Criticar Present Tense Conjugation in Spanish

The present tense of criticar — "to criticise" in English — is the form you need for what happens now, for habits and for general truths. This page gives you the full present conjugation table for criticar with all six persons, explains exactly how the tense is formed for this verb, shows when to use it with real examples, and finishes with a quiz so you can test yourself. Criticar means to criticise, and it covers criticising a film on a blog, criticising the government in a debate and criticising a colleague's work or a restaurant's food. It is the opposite of alabar, to praise, and it is a spelling-change verb: the c becomes qu before e. To see it in a real sentence: Él critica la película en su blog. — "He/she criticises the film on his blog." Work through the table below, then the formation notes, the usage rules and the contrast with the preterite, and test yourself at the end.

Present tense conjugation table: criticar

Every person of criticar in the present tense. The gerund is criticando and the past participle is criticado.

Present indicative

Person Form
yo critico
tú criticas
él/ella/Ud. critica
nosotros/as criticamos
vosotros/as criticáis
ellos/ellas/Uds. critican

How the present indicative of criticar is formed

The present indicative of criticar is built from the stem critic- plus the present endings for -ar verbs. Take the infinitive, drop the -ar ending, and add the ending that matches the person. The table below shows the endings, and the full table above shows them attached to the stem.

Person Ending Form
yo -o critico
tú -as criticas
él/ella/Ud. -a critica
nosotros/as -amos criticamos
vosotros/as -áis criticáis
ellos/ellas/Uds. -an critican

criticar is a spelling-change verb: c becomes qu before e. That is why the written form changes in some persons — the sound stays the same, and only the spelling adapts. In this tense, watch the first-person form critico in particular.

The gerund of criticar is criticando and the past participle is criticado. Both are regular for this verb, and the participle is the form you need for all the perfect tenses with haber.

When to use the present tense of criticar

The present tense is not one single use — it covers several situations, and criticar appears in all of them. The five uses below are the ones you will meet most often, each with an example that shows the verb in a natural sentence.

Habits and routines

The present tense describes things you do regularly. If you do it every day, every week or every morning, the present is the tense to use. For criticar, this use looks like this: "Yo critico la película en su blog." — "I criticise the film on his blog." Notice how the present form carries the time meaning on its own, without any extra word for the tense.

General facts

The present tense states facts that are generally true, not tied to one moment. It is the tense for definitions and permanent situations. For criticar, this use looks like this: "Él critica al gobierno en el debate." — "He/she criticises the government in the debate." Notice how the present form carries the time meaning on its own, without any extra word for the tense.

What is happening now

The present tense also covers what is happening at this moment, especially with verbs that describe an action in progress. For criticar, this use looks like this: "Nosotros criticamos el trabajo de su compañero." — "We criticise his colleague's work." Notice how the present form carries the time meaning on its own, without any extra word for the tense.

Timetables and schedules

The present tense is used for fixed plans and timetables, such as trains, classes and opening times, even when they refer to the future. For criticar, this use looks like this: "Ellos critican la comida del restaurante." — "They criticise the restaurant's food." Notice how the present form carries the time meaning on its own, without any extra word for the tense.

Instructions and requests

The present tense appears in instructions and polite requests, where it sounds softer than a direct command. For criticar, this use looks like this: "Tú criticas la película en su blog." — "You criticise the film on his blog." Notice how the present form carries the time meaning on its own, without any extra word for the tense.

The present tense vs the preterite

Learners often mix up the present and the preterite with criticar. The rule is simple: the present is for habits, facts and what is happening now, while the preterite is for one finished action in the past. The three pairs below show the same idea in both tenses, so you can feel the difference.

Pair 1: present vs preterite

  • Present: "Yo critico la película en su blog." — "I criticise the film on his blog."
  • Preterite: "Yo critiqué la película en su blog." — "I criticised the film on his blog." The first sentence uses the present because it describes a habit or a present fact; the second uses the preterite because it describes a finished action. The verb is the same — only the tense changes the meaning.

Pair 2: present vs preterite

  • Present: "Él critica al gobierno en el debate." — "He/she criticises the government in the debate."
  • Preterite: "Él criticó al gobierno en el debate." — "He/she criticised the government in the debate." The first sentence uses the present because it describes a habit or a present fact; the second uses the preterite because it describes a finished action. The verb is the same — only the tense changes the meaning.

