Ubicar Examples, Sentences and Quiz in Spanish

ubicar means to locate, to place, and it is a verb you will meet in everyday Spanish again and again. Ubicar means to locate or to place, and it is used for locating a shop in the centre, a hotel on the map, an error in a report and placing a family in a quiet neighbourhood. It is a spelling-change verb: the c becomes qu before e. This page puts ubicar 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 ubicar, and the full tables are on the ubicar conjugation page if you need to check a form.

Example sentences

Everyday uses

  1. Yo ubico la tienda en el centro. — I locate the shop in the centre.
  2. Él ubica el hotel en el mapa. — He/she locates the hotel on the map.
  3. Ayer, yo ubiqué el error en el informe. — Yesterday, I located the error in the report.
  4. Antes, nosotros ubicábamos a su familia en un barrio tranquilo. — Before, we used to locate his family in a quiet neighbourhood.

In other tenses

  1. Mañana, tú ubicarás la tienda en el centro. — Tomorrow, you will locate the shop in the centre.
  2. Yo ubicaría el hotel en el mapa. — I would locate the hotel on the map.
  3. Él ha ubicado el error en el informe. — He/she has located the error in the report.
  4. Espero que él ubique a su familia en un barrio tranquilo. — I hope he/she locates his family in a quiet neighbourhood.

With other people

  1. Nosotros ubicamos la tienda en el centro. — We locate the shop in the centre.
  2. Vosotros ubicáis el hotel en el mapa. — You all locate the hotel on the map.
  3. Antes, ellos ubicaban el error en el informe. — Before, they used to locate the error in the report.
  4. Mañana, él ubicará a su familia en un barrio tranquilo. — Tomorrow, he/she will locate his family in a quiet neighbourhood.

Ubicar in context

Two short dialogues that use ubicar 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 ubico la tienda en el centro." — "Today I locate the shop in the centre."
  • Ana: "¿Y ayer?" — "And yesterday?"
  • Luis: "Ayer, ubiqué el error en el informe." — "Yesterday I located the error in the report."
  • Ana: "¿Y mañana, tú ubicarás el hotel en el mapa?" — "And tomorrow, will you will locate the hotel on the map?"
  • Luis: "Sí, claro. Y tú también." — "Yes, of course. And you too."

Dialogue 2: making plans

  • Marta: "Mañana, nosotros ubicamos a su familia en un barrio tranquilo." — "Tomorrow we locate his family in a quiet neighbourhood."
  • Carlos: "Perfecto. Yo ubicaría el hotel en el mapa si tuviera más tiempo." — "Perfect. I would would locate the hotel on the map if I had more time."
  • Marta: "Espero que él ubique la tienda en el centro." — "I hope he locates the shop in the centre."
  • Carlos: "Seguro que sí. Él ya ha ubicado el error en el informe." — "Surely. He has already has located the error in the report."
  • 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 ubica la tienda en el centro. — Right: Yo ubico la tienda en el centro. — The person matters: ubica is the él/ella/Ud. form, while the yo form is ubico. Using the third-person form with yo is one of the most common beginner errors.
  2. Wrong: Yo ubicé el hotel en el mapa. — Right: Yo ubiqué el hotel en el mapa. — In the preterite, the correct first-person form is ubiqué, not ubicé. ubicar 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 ubicar and colocar as identical in every context. — Right: Ubicar means to locate, to place, while colocar means to place, the close verb. — They overlap, but each has uses the other does not: ubicar fits sentences such as Ubico la tienda en el centro, while colocar belongs in a different sentence. Check the meaning you want before choosing.
  4. Wrong: Yo soy ubicado el hotel en el mapa. — Right: Yo he ubicado el hotel en el mapa. — Spanish perfect tenses use haber, not ser: he ubicado, has ubicado, ha ubicado. Ser plus the participle makes a passive, not a perfect tense.
  5. Wrong: De niño, yo ubiqué el error en el informe todos los días. — Right: De niño, yo ubicaba el error en el informe todos los días. — For a repeated habit in the past, use the imperfect (ubicaba), not the preterite. The preterite (ubiqué) is for one finished action.

