explicar | Spanish (Spain) Grammar

Explicar means to explain — to make something clear, to lay out how or why something works, to give an account of something. It is a regular -ar verb except for the -car > -qu- spelling change before any e. That change is mechanical: every form whose personal ending begins with -e- swaps c for qu to keep the /k/ sound consistent. The same rule governs buscar, sacar, tocar, atacar, practicar, publicar, educar, aparcar, acercar, equivocarse, colocar, indicar, and many more — all members of the same -car spelling family.

The other thing learners must absorb about explicar is that it is built for a three-way relationship: someone explains something to someone. In Spanish, the thing being explained is the direct object and the person being explained to is the indirect object — so you reach for an indirect object pronoun (le, les) and, very often, an a-phrase that specifies who that person is.

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The pattern is explicarLE algo A alguien: Le explico el problema a Marta (I explain the problem to Marta). The le is the obligatory indirect-object pronoun; the a Marta clarifies who le refers to. Both pieces are normal in spoken Spain, even though strict logic might call the le "redundant" — it isn't, it's required.

Non-finite forms

Form	Spanish	English
Infinitivo	explicar	to explain
Infinitivo compuesto	haber explicado	to have explained
Gerundio	explicando	explaining
Gerundio compuesto	habiendo explicado	having explained
Participio	explicado	explained

Indicative — simple tenses

Presente

yo	tú	él/ella/usted	nosotros	vosotros	ellos/ellas/ustedes
explico	explicas	explica	explicamos	explicáis	explican

No spelling change in the present indicative — every ending begins with -a- or -o-, which keep c on its /k/ sound.

Te lo explico una vez más, pero la próxima te las apañas tú.

I'll explain it to you one more time, but next time you sort it out yourself.

Nos explicáis cómo funciona el horno, que somos un poco torpes.

(to a group) Explain to us how the oven works — we're a bit hopeless.

Pretérito perfecto simple

yo	tú	él	nosotros	vosotros	ellos
expliqué	explicaste	explicó	explicamos	explicasteis	explicaron

The famous -car spelling change shows up exactly here, in the yo form: expliqué, not expliqué's impossible alternative explicé. The first-person -é ending starts with e, and Spanish orthography requires qu before e to keep the /k/ sound. Without the change, explicé would be pronounced ex-pli-the in peninsular Spanish (with the interdental th of zapato).

Ya le expliqué a mi madre por qué no fui a comer el domingo.

I already explained to my mum why I didn't go to lunch on Sunday.

Pretérito imperfecto

yo	tú	él	nosotros	vosotros	ellos
explicaba	explicabas	explicaba	explicábamos	explicabais	explicaban

No spelling change — endings begin with -a-.

Nuestro profe de Mates explicaba siempre con ejemplos del fútbol.

Our maths teacher always used to explain with football examples.

Futuro simple

yo	tú	él	nosotros	vosotros	ellos
explicaré	explicarás	explicará	explicaremos	explicaréis	explicarán

No spelling change in the future — although the endings start with -é, the c is followed by -a- in the stem (explic-aré), so the /k/ sound never comes into contact with an -e- directly.

Te lo explicaré con calma cuando lleguemos a casa.

I'll explain it to you calmly when we get home.

Condicional

yo	tú	él	nosotros	vosotros	ellos
explicaría	explicarías	explicaría	explicaríamos	explicaríais	explicarían

Yo no le explicaría nada hasta que pidiera disculpas.

I wouldn't explain anything to him until he apologised.

Indicative — compound tenses

All compound tenses pair haber with the regular participle explicado.

Pretérito perfecto compuesto

yo	tú	él	nosotros	vosotros	ellos
he explicado	has explicado	ha explicado	hemos explicado	habéis explicado	han explicado

The Spain default for actions completed within an open time frame ("today," "this week," "recently").

Os he explicado mil veces que no se entra al salón con los zapatos puestos.

I've explained to you all a thousand times that you don't come into the living room with your shoes on.

Pretérito pluscuamperfecto

yo	tú	él	nosotros	vosotros	ellos
había explicado	habías explicado	había explicado	habíamos explicado	habíais explicado	habían explicado

Cuando llegué a la reunión, ya habían explicado todo el plan sin mí.

By the time I got to the meeting, they'd already explained the whole plan without me.

Futuro compuesto

yo	tú	él	nosotros	vosotros	ellos
habré explicado	habrás explicado	habrá explicado	habremos explicado	habréis explicado	habrán explicado

Para esta tarde ya te habré explicado la parte difícil.

