Picar Examples, Sentences and Quiz in Spanish

picar means to chop, to sting, and it is a verb you will meet in everyday Spanish again and again. Picar means to chop or to sting, and it covers chopping onions into small pieces, a bee stinging, food being spicy and, in Spain, snacking between meals. The chopping sense is the one learners meet first in recipes. This page puts picar 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 picar, and the full tables are on the picar conjugation page if you need to check a form.

Example sentences

Everyday uses

  1. Yo pico la cebolla en trozos pequeños. — I chop the onion into small pieces.
  2. Él pica el ajo para la salsa. — He/she chops the garlic for the sauce.
  3. Ayer, yo piqué los pimientos para la ensalada. — Yesterday, I chopped the peppers for the salad.
  4. Antes, nosotros picábamos un poco de jamón antes de comer. — Before, we used to chop a little ham before eating.

In other tenses

  1. Mañana, tú picarás la cebolla en trozos pequeños. — Tomorrow, you will chop the onion into small pieces.
  2. Yo picaría el ajo para la salsa. — I would chop the garlic for the sauce.
  3. Él ha picado los pimientos para la ensalada. — He/she has chopped the peppers for the salad.
  4. Espero que él pique un poco de jamón antes de comer. — I hope he/she chops a little ham before eating.

With other people

  1. Nosotros picamos la cebolla en trozos pequeños. — We chop the onion into small pieces.
  2. Vosotros picáis el ajo para la salsa. — You all chop the garlic for the sauce.
  3. Antes, ellos picaban los pimientos para la ensalada. — Before, they used to chop the peppers for the salad.
  4. Mañana, él picará un poco de jamón antes de comer. — Tomorrow, he/she will chop a little ham before eating.

Picar in context

Two short dialogues that use picar 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 pico la cebolla en trozos pequeños." — "Today I chop the onion into small pieces."
  • Ana: "¿Y ayer?" — "And yesterday?"
  • Luis: "Ayer, piqué los pimientos para la ensalada." — "Yesterday I chopped the peppers for the salad."
  • Ana: "¿Y mañana, tú picarás el ajo para la salsa?" — "And tomorrow, will you will chop the garlic for the sauce?"
  • Luis: "Sí, claro. Y tú también." — "Yes, of course. And you too."

Dialogue 2: making plans

  • Marta: "Mañana, nosotros picamos un poco de jamón antes de comer." — "Tomorrow we chop a little ham before eating."
  • Carlos: "Perfecto. Yo picaría el ajo para la salsa si tuviera más tiempo." — "Perfect. I would would chop the garlic for the sauce if I had more time."
  • Marta: "Espero que él pique la cebolla en trozos pequeños." — "I hope he chops the onion into small pieces."
  • Carlos: "Seguro que sí. Él ya ha picado los pimientos para la ensalada." — "Surely. He has already has chopped the peppers for the salad."
  • 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 pica la cebolla en trozos pequeños. — Right: Yo pico la cebolla en trozos pequeños. — The person matters: pica is the él/ella/Ud. form, while the yo form is pico. Using the third-person form with yo is one of the most common beginner errors.
  2. Wrong: Yo picé el ajo para la salsa. — Right: Yo piqué el ajo para la salsa. — In the preterite, the correct first-person form is piqué, not picé. picar 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 picar and cortar as identical in every context. — Right: Picar means to chop, to sting, while cortar means to cut, the general verb. — They overlap, but each has uses the other does not: picar fits sentences such as Pico la cebolla en trozos pequeños, while cortar belongs in a different sentence. Check the meaning you want before choosing.
  4. Wrong: Yo soy picado el ajo para la salsa. — Right: Yo he picado el ajo para la salsa. — Spanish perfect tenses use haber, not ser: he picado, has picado, ha picado. Ser plus the participle makes a passive, not a perfect tense.
  5. Wrong: De niño, yo piqué los pimientos para la ensalada todos los días. — Right: De niño, yo picaba los pimientos para la ensalada todos los días. — For a repeated habit in the past, use the imperfect (picaba), not the preterite. The preterite (piqué) is for one finished action.

