Everything you need to improve your Spanish
Menu
Everything you need to improve your Spanish
Envolver is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to wrap, pack, get involved”.
Below are all of the conjugations for envolver in Spanish, in all three moods (indicative/indicativo, subjunctive/subjunctivo and imperative/imperativo) and all of the tenses, for each pronoun.
The vosotros pronoun is mainly used in mainland Spain, and is the informal second-person plural – it could be considered the Spanish version of “y’all”. It is rarely found in Latin America, where ustedes is used instead.
The vos form is used instead of tú in some Spanish speaking countries of South America, especially the Southern Cone (e.g. Argentina and Uruguay) and has a different conjugation.
| English Infinitive | to wrap, pack, get involved |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | envolver |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está envolviendo) and past continuous (estaba envolviendo). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. wrapping).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he envuelto and hubiera envuelto. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have wrapped).
| Gerundio / Gerund | envolviendo |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | envuelto |
The basic form of speech, el indicativo is used for making statements, talking about facts, events and things that are certain and objective.
The present tense is as it sounds – it’s for talking about things that are currently going on, which are habitual, or which generally exist. In English, this would be “I wrap” or “they wrap”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | envuelvo |
| Tú | envuelves |
| Él / Ella / Usted | envuelve |
| Nosotros / as | envolvemos |
| Vosotros / as | envolvéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | envuelven |
| Vos | envolvés |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I wrapped” or “she wrapped” in English.
In Spanish, there are two past tenses where just one is used in English; the pretérite infefinido is typically used to refer to a concrete, specific moment in time.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | envolví | I wrapped |
| Tú | envolviste | You wrapped |
| Él / Ella / Usted | envolvió | He / she / you wrapped |
| Nosotros / as | envolvimos | We wrapped |
| Vosotros / as | envolvisteis | You wrapped |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | envolvieron | They / you wrapped |
| Vos | envolviste | You wrapped |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was wrapping” or “she was wrapping” in English, and is typically used to describe things and set a scene, talk about events without a specific timeframe, or talk about habitual events or states in the past.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | envolvía | I was wrapping |
| Tú | envolvías | You were wrapping |
| Él / Ella / Usted | envolvía | He was / she was / you were wrapping |
| Nosotros / as | envolvíamos | We were wrapping |
| Vosotros / as | envolvíais | You were wrapping |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | envolvían | They / you were wrapping |
| Vos | envolvías | You were wrapping |
The perfect tense is for talking about things which happened in the past but are still related to the present or continue into the present.
In English, these use the auxiliary verbs ‘have’ and ‘has’ – i.e. “I have wrapped” and “she has wrapped”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he envuelto | I have wrapped |
| Tú | has envuelto | You have wrapped |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha envuelto | He has / she has / you have wrapped |
| Nosotros / as | hemos envuelto | We have wrapped |
| Vosotros / as | habéis envuelto | You have wrapped |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han envuelto | They / you have wrapped |
| Vos | has envuelto | You have wrapped |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would wrap” or “she would wrap”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | envolvería | I would wrap |
| Tú | envolverías | You would wrap |
| Él / Ella / Usted | envolvería | He / she / you would wrap |
| Nosotros / as | envolveríamos | We would wrap |
| Vosotros / as | envolveríais | You would wrap |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | envolverían | They / you would wrap |
| Vos | envolverías | You would wrap |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will wrap” or “they will wrap”.
It is more commonly used for making a hypothesis about the present. To talk about the future, Spanish speakers frequently use “ir + a + infinivo”, e.g. “van a envolver” means “They are going to wrap”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | envolveré | I will wrap |
| Tú | envolverás | You will wrap |
| Él / Ella / Usted | envolverá | He / she / you will wrap |
| Nosotros / as | envolveremos | We will wrap |
| Vosotros / as | envolveréis | You will wrap |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | envolverán | They / you will wrap |
| Vos | envolverás | You will wrap |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | envuelva |
| Tú | envuelvas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | envuelva |
| Nosotros / as | envolvamos |
| Vosotros / as | envolváis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | envuelvan |
| Vos | envuelvas |
There are two ways to form the imperfect subjunctive.
The first option sees verbs ending in -era (for -er and -ir verbs) and -ara (for -ar verbs), while the second sees verbs ending in -ese (for -er and -ir verbs) and -ase (for -ar verbs).
There is no difference between these two forms, and Spanish speakers use them interchangeably.
| Pronoun | Spanish era/ara | Spanish ese/ase |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | envolviera | envolviese |
| Tú | envolvieras | envolviese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | envolviera | envolviese |
| Nosotros / as | envolviéramos | envolviésemos |
| Vosotros / as | envolvierais | envolvieseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | envolvieran | envolviesen |
| Vos | envolvieras | envolviese |
The future subjunctive is no longer used in modern-day Spanish, apart from in literary and legal contexts, and there is no need to learn it.
It is formed the same as the past/imperfect subjunctive, but with -e endings instead of -a endings.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | envolviere |
| Tú | envolvieres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | envolviere |
| Nosotros / as | envolviéremos |
| Vosotros / as | envolviereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | envolvieren |
| Vos | envolvieres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “wrap!” and “don’t wrap!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | envuelve | no envuelvas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | envuelva | no envuelva |
| Nosotros / as | envolvamos | no envolvamos |
| Vosotros / as | envolved | no envolváis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | envuelvan | no envuelvan |
| Vos | envolvé | no envuelvas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya envuelto |
| Tú | hayas envuelto |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya envuelto |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos envuelto |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis envuelto |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan envuelto |
| Vos | hayas envuelto |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera envuelto / hubiese envuelto |
| Tú | hubieras envuelto / hubieses envuelto |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera envuelto / hubiese envuelto |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos envuelto / hubiésemos envuelto |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais envuelto / hubieseis envuelto |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran envuelto / hubiesen envuelto |
| Vos | hubieras envuelto / hubieses envuelto |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere envuelto |
| Tú | hubieres envuelto |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere envuelto |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos envuelto |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis envuelto |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren envuelto |
| Vos | hubieres envuelto |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté envolviendo |
| Tú | estés envolviendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté envolviendo |
| Nosotros / as | estemos envolviendo |
| Vosotros / as | estéis envolviendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén envolviendo |
| Vos | estés envolviendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera envolviendo / estuviese envolviendo |
| Tú | estuvieras envolviendo / estuvieses envolviendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera envolviendo / estuviese envolviendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos envolviendo / estuviésamos envolviendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais envolviendo / estuvieseis envolviendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera envolviendo / estuviese envolviendo |
| Vos | estuvieras envolviendo / estuvieses envolviendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere envolviendo |
| Tú | estuvieres envolviendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere envolviendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos envolviendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis envolviendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere envolviendo |
| Vos | estuvieres envolviendo |
Voseo is the practice of using ‘vos’ instead of ‘tú’ as the second-person singular pronoun, and is common throughout much of South America.
There are various versions of ‘voseo’ used throughout the Spanish-speaking world. The conjugations for the most common type – used throughout Argentina, parts of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguya and Uruguay are below.
The present indicative (presente de indicativo) and affirmative imperative (imperativo) have different conjugations from the tú form, while all other tenses generally use the tú form.
| Tense | Vos Conjugation |
|---|---|
| Present Indicative Presente de Indicativo | Vos envolvés |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos envolviste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos envolvías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos envolverías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos envolverás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos envuelvas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos envolvieras / Vos envolviese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos envolvé |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no envuelvas |