By this afternoon I'll have explained the hard part to you.

Condicional compuesto

yo	tú	él	nosotros	vosotros	ellos
habría explicado	habrías explicado	habría explicado	habríamos explicado	habríais explicado	habrían explicado

Te lo habría explicado antes si me hubieras llamado.

I would have explained it to you earlier if you'd called me.

Subjunctive — simple tenses

Presente de subjuntivo

yo	tú	él	nosotros	vosotros	ellos
explique	expliques	explique	expliquemos	expliquéis	expliquen

The entire subjunctive paradigm shows the spelling change, because every ending begins with -e-: explique, expliques, explique, expliquemos, expliquéis, expliquen. There is no "extra" rule — c > qu exactly when the next letter is e.

Quiero que me expliques eso con más detalle, no me ha quedado claro.

I want you to explain that to me in more detail — it wasn't clear to me.

Imperfecto de subjuntivo (-ra / -se)

	yo	tú	él	nosotros	vosotros	ellos
-ra	explicara	explicaras	explicara	explicáramos	explicarais	explicaran
-se	explicase	explicases	explicase	explicásemos	explicaseis	explicasen

No spelling change in the imperfect subjunctive — endings begin with -a-. Both -ra and -se sets are interchangeable; -ra dominates in Spain.

Le pedí que me explicara cómo se llegaba al pueblo en transporte público.

I asked her to explain to me how to get to the village by public transport.

Subjunctive — compound tenses

Pretérito perfecto de subjuntivo

yo	tú	él	nosotros	vosotros	ellos
haya explicado	hayas explicado	haya explicado	hayamos explicado	hayáis explicado	hayan explicado

Me alegro de que por fin os hayan explicado el motivo del retraso.

I'm glad they've finally explained to you the reason for the delay.

Pluscuamperfecto de subjuntivo

	yo	tú	él	nosotros	vosotros	ellos
-ra	hubiera explicado	hubieras explicado	hubiera explicado	hubiéramos explicado	hubierais explicado	hubieran explicado
-se	hubiese explicado	hubieses explicado	hubiese explicado	hubiésemos explicado	hubieseis explicado	hubiesen explicado

Si me lo hubieras explicado antes, no me habría puesto así.

If you'd explained it to me earlier, I wouldn't have got so upset.

Imperative

The spelling change reappears anywhere the imperative form ends in -e or -emos: explique (Vd.), expliquen (Vds.), expliquemos (nosotros), and the entire negative paradigm (no expliques, no explique, no expliquemos, no expliquéis, no expliquen). The tú and vosotros affirmative forms keep the c (explica, explicad) because their endings start with -a- or -d-.

Form	Affirmative	Negative
tú	explica	no expliques
usted	explique	no explique
nosotros	expliquemos	no expliquemos
vosotros	explicad	no expliquéis
ustedes	expliquen	no expliquen

Explicadme otra vez cómo se hace, que no me ha quedado claro.

(to a group) Explain to me again how it's done — I didn't follow.

No me expliques nada, no quiero saber los detalles.

Don't explain anything to me — I don't want to know the details.

When you attach pronouns to an affirmative imperative, the stress shifts and may require a written accent: explícalo, explícamelo, explicádselo, explíquenmelo. The vosotros form drops its final -d before the reflexive -os (rare with explicar, but the rule pattern applies generally).

The indirect-object construction: explicar algo a alguien

This is the construction that defines explicar in actual use. The thing being explained is a direct object; the person it is explained to is an indirect object marked by a and almost always cross-referenced by the pronoun le (or les). Spanish strongly prefers to include the le, even when the a-phrase is already there.

Le expliqué la situación a mi padre. — I explained the situation to my dad.
Les he explicado las normas a los nuevos. — I've explained the rules to the new ones.
¿Te lo explico otra vez? — Shall I explain it to you again?

Note the order: when both pronouns appear together, the indirect goes first (me, te, le → se, nos, os, les → se) and the direct follows. Before lo/la/los/las, the third-person indirect le/les mandatorily becomes se: Se lo expliqué a Marta, never Le lo expliqué a Marta.

Se lo expliqué a Marta con todo lujo de detalles.

I explained it to Marta in full detail.

No me lo expliques con prisa, prefiero entenderlo bien.

Don't explain it to me in a rush — I'd rather understand it properly.

Reflexive explicarse: making oneself understood (and grasping)

Explicarse has two productive senses worth knowing:

To express oneself / make oneself understood: Se explica fenomenal en público (She expresses herself brilliantly in public).
To grasp / to understand how something can be: No me explico cómo ha podido pasar esto (I can't understand how this could have happened).

