tocaron

Tocaron is the third-person plural preterite indicative form of the Spanish verb tocar. Tocar means to touch or to play an instrument, among other senses. Tocaron translates as “they touched” or “they played” in past contexts, and can also mean “you all knocked” when used with the sense of knocking on a door.

Grammatical notes: Tocaron is used with ellos, ellas, or ustedes as the subject. It is the completed-past form, in contrast with the imperfect tense tocaban, which describes ongoing or repeated past actions. As a regular -ar verb, tocar follows standard preterite endings for the ellos/ellas/ustedes form: -aron.

Usage and examples:

- Ellos tocaron la guitarra durante la fiesta. (They played the guitar during the party.)

- Ayer tocaron la puerta para preguntar si había alguien en casa. (Yesterday they knocked on the door to ask if anyone was home.)

- Ustedes tocaron un tema nuevo en el recital. (You all played a new piece at the recital.)

Related terms: Tocando is the present participle (gerund) form used for ongoing actions, and tocó is the corresponding preterite form for él/ella/usted. The verb tocar itself has a range of senses beyond playing an instrument, including touching, sounding (as in bells), or handling objects, depending on context.

See also: Tocar, Preterite (Spanish), Spanish grammar.