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Conjugation Chart

“Secar” (to dry) in the Preterite (Past) Tense

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Understanding the Preterite (Past) Tense of “Secar”

The preterite of secar is used to express when something was dried at a specific moment in the past. For example, “I dried my hair after swimming” – “Me sequé el pelo después de nadar.”

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

How to Use Secar in the Preterite (Past) Tense

The Preterite of secar indicates completed actions of drying.

To dry: Used for removing moisture, for example Sequé la ropa al sol (I dried the clothes in the sun), or Se secó el pelo después de bañarse (She dried her hair after bathing).

To dry up: Can refer to complete loss of moisture, for example El sol secó el charco (The sun dried up the puddle).

Real Life Examples of Secar in the Preterite (Past) Tense

Sequé mi pelo con la toalla. (I dried my hair with the towel.)

El sol secó toda la ropa. (The sun dried all the clothes.)

¿Secaste los platos después de lavarlos? (Did you dry the dishes after washing them?)

La sequía secó el río completamente. (The drought dried up the river completely.)

Secamos nuestros zapatos junto al fuego. (We dried our shoes by the fire.)

El viento secó las lágrimas en su rostro. (The wind dried the tears on their face.)

Se secó el sudor de la frente. (He dried the sweat from his forehead.)

Secaron las pinturas antes de la exposición. (They dried the paintings before the exhibition.)

Me sequé rápidamente después de la lluvia. (I dried myself quickly after the rain.)

El calor secó los charcos del patio. (The heat dried the puddles in the yard.)

Secaste las flores para el herbario. (You dried the flowers for the herbarium.)

Secamos la tinta con papel secante. (We dried the ink with blotting paper.)

El aire acondicionado secó el ambiente. (The air conditioning dried out the environment.)

Se secaron las plantas durante el verano. (The plants dried up during summer.)

Sequé las manos con el secador. (I dried my hands with the dryer.)

Conjugation Chart with English Translations

Conjugations of Secar (to dry) in the Preterite (Past) 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.