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Esculpir is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to sculpt, carve, engrave”.
Below are all of the conjugations for esculpir 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 sculpt, carve, engrave |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | esculpir |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está esculpiendo) and past continuous (estaba esculpiendo). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. sculpting).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he esculpido and hubiera esculpido. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have sculpted).
| Gerundio / Gerund | esculpiendo |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | esculpido |
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 sculpt” or “they sculpt”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esculpo |
| Tú | esculpes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esculpe |
| Nosotros / as | esculpimos |
| Vosotros / as | esculpís |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | esculpen |
| Vos | esculpís |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I sculpted” or “she sculpted” 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 | esculpí | I sculpted |
| Tú | esculpiste | You sculpted |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esculpió | He / she / you sculpted |
| Nosotros / as | esculpimos | We sculpted |
| Vosotros / as | esculpisteis | You sculpted |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | esculpieron | They / you sculpted |
| Vos | esculpiste | You sculpted |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was sculpting” or “she was sculpting” 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 | esculpía | I was sculpting |
| Tú | esculpías | You were sculpting |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esculpía | He was / she was / you were sculpting |
| Nosotros / as | esculpíamos | We were sculpting |
| Vosotros / as | esculpíais | You were sculpting |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | esculpían | They / you were sculpting |
| Vos | esculpías | You were sculpting |
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 sculpted” and “she has sculpted”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he esculpido | I have sculpted |
| Tú | has esculpido | You have sculpted |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha esculpido | He has / she has / you have sculpted |
| Nosotros / as | hemos esculpido | We have sculpted |
| Vosotros / as | habéis esculpido | You have sculpted |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han esculpido | They / you have sculpted |
| Vos | has esculpido | You have sculpted |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would sculpt” or “she would sculpt”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | esculpiría | I would sculpt |
| Tú | esculpirías | You would sculpt |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esculpiría | He / she / you would sculpt |
| Nosotros / as | esculpiríamos | We would sculpt |
| Vosotros / as | esculpiríais | You would sculpt |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | esculpirían | They / you would sculpt |
| Vos | esculpirías | You would sculpt |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will sculpt” or “they will sculpt”.
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 esculpir” means “They are going to sculpt”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | esculpiré | I will sculpt |
| Tú | esculpirás | You will sculpt |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esculpirá | He / she / you will sculpt |
| Nosotros / as | esculpiremos | We will sculpt |
| Vosotros / as | esculpiréis | You will sculpt |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | esculpirán | They / you will sculpt |
| Vos | esculpirás | You will sculpt |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esculpa |
| Tú | esculpas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esculpa |
| Nosotros / as | esculpamos |
| Vosotros / as | esculpáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | esculpan |
| Vos | esculpas |
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 | esculpiera | esculpiese |
| Tú | esculpieras | esculpiese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esculpiera | esculpiese |
| Nosotros / as | esculpiéramos | esculpiésemos |
| Vosotros / as | esculpierais | esculpieseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | esculpieran | esculpiesen |
| Vos | esculpieras | esculpiese |
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 | esculpiere |
| Tú | esculpieres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esculpiera |
| Nosotros / as | esculpiéremos |
| Vosotros / as | esculpiereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | esculpieren |
| Vos | esculpieres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “sculpt!” and “don’t sculpt!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | esculpe | no esculpas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esculpa | no esculpa |
| Nosotros / as | esculpamos | no esculpamos |
| Vosotros / as | esculpid | no esculpáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | esculpan | no esculpan |
| Vos | esculpí | no esculpas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya esculpido |
| Tú | hayas esculpido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya esculpido |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos esculpido |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis esculpido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan esculpido |
| Vos | hayas esculpido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera esculpido / hubiese esculpido |
| Tú | hubieras esculpido / hubieses esculpido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera esculpido / hubiese esculpido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos esculpido / hubiésemos esculpido |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais esculpido / hubieseis esculpido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran esculpido / hubiesen esculpido |
| Vos | hubieras esculpido / hubieses esculpido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere esculpido |
| Tú | hubieres esculpido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere esculpido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos esculpido |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis esculpido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren esculpido |
| Vos | hubieres esculpido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté esculpiendo |
| Tú | estés esculpiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté esculpiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estemos esculpiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estéis esculpiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén esculpiendo |
| Vos | estés esculpiendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera esculpiendo / estuviese esculpiendo |
| Tú | estuvieras esculpiendo / estuvieses esculpiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera esculpiendo / estuviese esculpiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos esculpiendo / estuviésamos esculpiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais esculpiendo / estuvieseis esculpiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera esculpiendo / estuviese esculpiendo |
| Vos | estuvieras esculpiendo / estuvieses esculpiendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere esculpiendo |
| Tú | estuvieres esculpiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere esculpiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos esculpiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis esculpiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere esculpiendo |
| Vos | estuvieres esculpiendo |
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 esculpís |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos esculpiste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos esculpías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos esculpirías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos esculpirás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos esculpas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos esculpieras / Vos esculpiese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos esculpí |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no esculpas |