creció

Creció is the third-person singular preterite indicative form of the Spanish verb crecer, meaning to grow. It is used to describe something that increased in size, age, quantity, or development in the past. The form corresponds to él, ella, or usted in the past tense, as in “La planta creció rápidamente” or “La población creció durante la década.”

Originating from the Latin crescere, crecer has cognates in other Romance languages and shares related terms in Spanish such as crecimiento (growth) and creciente (growing). The full preterite paradigm for crecer is: yo crecí, tú creciste, él/ella/usted creció, nosotros crecimos, vosotros crecisteis, ellos/ellas/ustedes crecieron.

Usage-wise, crec í is employed for literal growth (plants, animals, people) as well as figurative growth (economies, populations, numbers, influence). It contrasts with the imperfect form crecía, which indicates ongoing or repeated past growth. In sentences, creció can be combined with adverbs like muy or mucho to intensify the sense of increase, for example, “la ciudad creció mucho en la última década.”