Conjugation of buscar | Catalan Grammar

Buscar means “to look for, search for, seek.” It follows the regular first conjugation, but spelling alternates between c and qu so that the stem keeps the same /k/ sound: busco, busca beside busques, busqui, busquem. That is an orthographic adjustment, not a change of stem meaning or pronunciation.

The other major challenge comes from English. The “for” in “look for” is already contained in buscar: Catalan normally says buscar les claus, with a direct object and no per. The pronominal verb buscar-se has additional meanings such as obtaining something for oneself or bringing a result upon oneself. The c/qu alternation belongs to the wider system of present-tense spelling changes.

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Remember the principal parts busco – busquem – buscava – buscà – buscaré – busqui – busqués – buscat. The only alternation is mechanical: use qu before written e/i to preserve /k/.

Nonfinite forms

Form	Catalan	English guide
Infinitive	buscar	to look for; seek
Perfect infinitive	haver buscat	to have looked for
Gerund	buscant	looking for
Perfect gerund	havent buscat	having looked for
Participle	buscat; buscada, buscats, buscades	sought; looked for

Compound tenses use haver, with an ordinarily invariable participle: hem buscat dues alternatives. Agreement appears when buscat is adjectival or passive: les persones buscades per la policia. In buscar-se, the auxiliary remains haver: s'ha buscat una feina nova.

Indicative: simple and periphrastic tenses

Tense	jo	tu	ell / ella / vostè	nosaltres	vosaltres	ells / elles / vostès
Present	busco	busques	busca	busquem	busqueu	busquen
Imperfect	buscava	buscaves	buscava	buscàvem	buscàveu	buscaven
Periphrastic past	vaig buscar	vas buscar	va buscar	vam buscar	vau buscar	van buscar
Simple past	busquí	buscares	buscà	buscàrem	buscàreu	buscaren
Future	buscaré	buscaràs	buscarà	buscarem	buscareu	buscaran
Conditional	buscaria	buscaries	buscaria	buscaríem	buscaríeu	buscarien

Before a/o/u, written c represents /k/: busca, buscava, buscaré. Before e/i, qu is required: busques, busquem, busquí. Forms such as buscem or buscé would misrepresent the consonant and are not standard. This alternation recurs in many -car verbs. It is unrelated to the third-conjugation incoative extension: busqueixo does not exist.

Busco una habitació tranquil·la prop de la universitat.

I'm looking for a quiet room near the university.

Quan érem petits, buscàvem petxines després de cada temporal.

When we were children, we used to look for shells after every storm.

Dissabte vam buscar el gat per tots els patis del barri.

On Saturday we looked for the cat in every courtyard in the neighborhood.

Si aquesta opció falla, buscarem una solució que no encareixi el projecte.

If this option fails, we'll look for a solution that doesn't make the project more expensive.

The periphrastic past is neutral in contemporary conversation. The simple past is especially (formal/literary) in much Central usage and remains a spoken narrative tense in some regions (regional).

Compound tenses and subjunctive

Indicative tense	jo	tu	ell / ella / vostè	nosaltres	vosaltres	ells / elles / vostès
Present perfect	he buscat	has buscat	ha buscat	hem buscat	heu buscat	han buscat
Pluperfect	havia buscat	havies buscat	havia buscat	havíem buscat	havíeu buscat	havien buscat
Past anterior	haguí buscat	hagueres buscat	hagué buscat	haguérem buscat	haguéreu buscat	hagueren buscat
Future perfect	hauré buscat	hauràs buscat	haurà buscat	haurem buscat	haureu buscat	hauran buscat
Conditional perfect	hauria buscat	hauries buscat	hauria buscat	hauríem buscat	hauríeu buscat	haurien buscat

Subjunctive tense	jo	tu	ell / ella / vostè	nosaltres	vosaltres	ells / elles / vostès
Present	busqui	busquis	busqui	busquem	busqueu	busquin
Imperfect	busqués	busquessis	busqués	busquéssim	busquéssiu	busquessin
Present perfect	hagi buscat	hagis buscat	hagi buscat	hàgim buscat	hàgiu buscat	hagin buscat
Pluperfect	hagués buscat	haguessis buscat	hagués buscat	haguéssim buscat	haguéssiu buscat	haguessin buscat

All present-subjunctive forms write qu, because their endings begin with i or e. The imperfect subjunctive continues the same spelling before e. First- and second-person plural busquem, busqueu are identical in the present indicative and subjunctive; syntax determines the mood.

La tutora vol que busquis dos articles recents abans de redactar el treball.

The tutor wants you to find two recent articles before drafting the paper.

Si haguéssim buscat en una altra carpeta, hauríem trobat el contracte abans.

If we'd looked in another folder, we'd have found the contract sooner.

Three additional periphrastic rows complete the reference. The subjunctive forms are (regional/formal) and much less frequent than busqués and hagués buscat.

