determiNASte

Determinaste is the second person singular preterite indicative form of the Spanish verb determinar. It translates to you determined or you decided in English and is used when addressing someone informally with the pronoun tú. As a regular -ar verb form, determinaste appears in narratives and everyday speech to describe a completed past action.

Morphology and grammar: The form is built from the stem determi- plus the -aste ending, following the standard conjugation pattern for regular -ar verbs in the pretérito. The stress falls on the penultimate syllable: de-ter-mi-NAS-te, with no accent mark required by standard Spanish orthography. It corresponds to other subject forms such as determinas, determina, determinamos, determinasteis, and determinaron.

Usage and examples: Determinaste is used to attribute a past decision or determination to the person addressed as tú. Examples include: “Determinaste las prioridades del proyecto ayer.” (“You determined the project priorities yesterday.”) and “¿Determinaste ya el itinerario?” (“Have you determined the itinerary yet?”) In many dialects, similar meanings may be conveyed with other second-person forms (usted determinó, vos determinaste en algunas regiones).

Etymology and related forms: The verb derives from Latin determinare, meaning to set limits or decide. Cognates appear in other Iberian languages; in Portuguese, a closely related form also exists in the second person singular preterite of determinar (determinaste), though usage varies by region. Determinaste itself is not a noun or proper name; it is primarily a verb form used to indicate a past action by the interlocutor.