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Inculcar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to inculcate, implant (ideas, knowledge)”.
Below are all of the conjugations for inculcar 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 inculcate, implant (ideas, knowledge) |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | inculcar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está inculcando) and past continuous (estaba inculcando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. implanting knowledge).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he inculcado and hubiera inculcado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have implanted knowledge).
| Gerundio / Gerund | inculcando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | inculcado |
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 implant knowledge” or “they implant knowledge”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | inculco |
| Tú | inculcas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | inculca |
| Nosotros / as | inculcamos |
| Vosotros / as | inculcáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | inculcan |
| Vos | inculcás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I implanted knowledge” or “she implanted knowledge” 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 | inculqué | I implanted knowledge |
| Tú | inculcaste | You implanted knowledge |
| Él / Ella / Usted | inculcó | He / she / you implanted knowledge |
| Nosotros / as | inculcamos | We implanted knowledge |
| Vosotros / as | inculcasteis | You implanted knowledge |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | inculcaron | They / you implanted knowledge |
| Vos | inculcaste | You implanted knowledge |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was implanting knowledge” or “she was implanting knowledge” 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 | inculcaba | I was implanting knowledge |
| Tú | inculcabas | You were implanting knowledge |
| Él / Ella / Usted | inculcaba | He was / she was / you were implanting knowledge |
| Nosotros / as | inculcábamos | We were implanting knowledge |
| Vosotros / as | inculcabais | You were implanting knowledge |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | inculcaban | They / you were implanting knowledge |
| Vos | inculcabas | You were implanting knowledge |
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 implanted knowledge” and “she has implanted knowledge”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he inculcado | I have implanted knowledge |
| Tú | has inculcado | You have implanted knowledge |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha inculcado | He has / she has / you have implanted knowledge |
| Nosotros / as | hemos inculcado | We have implanted knowledge |
| Vosotros / as | habéis inculcado | You have implanted knowledge |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han inculcado | They / you have implanted knowledge |
| Vos | has inculcado | You have implanted knowledge |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would implant knowledge” or “she would implant knowledge”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | inculcaría | I would implant knowledge |
| Tú | inculcarías | You would implant knowledge |
| Él / Ella / Usted | inculcaría | He / she / you would implant knowledge |
| Nosotros / as | inculcaríamos | We would implant knowledge |
| Vosotros / as | inculcaríais | You would implant knowledge |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | inculcarían | They / you would implant knowledge |
| Vos | inculcarías | You would implant knowledge |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will implant knowledge” or “they will implant knowledge”.
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 inculcar” means “They are going to implant knowledge”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | inculcaré | I will implant knowledge |
| Tú | inculcarás | You will implant knowledge |
| Él / Ella / Usted | inculcará | He / she / you will implant knowledge |
| Nosotros / as | inculcaremos | We will implant knowledge |
| Vosotros / as | inculcaréis | You will implant knowledge |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | inculcarán | They / you will implant knowledge |
| Vos | inculcarás | You will implant knowledge |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | inculque |
| Tú | inculques |
| Él / Ella / Usted | inculque |
| Nosotros / as | inculquemos |
| Vosotros / as | inculquéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | inculquen |
| Vos | inculques |
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 | inculcara | inculcase |
| Tú | inculcaras | inculcase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | inculcara | inculcase |
| Nosotros / as | inculcáramos | inculcásemos |
| Vosotros / as | inculcarais | inculcaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | inculcaran | inculcasen |
| Vos | inculcaras | inculcase |
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 | inculcare |
| Tú | inculcares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | inculcare |
| Nosotros / as | inculcáremos |
| Vosotros / as | inculcareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | inculcaren |
| Vos | inculcares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “implant knowledge!” and “don’t implant knowledge!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | inculca | no inculques |
| Él / Ella / Usted | inculque | no inculque |
| Nosotros / as | inculquemos | no inculquemos |
| Vosotros / as | inculcad | no inculquéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | inculquen | no inculquen |
| Vos | inculcá | no inculques |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya inculcado |
| Tú | hayas inculcado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya inculcado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos inculcado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis inculcado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan inculcado |
| Vos | hayas inculcado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera inculcado / hubiese inculcado |
| Tú | hubieras inculcado / hubieses inculcado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera inculcado / hubiese inculcado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos inculcado / hubiésemos inculcado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais inculcado / hubieseis inculcado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran inculcado / hubiesen inculcado |
| Vos | hubieras inculcado / hubieses inculcado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere inculcado |
| Tú | hubieres inculcado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere inculcado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos inculcado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis inculcado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren inculcado |
| Vos | hubieres inculcado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté inculcando |
| Tú | estés inculcando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté inculcando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos inculcando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis inculcando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén inculcando |
| Vos | estés inculcando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera inculcando / estuviese inculcando |
| Tú | estuvieras inculcando / estuvieses inculcando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera inculcando / estuviese inculcando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos inculcando / estuviésamos inculcando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais inculcando / estuvieseis inculcando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera inculcando / estuviese inculcando |
| Vos | estuvieras inculcando / estuvieses inculcando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere inculcando |
| Tú | estuvieres inculcando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere inculcando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos inculcando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis inculcando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere inculcando |
| Vos | estuvieres inculcando |
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 inculcás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos inculcaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos inculcabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos inculcarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos inculcarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos inculques |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos inculcaras / Vos inculcase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos inculcá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no inculques |