Periphrastic tense	jo	tu	ell / ella / vostè	nosaltres	vosaltres	ells / elles / vostès
Indicative past anterior	vaig haver buscat	vas haver buscat	va haver buscat	vam haver buscat	vau haver buscat	van haver buscat
Subjunctive past	vagi buscar	vagis buscar	vagi buscar	vàgim buscar	vàgiu buscar	vagin buscar
Subjunctive past anterior	vagi haver buscat	vagis haver buscat	vagi haver buscat	vàgim haver buscat	vàgiu haver buscat	vagin haver buscat

Imperative and weak pronouns

Addressee	Affirmative	Negative
tu	busca	no busquis
vostè	busqui	no busqui
nosaltres	busquem	no busquem
vosaltres	busqueu	no busqueu
vostès	busquin	no busquin

Affirmative commands attach clitics (busca'l, busca-la, busqueu-ne dos); negative commands place them before the verb (no el busquis, no en busqueu més). A definite object takes an accusative pronoun, while partitive en replaces an indefinite noun or quantity.

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Definite “the one” is usually el/la busco; indefinite “one/some” is en busco. This clitic contrast preserves information that English often leaves implicit.

—No trobo el rebut original. —Busca'l al calaix de sota l'arxivador.

—I can't find the original receipt. —Look for it in the drawer under the filing cabinet.

D'aquest model ja no en busquis cap: el fabricant l'ha retirat.

Don't look for any more of this model; the manufacturer has withdrawn it.

Direct objects, searching places, and buscar-se

The sought item is direct: buscar feina, buscar pis, buscar una paraula. A place introduced by a, en, per identifies where the search happens, not a preposition governed before the object: buscar les ulleres al dormitori; buscar un nom en una llista; buscar el gos pel parc. With people, Catalan still generally treats the person as a direct object: busco la metgessa; la busco.

He buscat la paraula al diccionari, però aquesta accepció no hi surt.

I looked the word up in the dictionary, but this meaning isn't listed.

La responsable de personal busca algú que pugui començar dilluns.

The HR manager is looking for someone who can start on Monday.

Buscar-se + noun can mean finding or obtaining something for oneself (buscar-se una feina) or causing oneself an outcome (buscar-se problemes). The pronoun is not optional in fixed phrases such as buscar-se la vida “manage/fend for oneself” and tu t'ho has buscat “you brought this on yourself.” Plain buscar simply directs a search toward its object.

Després del curs es va buscar una feina de mitja jornada en una cooperativa.

After the course, she found herself a part-time job at a cooperative.

Si continues entrant sense permís, et buscaràs problemes amb la comunitat.

If you keep going in without permission, you'll land yourself in trouble with the residents' association.

Common collocations include buscar feina, buscar pis, buscar una solució, buscar informació, buscar brega/raons and anar a buscar algú. The last means going to collect or fetch someone: Vaig a buscar els nens a l'escola. Cercar is a normative synonym; it is especially prominent (regional: Balearic) and also occurs in careful or specialized usage elsewhere. Buscar itself is standard and widespread.

(Regional: Valencian) first-person busque and the corresponding -e subjunctive forms are standard. (Regional: Balearic) the verb cercar is often the ordinary lexical choice. Keep each regional system coherent instead of mixing one isolated ending into the Central paradigm.

Common Mistakes

❌ Busco per unes sabates còmodes per caminar.

Incorrect—‘look for’ takes the thing sought as a direct object; per does not translate English ‘for.’

✅ Busco unes sabates còmodes per caminar.

I'm looking for comfortable shoes for walking.

❌ Vull que busces la factura al correu antic.

Incorrect spelling—before i/e, qu preserves the /k/ sound.

✅ Vull que busquis la factura al correu antic.

I want you to look for the invoice in the old email.

❌ Jo busqueixo una altra mena d'allotjament.

Incorrect—buscar is an -ar verb and never takes the incoative extension -eix-.

✅ Jo busco una altra mena d'allotjament.

I'm looking for a different kind of accommodation.

❌ No busca'l ara; ja el trobarem demà.

Incorrect—negative commands put the clitic before a subjunctive form.

✅ No el busquis ara; ja el trobarem demà.

Don't look for it now; we'll find it tomorrow.

❌ Ell ha buscat molts problemes per no escoltar ningú.

Incorrect for ‘brought trouble on himself’—the idiomatic construction is pronominal buscar-se.

✅ Ell s'ha buscat molts problemes per no escoltar ningú.

He has brought a lot of trouble on himself by listening to no one.

Key Takeaways

Buscar is regular apart from the spelling alternation c/qu, which preserves /k/. The sought item is a direct object, not a complement introduced by per. Use object clitics for definite targets and en for indefinite quantities. Preserve se in lexical constructions such as buscar-se feina, buscar-se problemes, and buscar-se la vida.

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