Inklingo

How to Say "they located" in Spanish

The Spanish word forthey locatedis encontraronA1 level. This is a very common word in everyday Spanish.

English → SpanishA1
specifically pinpointing a location in the past
Two happy children peering into a green bush, pointing at a bright red ball they have discovered.

Examples

Ellos encontraron un mapa antiguo en el sótano.

They found an old map in the basement.

Las detectives encontraron la evidencia clave anoche.

The detectives found the key evidence last night.

¿Encontraron una solución al problema de tráfico?

Did you all find a solution to the traffic problem?

A Specific Past Action

"Encontraron" uses the simple past (preterite) form. This tells us the action (finding) began and finished quickly in the past, like a single event.

The 'They' Form

This ending, '-aron', is the standard way to say 'they' or 'you all' did a completed action in the past for any verb that ends in '-ar'.

Confusing Past Tenses

Mistake:Usando "encontraban" para un evento puntual.

Correction: Use "encontraron" for a specific, completed finding (They found it at 5 PM). Use "encontraban" only if they were routinely finding it or the finding was interrupted (They were finding things when...).

Related Translations

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