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Alcanzar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to reach / to catch up with”.
Below are all of the conjugations for alcanzar 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 reach / to catch up with |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | alcanzar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está alcanzando) and past continuous (estaba alcanzando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. catching up with).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he alcanzado and hubiera alcanzado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have caught up with).
| Gerundio / Gerund | alcanzando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | alcanzado |
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 catch up with” or “they catch up with”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | alcanzo |
| Tú | alcanzas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | alcanza |
| Nosotros / as | alcanzamos |
| Vosotros / as | alcanzáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | alcanzan |
| Vos | alcanzás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I caught up with” or “she caught up with” 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 | alcancé | I caught up with |
| Tú | alcanzaste | You caught up with |
| Él / Ella / Usted | alcanzó | He / she / you caught up with |
| Nosotros / as | alcanzamos | We caught up with |
| Vosotros / as | alcanzasteis | You caught up with |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | alcanzaron | They / you caught up with |
| Vos | alcanzaste | You caught up with |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was catching up with” or “she was catching up with” 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 | alcanzaba | I was catching up with |
| Tú | alcanzabas | You were catching up with |
| Él / Ella / Usted | alcanzaba | He was / she was / you were catching up with |
| Nosotros / as | alcanzábamos | We were catching up with |
| Vosotros / as | alcanzabais | You were catching up with |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | alcanzaban | They / you were catching up with |
| Vos | alcanzabas | You were catching up with |
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 caught up with” and “she has caught up with”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he alcanzado | I have caught up with |
| Tú | has alcanzado | You have caught up with |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha alcanzado | He has / she has / you have caught up with |
| Nosotros / as | hemos alcanzado | We have caught up with |
| Vosotros / as | habéis alcanzado | You have caught up with |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han alcanzado | They / you have caught up with |
| Vos | has alcanzado | You have caught up with |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would catch up with” or “she would catch up with”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | alcanzaría | I would catch up with |
| Tú | alcanzarías | You would catch up with |
| Él / Ella / Usted | alcanzaría | He / she / you would catch up with |
| Nosotros / as | alcanzaríamos | We would catch up with |
| Vosotros / as | alcanzaríais | You would catch up with |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | alcanzarían | They / you would catch up with |
| Vos | alcanzarías | You would catch up with |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will catch up with” or “they will catch up with”.
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 alcanzar” means “They are going to catch up with”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | alcanzaré | I will catch up with |
| Tú | alcanzarás | You will catch up with |
| Él / Ella / Usted | alcanzará | He / she / you will catch up with |
| Nosotros / as | alcanzaremos | We will catch up with |
| Vosotros / as | alcanzaréis | You will catch up with |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | alcanzarán | They / you will catch up with |
| Vos | alcanzarás | You will catch up with |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | alcance |
| Tú | alcances |
| Él / Ella / Usted | alcance |
| Nosotros / as | alcancemos |
| Vosotros / as | alcancéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | alcancen |
| Vos | alcances |
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 | alcanzara | alcanzase |
| Tú | alcanzaras | alcanzase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | alcanzara | alcanzase |
| Nosotros / as | alcanzáramos | alcanzásemos |
| Vosotros / as | alcanzarais | alcanzaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | alcanzaran | alcanzasen |
| Vos | alcanzaras | alcanzase |
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 | alcanzare |
| Tú | alcanzares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | alcanzare |
| Nosotros / as | alcanzáremos |
| Vosotros / as | alcanzareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | alcanzaren |
| Vos | alcanzares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “catch up with!” and “don’t catch up with!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | alcanza | no alcances |
| Él / Ella / Usted | alcance | no alcance |
| Nosotros / as | alcancemos | no alcancemos |
| Vosotros / as | alcanzad | no alcancéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | alcancen | no alcancen |
| Vos | alcanzá | no alcances |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya alcanzado |
| Tú | hayas alcanzado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya alcanzado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos alcanzado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis alcanzado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan alcanzado |
| Vos | hayas alcanzado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera alcanzado / hubiese alcanzado |
| Tú | hubieras alcanzado / hubieses alcanzado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera alcanzado / hubiese alcanzado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos alcanzado / hubiésemos alcanzado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais alcanzado / hubieseis alcanzado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran alcanzado / hubiesen alcanzado |
| Vos | hubieras alcanzado / hubieses alcanzado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere alcanzado |
| Tú | hubieres alcanzado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere alcanzado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos alcanzado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis alcanzado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren alcanzado |
| Vos | hubieres alcanzado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté alcanzando |
| Tú | estés alcanzando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté alcanzando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos alcanzando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis alcanzando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén alcanzando |
| Vos | estés alcanzando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera alcanzando / estuviese alcanzando |
| Tú | estuvieras alcanzando / estuvieses alcanzando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera alcanzando / estuviese alcanzando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos alcanzando / estuviésamos alcanzando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais alcanzando / estuvieseis alcanzando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera alcanzando / estuviese alcanzando |
| Vos | estuvieras alcanzando / estuvieses alcanzando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere alcanzando |
| Tú | estuvieres alcanzando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere alcanzando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos alcanzando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis alcanzando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere alcanzando |
| Vos | estuvieres alcanzando |
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 alcanzás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos alcanzaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos alcanzabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos alcanzarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos alcanzarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos alcances |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos alcanzaras / Vos alcanzase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos alcanzá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no alcances |
