How to Say "they located" in Spanish
The Spanish word for “they located” is “encontraron” — A1 level. This is a very common word in everyday Spanish.

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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