The second sense is extremely common in spoken Spain and has no direct one-word English equivalent. No me lo explico is the everyday way to say I just can't fathom it.

No me explico cómo has tardado dos horas en llegar desde Atocha.

I can't fathom how it took you two hours to get here from Atocha.

Procura explicarte mejor, que la gente no te entiende.

Try to express yourself more clearly — people don't understand you.

High-frequency collocations from peninsular Spanish

Phrase	Translation
explicar(le) algo a alguien	to explain something to someone
explicar con pelos y señales	to explain in great detail (idiom)
explicar paso a paso	to explain step by step
no me lo explico	I can't understand it / I can't fathom it
explicarse fatal	to express oneself badly
¿me explico?	do I make myself clear? (conversational filler)
explicar una asignatura	to teach a subject (about a teacher)
tener mucho que explicar	to have a lot of explaining to do

In Spain, ¿me explico? is a near-tic in conversation — speakers use it to check that the listener is following, especially when explaining something technical. It is not insulting (unlike the English do you get it?); it is closer to am I making sense?

Le has dicho que viene a las seis, ¿me explico?

You've told her he's coming at six — am I making myself clear?

Tienes mucho que explicar después de lo de anoche.

You have a lot of explaining to do after last night.

The classic English-speaker error

In English, you can say I explained Marta the situation in some dialects, but the more standard pattern is I explained the situation to Marta. Either way, the indirect object can be a bare noun (no preposition). In Spanish, you can never explain somebody directly — you always explain something to somebody, with the obligatory a and almost always the pronoun le.

Le expliqué la situación a Marta. — I explained the situation to Marta. (le
- a Marta; standard.)
Le expliqué la situación. — I explained the situation to her. (le alone, when the listener already knows who.)
Expliqué la situación a Marta. — Acceptable in writing but feels slightly bare; spoken Spain almost always adds le.
❌ Expliqué Marta la situación. — Wrong: Marta is not a direct object, and Spanish doesn't allow a bare noun in indirect-object position.

The deeper logic: in Spanish, indirect objects are introduced by a and the verb is "doubled" by an le/les pronoun even when the full noun phrase is present. This pronoun doubling feels redundant from an English perspective, but it is built into how Spanish verbs encode three-place predicates like give, tell, explain, show, send.

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The Spanish formula is rigid: EXPLICAR-LE [el qué] A [el quién]. Both the le and the a-phrase are normal together. The a before a person is the obligatory indirect-object marker, not a translation of English to — it is required regardless of word order.

Common Mistakes

❌ Ayer explicé el problema al jefe.

The -car spelling change requires expliqué in the preterite yo form.

✅ Ayer le expliqué el problema al jefe.

Yesterday I explained the problem to the boss.

❌ Quiero que me explices la regla otra vez.

The -car change applies in the subjunctive too — expliques, not explices.

✅ Quiero que me expliques la regla otra vez.

I want you to explain the rule to me again.

❌ Expliqué Marta la situación.

In Spanish you cannot explain a person directly. The pattern is explicar ALGO A ALGUIEN — the person needs the preposition a.

✅ Le expliqué la situación a Marta.

I explained the situation to Marta.

❌ Le lo expliqué a mi madre.

When le/les meets lo/la/los/las, it mandatorily becomes se: se lo, not le lo.

✅ Se lo expliqué a mi madre.

I explained it to my mother.

❌ Explicáis otra vez, por favor. (intended as a command)

The vosotros affirmative imperative is explicad, not explicáis (which is present indicative).

✅ Explicádnoslo otra vez, por favor.

(to a group) Explain it to us again, please.

Key Takeaways

Explicar is a regular -ar verb except for the c > qu spelling change before -e-: expliqué (preterite yo), explique/expliques/... (full present subjunctive), explique/expliquen/expliquemos (some imperatives).
The change is purely orthographic; it preserves the /k/ sound that c has before -a- and -o- but loses before -e- and -i-.
The natural construction is explicarLE algo A alguien: the thing is the direct object, the person is the indirect object marked by a and almost always doubled by le/les.
Before lo/la/los/las, third-person le/les mandatorily becomes se: Se lo expliqué, never Le lo expliqué.
The reflexive no me lo explico is everyday Spanish for I can't fathom it / I just don't understand how that can be.
¿Me explico? is a high-frequency conversational filler in Spain — a polite check that the listener is following, not a challenge.

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