Quiz: test yourself

Ten questions on ubicar: 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 tienda en el centro. (present tense) A. ubico B. ubicas C. ubica D. ubicamos

  2. Complete the sentence: Él ___ el hotel en el mapa. (preterite tense) A. ubiqué B. ubicaste C. ubicamos D. ubicó

  3. Complete the sentence: Tú ___ el error en el informe. (future tense) A. ubicará B. ubicaremos C. ubicarás D. ubicaré

  4. Complete the sentence: Nosotros ___ a su familia en un barrio tranquilo. (imperfect tense) A. ubicabais B. ubicábamos C. ubicaba D. ubicabas

  5. What does "Yo ubico la tienda en el centro." mean in English? A. I locate the shop in the centre. B. I locate the hotel on the map. C. I locate the error in the report. D. I locate his family in a quiet neighbourhood.

  6. What does "Él ubicó el hotel en el mapa." mean in English? A. He/she located the shop in the centre. B. He/she located the error in the report. C. He/she located his family in a quiet neighbourhood. D. He/she located the hotel on the map.

  7. What does "Nosotros ubicaremos el error en el informe." mean in English? A. We will locate the hotel on the map. B. We will locate his family in a quiet neighbourhood. C. We will locate the error in the report. D. We will locate the shop in the centre.

  8. Which sentence is correct? A. Yo ubican el hotel en el mapa. B. Yo ubica el hotel en el mapa. C. Yo ubico el hotel en el mapa.

  9. Which sentence is correct? A. Él ubiqué el error en el informe. B. Él ubicó el error en el informe. C. Él ubicaron el error en el informe.

  10. Which sentence is correct? A. Espero que yo ubique a su familia en un barrio tranquilo. B. Yo ubice a su familia en un barrio tranquilo. C. Yo ubique a su familia en un barrio tranquilo.

Answer key

  1. ubico — The yo present form of ubicar is ubico.
  2. ubicó — The el preterite form of ubicar is ubicó.
  3. ubicarás — The tu future form of ubicar is ubicarás.
  4. ubicábamos — The nosotros imperfect form of ubicar is ubicábamos.
  5. I locate the shop in the centre. — The Spanish sentence uses the present form ubico, so the English is "I locate the shop in the centre." The other options use a different object or situation.
  6. He/she located the hotel on the map. — The Spanish sentence uses the preterite form ubicó, so the English is "He/she located the hotel on the map." The other options use a different object or situation.
  7. We will locate the error in the report. — The Spanish sentence uses the future form ubicaremos, so the English is "We will locate the error in the report." The other options use a different object or situation.
  8. Yo ubico el hotel en el mapa. — The correct sentence is "Yo ubico el hotel en el mapa." The other sentences use the wrong form or the wrong person for the subject.
  9. Él ubicó el error en el informe. — The correct sentence is "Él ubicó el error en el informe." The other sentences use the wrong form or the wrong person for the subject.
  10. Espero que yo ubique a su familia en un barrio tranquilo. — The correct sentence is "Espero que yo ubique a su familia en un barrio tranquilo." The other sentences use the wrong form or the wrong person for the subject.

Frequently asked questions

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

Ubicar means to locate, to place. Ubicar means to locate or to place, and it is used for locating a shop in the centre, a hotel on the map, an error in a report and placing a family in a quiet neighbourhood. It is a spelling-change verb: the c becomes qu before e. A good first sentence to remember is Yo ubico la tienda en el centro. — "I locate the shop in the centre."

What is the difference between ubicar and colocar?

Ubicar means to locate, to place, while colocar means to place, the close verb. They appear in similar situations, but they are not interchangeable: use ubicar when you mean to locate, to place, as in Yo ubico el hotel en el mapa., and use colocar for to place, the close verb.

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

For one finished action, use the preterite: Yo ubiqué el hotel en el mapa.. For a repeated habit or background in the past, use the imperfect: Yo ubicaba el error en el informe.. For something that has just happened, use the present perfect: Yo he ubicado el hotel en el mapa..

How do I practise ubicar?

Start with the ubicar conjugation page for the full tables, then the ubicar 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 ubiqué and the subjunctive is ubique. In Latin America ubicarse also means to find your bearings.

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