Marcar Preterite (Past) Tense in Castilian Spanish

The preterite of marcar is used to express when someone marked or scored something at a specific moment in the past. For example, “The player scored the winning goal” – “El jugador marcó el gol de la victoria.”

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 (marqué).

Conjugations

Conjugations of Marcar (to mark) in the Preterite (Past) Tense tense (Castilian Spanish):

Pronoun Conjugation
Yomarqué
marcaste
Él / Ella / Ustedmarcó
Nosotros / Nosotrasmarcamos
Vosotros / Vosotrasmarcasteis
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedesmarcaron

Boost Your Memorization with Audio!

We’ve included audio recordings of the the conjugations of Marcar (to mark) in the Preterite (Past) Tense to help you learn faster.

Pro Tip: Play the audio on a loop as you study the chart. This repetition will solidify the correct conjugations in your memory.

Usage of Marcar in the Preterite (Past) Tense

The Preterite of marcar expresses completed actions of marking or scoring.

To mark/score: Used for making a mark or scoring in sports, for example Marqué tres goles en el partido (I scored three goals in the game).

To dial/call: In common usage, refers to making a phone call, for example Marqué su número pero no contestó (I dialed their number but they didn’t answer).

Examples

Examples of Marcar in the Preterite (Past) Tense

Marqué el número equivocado. (I dialed the wrong number.)

El delantero marcó tres goles. (The forward scored three goals.)

¿Marcaste la fecha en el calendario? (Did you mark the date on the calendar?)

Marcamos el camino con señales. (We marked the path with signs.)

Los jueces marcaron la diferencia en el concurso. (The judges made the difference in the competition.)

El evento marcó un antes y después. (The event marked a turning point.)

Marcaste la respuesta correcta. (You marked the correct answer.)

El reloj marcó las doce en punto. (The clock struck twelve o’clock.)

Marcamos territorio en el proyecto. (We established our territory in the project.)

Los estudiantes marcaron sus libros nuevos. (The students labeled their new books.)

Marqué todos los errores en rojo. (I marked all the errors in red.)

¿Por qué marcaste esta página? (Why did you mark this page?)

El equipo marcó un nuevo récord. (The team set a new record.)

Marcamos la ruta en el mapa. (We marked the route on the map.)

Los científicos marcaron los especímenes. (The scientists labeled the specimens.)

Conjugations with English Translations

Conjugations of Marcar (to mark) in the Preterite (Past) Tense tense (Castilian Spanish) with English Translations:

Spanish English
Yo marqué I marked
Tú marcaste You marked
Él / Ella / Usted marcó He / She / You (formal) marked
Nosotros / Nosotras marcamos We marked
Vosotros / Vosotras marcasteis You all marked
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes marcaron They / You all (formal) marked

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.