Pair 3: present vs preterite

  • Present: "Nosotros criticamos el trabajo de su compañero." — "We criticise his colleague's work."
  • Preterite: "Nosotros criticamos el trabajo de su compañero." — "We criticised his colleague's work." The first sentence uses the present because it describes a habit or a present fact; the second uses the preterite because it describes a finished action. The verb is the same — only the tense changes the meaning.

Example sentences in the present tense

Eight natural sentences with criticar in the present tense only. Each one uses a form from the table above.

  1. Yo critico la película en su blog. — I criticise the film on his blog.
  2. Tú criticas al gobierno en el debate. — You criticise the government in the debate.
  3. Él critica el trabajo de su compañero. — He/she criticises his colleague's work.
  4. Nosotros criticamos la comida del restaurante. — We criticise the restaurant's food.
  5. Vosotros criticáis la película en su blog. — You all criticise the film on his blog.
  6. Ellos critican al gobierno en el debate. — They criticise the government in the debate.
  7. Yo critico el trabajo de su compañero. — I criticise his colleague's work.
  8. Él critica la comida del restaurante. — He/she criticises the restaurant's food.

Common mistakes

  1. Wrong: Vosotros criticais al gobierno en el debate. — Right: Vosotros criticáis al gobierno en el debate. — The vosotros present form carries a written accent: criticáis, not criticais.
  2. Wrong: Ayer, yo critico el trabajo de su compañero. — Right: Ayer, yo critiqué el trabajo de su compañero. — Ayer means yesterday, so it needs the preterite (critiqué), not the present (critico). The present is for now, not for yesterday.
  3. Wrong: Yo critica la película en su blog. — Right: Yo critico la película en su blog. — The person matters: critica is the él/ella/Ud. form, while the yo form is critico.
  4. Wrong: Yo soy criticado al gobierno en el debate. — Right: Yo he criticado al gobierno en el debate. — Spanish perfect tenses use haber, not ser: he criticado. Ser plus the participle makes a passive, not a perfect tense.

Quiz: test yourself

Eight questions on the present tense of criticar. Choose the right form, then check the answer key below.

  1. Complete the sentence: Yo ___ la película en su blog. (present tense) A. critico B. criticas C. critica D. criticamos

  2. Complete the sentence: Tú ___ al gobierno en el debate. (present tense) A. criticas B. critico C. critica D. criticamos

  3. Complete the sentence: Él ___ el trabajo de su compañero. (present tense) A. critica B. critico C. criticas D. criticamos

  4. Complete the sentence: Nosotros ___ la comida del restaurante. (present tense) A. criticamos B. critico C. criticas D. critica

  5. Complete the sentence: Vosotros ___ la película en su blog. (present tense) A. criticáis B. critico C. criticas D. critica

  6. Complete the sentence: Ellos ___ al gobierno en el debate. (present tense) A. critican B. critico C. criticas D. critica

  7. Complete the sentence: Yo ___ el trabajo de su compañero. (present tense) A. critico B. criticas C. critica D. criticamos

  8. Complete the sentence: Él ___ la comida del restaurante. (present tense) A. critica B. critico C. criticas D. criticamos

Answer key

  1. critico — The yo present form of criticar is critico. The other options are the other persons of the same tense.
  2. criticas — The tu present form of criticar is criticas. The other options are the other persons of the same tense.
  3. critica — The el present form of criticar is critica. The other options are the other persons of the same tense.
  4. criticamos — The nosotros present form of criticar is criticamos. The other options are the other persons of the same tense.
  5. criticáis — The vosotros present form of criticar is criticáis. The other options are the other persons of the same tense.
  6. critican — The ellos present form of criticar is critican. The other options are the other persons of the same tense.
  7. critico — The yo present form of criticar is critico. The other options are the other persons of the same tense.
  8. critica — The el present form of criticar is critica. The other options are the other persons of the same tense.

Frequently asked questions

When do I use the present tense of criticar?

Use the present tense of criticar for habits, facts and what is happening now. For example: Yo critico la película en su blog. — "I criticise the film on his blog." The usage rules above give five situations with examples.

How is the present tense of criticar formed?

Take the stem critic- and add the present endings for -ar verbs. The full table is at the top of this page. Remember the spelling change: c becomes qu before e.

What is the difference between the present and the preterite of criticar?

The present describes a habit or a present fact, while the preterite describes a finished action. Compare Yo critico al gobierno en el debate. with Yo critiqué al gobierno en el debate. — the verb is the same, but the time meaning changes.

How do I practise the present tense of criticar?

Drill the six forms in the table above until you can say them without looking, then use the criticar examples and quiz page for more sentences, and test yourself with the Criticar conjugation page for the full picture across all tenses.

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