The preterite of castigar is used to describe a specific instance of punishment that took place in the past, for example Los padres lo castigaron por una semana (The parents punished him for a week). This tense emphasizes the completed action of disciplining at a defined moment.

As a regular -ar verb, castigar follows the standard preterite conjugation pattern. The only spelling change to note is the addition of ‘u’ before ‘é’ in the first person singular to maintain the hard ‘g’ sound.

Conjugations

Conjugations of Castigar (to punish) in the Preterite (Past) Tense tense (Latin American Spanish):

The preterite of castigar expresses a completed action of punishing in the past.

To punish: Describes imposing punishment, for example Los padres castigaron al niño (The parents punished the child) or Lo castigaron sin salir (They punished him by not letting him go out).

To penalize: Used in formal contexts, for example El juez castigó la infracción con una multa (The judge penalized the violation with a fine).

Examples

Examples of Castigar in the Preterite (Past) Tense

Castigué al estudiante por su mal comportamiento. (I punished the student for their bad behavior.)

Castigaste a tu hijo por mentir. (You punished your child for lying.)

La maestra castigó a toda la clase. (The teacher punished the whole class.)

Castigamos el mal comportamiento inmediatamente. (We punished the bad behavior immediately.)

Los padres castigaron a sus hijos por llegar tarde. (The parents punished their children for arriving late.)

Castigué su falta de respeto. (I punished their lack of respect.)

Castigaste la desobediencia con firmeza. (You punished the disobedience firmly.)

El juez castigó al culpable con severidad. (The judge punished the guilty person severely.)

Castigamos las infracciones con multas. (We punished the violations with fines.)

Las autoridades castigaron el vandalismo. (The authorities punished the vandalism.)

Castigué la trampa en el examen. (I punished the cheating on the exam.)

Castigaste el bullying en la escuela. (You punished bullying at school.)

El entrenador castigó al equipo con ejercicios extra. (The coach punished the team with extra exercises.)

Castigamos el plagio académico. (We punished academic plagiarism.)

Los árbitros castigaron la falta con tarjeta roja. (The referees punished the foul with a red card.)

Conjugations with English Translations

Conjugations of Castigar (to punish) in the Preterite (Past) Tense tense (Latin American Spanish) with English Translations:

This post covers Latin American Spanish. For Castilian Spanish, click here

Synonyms

The Preterite tense is also known as the Simple Past, Past Simple, Definite Past, Absolute Past, or Past Tense Indicative in English, and as Pretérito Perfecto Simple, Pretérito Indefinido, Pretérito Simple, Pasado Simple, or Pretérito de Indicativo in Spanish.