practicaste

Practicaste is the second-person singular preterite form of the Spanish verb practicar, meaning you practiced. It denotes a completed action in the past and is commonly used in narrative and everyday speech. As a regular -ar verb form, it is built from the stem practic- plus the ending -aste, yielding practicaste.

Etymology and form: practicar comes from Latin practicare, itself from Greek praktikos, meaning related to action or practice. In the preterite, the tú form uses the ending -aste, so the standard written form is practicaste. This form contrasts with the yo preterite practiqué, where a spelling change occurs to maintain the hard k sound before the accented ending.

Usage: Practicaste is used to recount past actions performed by the person addressed with the pronoun tú (you). It appears with time markers such as ayer, anoche, la semana pasada, or with context that makes the past action clear. In formal writing, the same form is acceptable; in informal speech, it remains common.

Example: Ayer practicaste el piano durante una hora.

See also: Spanish verb conjugation, preterite tense, regular -ar verbs.