Quick answer
Informar focuses on the information supplied; comunicar focuses on making something known to another party.
A reliable test is to identify the job of the word before translating from English.
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What each word does
informar
to inform or provide information
Use informar for giving facts, data, instructions, or an answer to someone.
comunicar
to communicate or make known
Use comunicar for formally announcing a fact or establishing communication between parties.
How to choose
- informar: Choose informar if the sentence points to giving facts, data, instructions, or an answer to someone.
- comunicar: Choose comunicar if the sentence points to formally announcing a fact or establishing communication between parties.
Examples
Informe seu número de inscrição.
Provide your registration number.
A empresa comunicou a mudança aos clientes.
The company communicated the change to its customers.
Common trap
They often overlap, but informar can simply fill a data field, while comunicar normally implies a recipient and a message event.
Practice it in context
Pick one sentence from your real life and write it twice: once with informar, then once with comunicar. If both versions feel possible, name the meaning shift.
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