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Esconderse is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to hide oneself”.
It’s a reflexive verb, which means the subject performs the action upon themselves – e.g. “I wake myself”.
Reflexive verbs always carry a reflexive pronoun – me, te, se, nos or os – which is often placed before the conjugated verb (e.g. me escondo) or after the infinitive (e.g. Él tiene que esconderse).
Below are all of the conjugations for esconderse 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 hide oneself |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | esconderse |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está escondiéndose) and past continuous (estaba escondiéndose). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. hiding oneself).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he escondido and hubiera escondido. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have hidden oneself).
| Gerundio / Gerund | escondiéndose |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | escondido |
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 hide oneself” or “they hide oneself”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me escondo |
| Tú | te escondes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se esconde |
| Nosotros / as | nos escondemos |
| Vosotros / as | os escondéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se esconden |
| Vos | te escondés |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I hid oneself” or “she hid oneself” 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 | me escondí | I hid oneself |
| Tú | te escondiste | You hid oneself |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se escondió | He / she / you hid oneself |
| Nosotros / as | nos escondimos | We hid oneself |
| Vosotros / as | os escondisteis | You hid oneself |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se escondieron | They / you hid oneself |
| Vos | te escondiste | You hid oneself |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was hiding oneself” or “she was hiding oneself” 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 | me escondía | I was hiding oneself |
| Tú | te escondías | You were hiding oneself |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se escondía | He was / she was / you were hiding oneself |
| Nosotros / as | nos escondíamos | We were hiding oneself |
| Vosotros / as | os escondíais | You were hiding oneself |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se escondían | They / you were hiding oneself |
| Vos | te escondías | You were hiding oneself |
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 hidden oneself” and “she has hidden oneself”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me he escondido | I have hidden oneself |
| Tú | te has escondido | You have hidden oneself |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se ha escondido | He has / she has / you have hidden oneself |
| Nosotros / as | nos hemos escondido | We have hidden oneself |
| Vosotros / as | os habéis escondido | You have hidden oneself |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se han escondido | They / you have hidden oneself |
| Vos | te has escondido | You have hidden oneself |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would hide oneself” or “she would hide oneself”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me escondería | I would hide oneself |
| Tú | te esconderías | You would hide oneself |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se escondería | He / she / you would hide oneself |
| Nosotros / as | nos esconderíamos | We would hide oneself |
| Vosotros / as | os esconderíais | You would hide oneself |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se esconderían | They / you would hide oneself |
| Vos | te esconderías | You would hide oneself |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will hide oneself” or “they will hide oneself”.
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 esconderse” means “They are going to hide oneself”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me esconderé | I will hide oneself |
| Tú | te esconderás | You will hide oneself |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se esconderá | He / she / you will hide oneself |
| Nosotros / as | nos esconderemos | We will hide oneself |
| Vosotros / as | os esconderéis | You will hide oneself |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se esconderán | They / you will hide oneself |
| Vos | te esconderás | You will hide oneself |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me esconda |
| Tú | te escondas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se esconda |
| Nosotros / as | nos escondamos |
| Vosotros / as | os escondáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se escondan |
| Vos | te escondas |
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 | me escondiera | me escondiese |
| Tú | te escondieras | me escondiese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se escondiera | se escondiese |
| Nosotros / as | nos escondiéramos | nos escondiésemos |
| Vosotros / as | os escondierais | os escondieseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se escondieran | se escondiesen |
| Vos | te escondieras | me escondiese |
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 | me escondiere |
| Tú | te escondieres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se escondiere |
| Nosotros / as | nos escondiéremos |
| Vosotros / as | os escondiereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se escondieren |
| Vos | te escondieres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “hide oneself!” and “don’t hide oneself!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | escóndete | no te escondas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | escóndase | no se esconda |
| Nosotros / as | escondámonos | no nos escondamos |
| Vosotros / as | escondeos | no os escondáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | escóndanse | no se escondan |
| Vos | escondete | no te escondas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya escondido |
| Tú | hayas escondido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya escondido |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos escondido |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis escondido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan escondido |
| Vos | hayas escondido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera escondido / hubiese escondido |
| Tú | hubieras escondido / hubieses escondido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera escondido / hubiese escondido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos escondido / hubiésemos escondido |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais escondido / hubieseis escondido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran escondido / hubiesen escondido |
| Vos | hubieras escondido / hubieses escondido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere escondido |
| Tú | hubieres escondido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere escondido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos escondido |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis escondido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren escondido |
| Vos | hubieres escondido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté escondiéndose |
| Tú | estés escondiéndose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté escondiéndose |
| Nosotros / as | estemos escondiéndose |
| Vosotros / as | estéis escondiéndose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén escondiéndose |
| Vos | estés escondiéndose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera escondiéndose / estuviese escondiéndose |
| Tú | estuvieras escondiéndose / estuvieses escondiéndose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera escondiéndose / estuviese escondiéndose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos escondiéndose / estuviésamos escondiéndose |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais escondiéndose / estuvieseis escondiéndose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera escondiéndose / estuviese escondiéndose |
| Vos | estuvieras escondiéndose / estuvieses escondiéndose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere escondiéndose |
| Tú | estuvieres escondiéndose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere escondiéndose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos escondiéndose |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis escondiéndose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere escondiéndose |
| Vos | estuvieres escondiéndose |
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 te escondés |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos te escondiste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos te escondías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos te esconderías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos te esconderás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos te escondas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos te escondieras / Vos me escondiese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos escondete |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no te escondas |