Quiz: test yourself

Ten questions on picar: 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 ___ la cebolla en trozos pequeños. (present tense) A. pico B. picas C. pica D. picamos

  2. Complete the sentence: Él ___ el ajo para la salsa. (preterite tense) A. piqué B. picaste C. picamos D. picó

  3. Complete the sentence: Tú ___ los pimientos para la ensalada. (future tense) A. picará B. picaremos C. picarás D. picaré

  4. Complete the sentence: Nosotros ___ un poco de jamón antes de comer. (imperfect tense) A. picabais B. picábamos C. picaba D. picabas

  5. What does "Yo pico la cebolla en trozos pequeños." mean in English? A. I chop the onion into small pieces. B. I chop the garlic for the sauce. C. I chop the peppers for the salad. D. I chop a little ham before eating.

  6. What does "Él picó el ajo para la salsa." mean in English? A. He/she chopped the onion into small pieces. B. He/she chopped the peppers for the salad. C. He/she chopped a little ham before eating. D. He/she chopped the garlic for the sauce.

  7. What does "Nosotros picaremos los pimientos para la ensalada." mean in English? A. We will chop the garlic for the sauce. B. We will chop a little ham before eating. C. We will chop the peppers for the salad. D. We will chop the onion into small pieces.

  8. Which sentence is correct? A. Yo pican el ajo para la salsa. B. Yo pica el ajo para la salsa. C. Yo pico el ajo para la salsa.

  9. Which sentence is correct? A. Él piqué los pimientos para la ensalada. B. Él picó los pimientos para la ensalada. C. Él picaron los pimientos para la ensalada.

  10. Which sentence is correct? A. Espero que yo pique un poco de jamón antes de comer. B. Yo pice un poco de jamón antes de comer. C. Yo pique un poco de jamón antes de comer.

Answer key

  1. pico — The yo present form of picar is pico.
  2. picó — The el preterite form of picar is picó.
  3. picarás — The tu future form of picar is picarás.
  4. picábamos — The nosotros imperfect form of picar is picábamos.
  5. I chop the onion into small pieces. — The Spanish sentence uses the present form pico, so the English is "I chop the onion into small pieces." The other options use a different object or situation.
  6. He/she chopped the garlic for the sauce. — The Spanish sentence uses the preterite form picó, so the English is "He/she chopped the garlic for the sauce." The other options use a different object or situation.
  7. We will chop the peppers for the salad. — The Spanish sentence uses the future form picaremos, so the English is "We will chop the peppers for the salad." The other options use a different object or situation.
  8. Yo pico el ajo para la salsa. — The correct sentence is "Yo pico el ajo para la salsa." The other sentences use the wrong form or the wrong person for the subject.
  9. Él picó los pimientos para la ensalada. — The correct sentence is "Él picó los pimientos para la ensalada." The other sentences use the wrong form or the wrong person for the subject.
  10. Espero que yo pique un poco de jamón antes de comer. — The correct sentence is "Espero que yo pique un poco de jamón antes de comer." The other sentences use the wrong form or the wrong person for the subject.

Frequently asked questions

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

Picar means to chop, to sting. Picar means to chop or to sting, and it covers chopping onions into small pieces, a bee stinging, food being spicy and, in Spain, snacking between meals. The chopping sense is the one learners meet first in recipes. A good first sentence to remember is Yo pico la cebolla en trozos pequeños. — "I chop the onion into small pieces."

What is the difference between picar and cortar?

Picar means to chop, to sting, while cortar means to cut, the general verb. They appear in similar situations, but they are not interchangeable: use picar when you mean to chop, to sting, as in Yo pico el ajo para la salsa., and use cortar for to cut, the general verb.

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

For one finished action, use the preterite: Yo piqué el ajo para la salsa.. For a repeated habit or background in the past, use the imperfect: Yo picaba los pimientos para la ensalada.. For something that has just happened, use the present perfect: Yo he picado el ajo para la salsa..

How do I practise picar?

Start with the picar conjugation page for the full tables, then the picar 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 piqué and the subjunctive is pique, never picé or pice.

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