Colocar Examples, Sentences and Quiz in Spanish

colocar means to place, to put, and it is a verb you will meet in everyday Spanish again and again. Colocar means to place or to put, and it is used for placing books on a shelf, a table by a window, chairs in a living room and a picture on a wall. It is a more precise synonym of poner, and it is a spelling-change verb: the c becomes qu before e. This page puts colocar to work: twelve example sentences in different tenses and persons, grouped by use, then two short dialogues where the verb appears naturally, then the common mistakes to avoid, and finally a ten-question quiz with explained answers. Every Spanish form on this page comes from the verified conjugation tables for colocar, and the full tables are on the colocar conjugation page if you need to check a form.

Example sentences

Everyday uses

  1. Yo coloco los libros en la estantería. — I place the books on the shelf.
  2. Él coloca la mesa junto a la ventana. — He/she places the table by the window.
  3. Ayer, yo coloqué las sillas en el salón. — Yesterday, I placed the chairs in the living room.
  4. Antes, nosotros colocábamos el cuadro en la pared. — Before, we used to place the picture on the wall.

In other tenses

  1. Mañana, tú colocarás los libros en la estantería. — Tomorrow, you will place the books on the shelf.
  2. Yo colocaría la mesa junto a la ventana. — I would place the table by the window.
  3. Él ha colocado las sillas en el salón. — He/she has placed the chairs in the living room.
  4. Espero que él coloque el cuadro en la pared. — I hope he/she places the picture on the wall.

With other people

  1. Nosotros colocamos los libros en la estantería. — We place the books on the shelf.
  2. Vosotros colocáis la mesa junto a la ventana. — You all place the table by the window.
  3. Antes, ellos colocaban las sillas en el salón. — Before, they used to place the chairs in the living room.
  4. Mañana, él colocará el cuadro en la pared. — Tomorrow, he/she will place the picture on the wall.

Colocar in context

Two short dialogues that use colocar the way people really use it. Read them aloud — the verb forms will stick much faster in a conversation than in a table.

Dialogue 1: today and yesterday

  • Ana: "Hola, ¿qué tal?" — "Hello, how are you?"
  • Luis: "Hoy coloco los libros en la estantería." — "Today I place the books on the shelf."
  • Ana: "¿Y ayer?" — "And yesterday?"
  • Luis: "Ayer, coloqué las sillas en el salón." — "Yesterday I placed the chairs in the living room."
  • Ana: "¿Y mañana, tú colocarás la mesa junto a la ventana?" — "And tomorrow, will you will place the table by the window?"
  • Luis: "Sí, claro. Y tú también." — "Yes, of course. And you too."

Dialogue 2: making plans

  • Marta: "Mañana, nosotros colocamos el cuadro en la pared." — "Tomorrow we place the picture on the wall."
  • Carlos: "Perfecto. Yo colocaría la mesa junto a la ventana si tuviera más tiempo." — "Perfect. I would would place the table by the window if I had more time."
  • Marta: "Espero que él coloque los libros en la estantería." — "I hope he places the books on the shelf."
  • Carlos: "Seguro que sí. Él ya ha colocado las sillas en el salón." — "Surely. He has already has placed the chairs in the living room."
  • Marta: "Vale, nos vemos mañana." — "OK, see you tomorrow."

Notice how the same verb changes with the tense: the present for the plan, the conditional for the wish, the subjunctive after espero que, and the present perfect for what has already happened. That is the whole point of learning a verb across its tenses, not just in one form.

Common mistakes

  1. Wrong: Yo coloca los libros en la estantería. — Right: Yo coloco los libros en la estantería. — The person matters: coloca is the él/ella/Ud. form, while the yo form is coloco. Using the third-person form with yo is one of the most common beginner errors.
  2. Wrong: Yo colocé la mesa junto a la ventana. — Right: Yo coloqué la mesa junto a la ventana. — In the preterite, the correct first-person form is coloqué, not colocé. colocar is a spelling-change verb: c becomes qu before e, so the written form changes to keep the same sound. The regular-looking form is wrong.
  3. Wrong: Treating colocar and poner as identical in every context. — Right: Colocar means to place, to put, while poner means to put, the general verb. — They overlap, but each has uses the other does not: colocar fits sentences such as Coloco los libros en la estantería, while poner belongs in a different sentence. Check the meaning you want before choosing.
  4. Wrong: Yo soy colocado la mesa junto a la ventana. — Right: Yo he colocado la mesa junto a la ventana. — Spanish perfect tenses use haber, not ser: he colocado, has colocado, ha colocado. Ser plus the participle makes a passive, not a perfect tense.
  5. Wrong: De niño, yo coloqué las sillas en el salón todos los días. — Right: De niño, yo colocaba las sillas en el salón todos los días. — For a repeated habit in the past, use the imperfect (colocaba), not the preterite. The preterite (coloqué) is for one finished action.

