The preterite of atacar is used to express when an attack or aggressive action occurred at a specific moment in the past. For example, “The army attacked at dawn” – “El ejército atacó al amanecer.”

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 (ataqué).

Conjugations

Conjugations of Atacar (to attack) in the Preterite (Past) Tense tense (Castilian Spanish):

The Preterite of atacar expresses specific instances of attacking.

To attack: Used for specific instances of assault or aggression, for example El león atacó su presa (The lion attacked its prey), or Atacaron la fortaleza (They attacked the fortress).

To criticize/challenge: In debates or arguments, means to challenge strongly, for example Atacó las ideas del oponente (He attacked the opponent’s ideas).

Examples

Examples of Atacar in the Preterite (Past) Tense

El equipo contrario atacó en el último minuto. (The opposing team attacked in the last minute.)

Los virus atacaron el sistema inmune. (The viruses attacked the immune system.)

Atacamos el problema de inmediato. (We tackled the problem immediately.)

El perro atacó sin provocación. (The dog attacked without provocation.)

¿Por qué atacaste mi idea en la reunión? (Why did you attack my idea in the meeting?)

Los críticos atacaron duramente la película. (The critics harshly attacked the movie.)

Ataqué el proyecto con mucho entusiasmo. (I tackled the project with great enthusiasm.)

La gripe me atacó fuertemente. (The flu hit me hard.)

Atacaron el problema desde otro ángulo. (They approached the problem from another angle.)

Los nervios me atacaron antes del examen. (Nerves attacked me before the exam.)

Atacamos el ejercicio con determinación. (We tackled the exercise with determination.)

La oxidación atacó el metal. (The rust attacked the metal.)

Atacaste el trabajo sin preparación. (You tackled the work without preparation.)

La tormenta atacó la costa con fuerza. (The storm hit the coast with force.)

Los competidores nos atacaron en el mercado. (The competitors attacked us in the market.)

Conjugations with English Translations

Conjugations of Atacar (to attack) 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.