice
Quick Quiz: busca
Question 1 of 2
Which sentence correctly says 'He is looking for his wallet'?
📚 More Resources
👥 Word Family▼
📚 Etymology▼
Comes from the Vulgar Latin word `*buscare`, which meant 'to search the woods'. This likely came from a Germanic word `*busk`, which is related to the English word 'bush'. So, it originally meant something like 'to beat the bushes' to find something!
First recorded: Around the 10th century.
Cognates (Related words)
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Frequently Asked Questions
What's the difference between `busca` and `búsqueda`?
Most of the time, `busca` is a verb form ('he/she looks for' or the command 'look for!'). `Búsqueda` is the noun you'll almost always use for 'a search', like 'a Google search' (una búsqueda en Google). While `busca` can also be a noun for 'search', it's less common and often used in the set phrase 'en busca de' (in search of).
Why do I see `busqué` with 'qu' sometimes?
That's a great question about Spanish spelling! It's to keep the sound the same. The letter 'c' in Spanish makes a 'k' sound before 'a', 'o', 'u' (like in busca), but a soft 's' or 'th' sound before 'e' or 'i'. To keep the 'k' sound in the past tense 'yo' form, we change `c` to `qu` before the `e`. So, `busqué` is pronounced 'boos-KAY'. If we wrote 'buscé', it would be pronounced 'boo-SAY'.