The preterite of acercar is used to express when someone brought something closer at a specific moment in the past. For example, “I brought the chair closer to the table” – “Acerqué la silla a la mesa.”

This verb follows the -car spelling-changing pattern in the preterite. The ‘c’ changes to ‘qu’ before ‘e’ to maintain the same sound, which occurs in the yo form (acerqué).

Conjugations

Conjugations of Acercar (to bring closer) in the Preterite (Past) Tense tense (Castilian Spanish):

The Preterite of acercar expresses completed actions of bringing things or people closer.

To bring closer/approach: Used for physical movement toward something, for example Me acerqué a la ventana (I approached the window), or Acercaron las sillas a la mesa (They brought the chairs closer to the table).

To draw near (figuratively): Describes becoming closer in relationships or goals, for example Se acercó más a su familia después del incidente (He grew closer to his family after the incident).

Examples

Examples of Acercar in the Preterite (Past) Tense

Me acerqué a la ventana para ver mejor. (I moved closer to the window to see better.)

El gato se acercó sigilosamente a su comida. (The cat approached its food stealthily.)

¿Por qué no te acercaste a saludar? (Why didn’t you come over to say hello?)

Nos acercamos al mostrador para pedir información. (We approached the counter to ask for information.)

Los niños se acercaron al árbol de Navidad. (The children moved closer to the Christmas tree.)

Acercó la silla a la mesa. (He moved the chair closer to the table.)

Te acercaste demasiado al borde del acantilado. (You got too close to the edge of the cliff.)

Se acercaron para escuchar mejor la historia. (They moved closer to hear the story better.)

Acerqué el micrófono a los músicos. (I moved the microphone closer to the musicians.)

¿Quién acercó tanto el coche a la pared? (Who moved the car so close to the wall?)

Nos acercamos al profesor después de clase. (We approached the teacher after class.)

Se acercó el invierno y comenzó a hacer frío. (Winter approached and it started to get cold.)

Acercaste demasiado la plancha a la tela. (You moved the iron too close to the fabric.)

Se acercaron al escenario para ver mejor. (They moved closer to the stage to see better.)

Acerqué mi cara al espejo para examinar el corte. (I moved my face closer to the mirror to examine the cut.)

Conjugations with English Translations

Conjugations of Acercar (to bring closer) in the Preterite (Past) Tense tense (Castilian Spanish) with English Translations:

This post covers Castilian Spanish. For Latin American 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.