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Estancarse is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to become dammed up, come to a standstill”.
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 estanco) or after the infinitive (e.g. Él tiene que estancarse).
Below are all of the conjugations for estancarse 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 become dammed up, come to a standstill |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | estancarse |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está estancándose) and past continuous (estaba estancándose). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. coming to a halt).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he estancado and hubiera estancado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have come to a halt).
| Gerundio / Gerund | estancándose |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | estancado |
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 come to a halt” or “they come to a halt”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me estanco |
| Tú | te estancas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se estanca |
| Nosotros / as | nos estancamos |
| Vosotros / as | os estancáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se estancan |
| Vos | estancás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I came to a halt” or “she came to a halt” 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 estanqué | I came to a halt |
| Tú | te estancaste | You came to a halt |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se estancó | He / she / you came to a halt |
| Nosotros / as | nos estancamos | We came to a halt |
| Vosotros / as | os estancasteis | You came to a halt |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se estancaron | They / you came to a halt |
| Vos | te estancaste | You came to a halt |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was coming to a halt” or “she was coming to a halt” 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 estancaba | I was coming to a halt |
| Tú | te estancabas | You were coming to a halt |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se estancaba | He was / she was / you were coming to a halt |
| Nosotros / as | nos estancábamos | We were coming to a halt |
| Vosotros / as | os estancabais | You were coming to a halt |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se estancaban | They / you were coming to a halt |
| Vos | te estancabas | You were coming to a halt |
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 come to a halt” and “she has come to a halt”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me he estancado | I have come to a halt |
| Tú | te has estancado | You have come to a halt |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se ha estancado | He has / she has / you have come to a halt |
| Nosotros / as | nos hemos estancado | We have come to a halt |
| Vosotros / as | os habéis estancado | You have come to a halt |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se han estancado | They / you have come to a halt |
| Vos | te has estancado | You have come to a halt |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would come to a halt” or “she would come to a halt”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me estancaría | I would come to a halt |
| Tú | te estancarías | You would come to a halt |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se estancaría | He / she / you would come to a halt |
| Nosotros / as | nos estancaríamos | We would come to a halt |
| Vosotros / as | os estancaríais | You would come to a halt |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se estancarían | They / you would come to a halt |
| Vos | te estancarías | You would come to a halt |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will come to a halt” or “they will come to a halt”.
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 estancarse” means “They are going to come to a halt”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me estancaré | I will come to a halt |
| Tú | te estancarás | You will come to a halt |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se estancará | He / she / you will come to a halt |
| Nosotros / as | nos estancaremos | We will come to a halt |
| Vosotros / as | os estancaréis | You will come to a halt |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se estancarán | They / you will come to a halt |
| Vos | te estancarás | You will come to a halt |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me estanque |
| Tú | te estanques |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se estanque |
| Nosotros / as | nos estanquemos |
| Vosotros / as | os estanquéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se estanquen |
| Vos | te estanques |
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 estancara | me estancase |
| Tú | te estancaras | me estancase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se estancara | se estancase |
| Nosotros / as | nos estancáramos | nos estancásemos |
| Vosotros / as | os estancarais | os estancaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se estancaran | se estancasen |
| Vos | te estancaras | me estancase |
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 estancare |
| Tú | te estancares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se estancare |
| Nosotros / as | nos estancáremos |
| Vosotros / as | os estancareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se estancaren |
| Vos | te estancares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “come to a halt!” and “don’t come to a halt!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | estáncate | no te estanques |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estánquese | no se estanque |
| Nosotros / as | estanquémonos | no nos estanquemos |
| Vosotros / as | estancaos | no os estanquéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estánquense | no se estanquen |
| Vos | estancá | no te estanques |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya estancado |
| Tú | hayas estancado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya estancado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos estancado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis estancado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan estancado |
| Vos | hayas estancado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera estancado / hubiese estancado |
| Tú | hubieras estancado / hubieses estancado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera estancado / hubiese estancado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos estancado / hubiésemos estancado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais estancado / hubieseis estancado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran estancado / hubiesen estancado |
| Vos | hubieras estancado / hubieses estancado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere estancado |
| Tú | hubieres estancado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere estancado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos estancado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis estancado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren estancado |
| Vos | hubieres estancado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté estancándose |
| Tú | estés estancándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté estancándose |
| Nosotros / as | estemos estancándose |
| Vosotros / as | estéis estancándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén estancándose |
| Vos | estés estancándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera estancándose / estuviese estancándose |
| Tú | estuvieras estancándose / estuvieses estancándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera estancándose / estuviese estancándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos estancándose / estuviésamos estancándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais estancándose / estuvieseis estancándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera estancándose / estuviese estancándose |
| Vos | estuvieras estancándose / estuvieses estancándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere estancándose |
| Tú | estuvieres estancándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere estancándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos estancándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis estancándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere estancándose |
| Vos | estuvieres estancándose |
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 estancás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos te estancaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos te estancabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos te estancarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos te estancarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos te estanques |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos te estancaras / Vos me estancase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos estancá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no te estanques |