Quiz: test yourself

Ten questions on colocar: four on the forms, three on the meaning, and three on spotting the correct sentence. Check the answer key below.

  1. Complete the sentence: Yo ___ los libros en la estantería. (present tense) A. coloco B. colocas C. coloca D. colocamos

  2. Complete the sentence: Él ___ la mesa junto a la ventana. (preterite tense) A. coloqué B. colocaste C. colocamos D. colocó

  3. Complete the sentence: Tú ___ las sillas en el salón. (future tense) A. colocará B. colocaremos C. colocarás D. colocaré

  4. Complete the sentence: Nosotros ___ el cuadro en la pared. (imperfect tense) A. colocabais B. colocábamos C. colocaba D. colocabas

  5. What does "Yo coloco los libros en la estantería." mean in English? A. I place the books on the shelf. B. I place the table by the window. C. I place the chairs in the living room. D. I place the picture on the wall.

  6. What does "Él colocó la mesa junto a la ventana." mean in English? A. He/she placed the books on the shelf. B. He/she placed the chairs in the living room. C. He/she placed the picture on the wall. D. He/she placed the table by the window.

  7. What does "Nosotros colocaremos las sillas en el salón." mean in English? A. We will place the table by the window. B. We will place the picture on the wall. C. We will place the chairs in the living room. D. We will place the books on the shelf.

  8. Which sentence is correct? A. Yo colocan la mesa junto a la ventana. B. Yo coloca la mesa junto a la ventana. C. Yo coloco la mesa junto a la ventana.

  9. Which sentence is correct? A. Él coloqué las sillas en el salón. B. Él colocó las sillas en el salón. C. Él colocaron las sillas en el salón.

  10. Which sentence is correct? A. Espero que yo coloque el cuadro en la pared. B. Yo coloce el cuadro en la pared. C. Yo coloque el cuadro en la pared.

Answer key

  1. coloco — The yo present form of colocar is coloco.
  2. colocó — The el preterite form of colocar is colocó.
  3. colocarás — The tu future form of colocar is colocarás.
  4. colocábamos — The nosotros imperfect form of colocar is colocábamos.
  5. I place the books on the shelf. — The Spanish sentence uses the present form coloco, so the English is "I place the books on the shelf." The other options use a different object or situation.
  6. He/she placed the table by the window. — The Spanish sentence uses the preterite form colocó, so the English is "He/she placed the table by the window." The other options use a different object or situation.
  7. We will place the chairs in the living room. — The Spanish sentence uses the future form colocaremos, so the English is "We will place the chairs in the living room." The other options use a different object or situation.
  8. Yo coloco la mesa junto a la ventana. — The correct sentence is "Yo coloco la mesa junto a la ventana." The other sentences use the wrong form or the wrong person for the subject.
  9. Él colocó las sillas en el salón. — The correct sentence is "Él colocó las sillas en el salón." The other sentences use the wrong form or the wrong person for the subject.
  10. Espero que yo coloque el cuadro en la pared. — The correct sentence is "Espero que yo coloque el cuadro en la pared." The other sentences use the wrong form or the wrong person for the subject.

Frequently asked questions

What does colocar mean, and when do I use it?

Colocar means to place, to put. Colocar means to place or to put, and it is used for placing books on a shelf, a table by a window, chairs in a living room and a picture on a wall. It is a more precise synonym of poner, and it is a spelling-change verb: the c becomes qu before e. A good first sentence to remember is Yo coloco los libros en la estantería. — "I place the books on the shelf."

What is the difference between colocar and poner?

Colocar means to place, to put, while poner means to put, the general verb. They appear in similar situations, but they are not interchangeable: use colocar when you mean to place, to put, as in Yo coloco la mesa junto a la ventana., and use poner for to put, the general verb.

How do I say "I place" in the past?

For one finished action, use the preterite: Yo coloqué la mesa junto a la ventana.. For a repeated habit or background in the past, use the imperfect: Yo colocaba las sillas en el salón.. For something that has just happened, use the present perfect: Yo he colocado la mesa junto a la ventana..

How do I practise colocar?

Start with the colocar conjugation page for the full tables, then the colocar in the present tense page for the tense in focus, and use the Spanish Verb Quiz to test the forms under pressure. Spelling change: c becomes qu before e, so the preterite is coloqué and the subjunctive is coloque.

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