justificaste

Justificaste is the second-person singular preterite tense form of the Spanish verb justificar. It corresponds to “you justified” in English and is used when addressing someone informal (tú). The preterite indicates a completed action in the past.

Etymology and morphology: justificar comes from the Latin iustificare, meaning to render just or to justify. Justificaste is formed from the stem justific- plus the preterite ending -aste, following regular -car verb conjugation patterns in the tú form. Other forms include justificó (él/ella/usted) and justificaron (ellos/ellas/ustedes).

Usage: Justificaste is common in everyday speech, journalism, and formal contexts whenever a speaker wants to note that the listener provided a justification for an action, decision, or statement. It often appears with direct objects such as gastos, retrasos, decisiones, or excusas. It can be used affirmatively to indicate that a justification was given, or negatively to question whether one was adequate: "No justificaste tu tardanza" / "Justificaste con datos suficientes."

Examples:

- Ayer justificaste tu ausencia ante el jefe.

- ¿Cómo justificaste ese gasto en el informe?

- Ella justificó su decisión con argumentos sólidos.

See also: justificar, justificación, justificable.