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Atrapar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to catch”.
Below are all of the conjugations for atrapar 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 catch |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | atrapar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está atrapando) and past continuous (estaba atrapando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. catching).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he atrapado and hubiera atrapado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have caught).
| Gerundio / Gerund | atrapando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | atrapado |
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” or “they catch”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | atrapo |
| Tú | atrapas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | atrapa |
| Nosotros / as | atrapamos |
| Vosotros / as | atrapáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | atrapan |
| Vos | atrapás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I caught” or “she caught” 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 | atrapé | I caught |
| Tú | atrapaste | You caught |
| Él / Ella / Usted | atrapó | He / she / you caught |
| Nosotros / as | atrapamos | We caught |
| Vosotros / as | atrapasteis | You caught |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | atraparon | They / you caught |
| Vos | atrapaste | You caught |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was catching” or “she was catching” 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 | atrapaba | I was catching |
| Tú | atrapabas | You were catching |
| Él / Ella / Usted | atrapaba | He was / she was / you were catching |
| Nosotros / as | atrapábamos | We were catching |
| Vosotros / as | atrapabais | You were catching |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | atrapaban | They / you were catching |
| Vos | atrapabas | You were catching |
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” and “she has caught”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he atrapado | I have caught |
| Tú | has atrapado | You have caught |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha atrapado | He has / she has / you have caught |
| Nosotros / as | hemos atrapado | We have caught |
| Vosotros / as | habéis atrapado | You have caught |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han atrapado | They / you have caught |
| Vos | has atrapado | You have caught |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would catch” or “she would catch”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | atraparía | I would catch |
| Tú | atraparías | You would catch |
| Él / Ella / Usted | atraparía | He / she / you would catch |
| Nosotros / as | atraparíamos | We would catch |
| Vosotros / as | atraparíais | You would catch |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | atraparían | They / you would catch |
| Vos | atraparías | You would catch |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will catch” or “they will catch”.
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 atrapar” means “They are going to catch”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | atraparé | I will catch |
| Tú | atraparás | You will catch |
| Él / Ella / Usted | atrapará | He / she / you will catch |
| Nosotros / as | atraparemos | We will catch |
| Vosotros / as | atraparéis | You will catch |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | atraparán | They / you will catch |
| Vos | atraparás | You will catch |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | atrape |
| Tú | atrapes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | atrape |
| Nosotros / as | atrapemos |
| Vosotros / as | atrapéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | atrapen |
| Vos | atrapes |
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 | atrapara | atrapase |
| Tú | atraparas | atrapase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | atrapara | atrapase |
| Nosotros / as | atrapáramos | atrapásemos |
| Vosotros / as | atraparais | atrapaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | atraparan | atrapasen |
| Vos | atraparas | atrapase |
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 | atrapare |
| Tú | atrapares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | atrapare |
| Nosotros / as | atrapáremos |
| Vosotros / as | atrapareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | atraparen |
| Vos | atrapares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “catch!” and “don’t catch!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | atrapa | no atrapes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | atrape | no atrape |
| Nosotros / as | atrapemos | no atrapemos |
| Vosotros / as | atrapad | no atrapéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | atrapen | no atrapen |
| Vos | atrapá | no atrapes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya atrapado |
| Tú | hayas atrapado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya atrapado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos atrapado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis atrapado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan atrapado |
| Vos | hayas atrapado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera atrapado / hubiese atrapado |
| Tú | hubieras atrapado / hubieses atrapado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera atrapado / hubiese atrapado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos atrapado / hubiésemos atrapado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais atrapado / hubieseis atrapado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran atrapado / hubiesen atrapado |
| Vos | hubieras atrapado / hubieses atrapado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere atrapado |
| Tú | hubieres atrapado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere atrapado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos atrapado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis atrapado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren atrapado |
| Vos | hubieres atrapado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté atrapando |
| Tú | estés atrapando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté atrapando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos atrapando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis atrapando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén atrapando |
| Vos | estés atrapando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera atrapando / estuviese atrapando |
| Tú | estuvieras atrapando / estuvieses atrapando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera atrapando / estuviese atrapando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos atrapando / estuviésamos atrapando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais atrapando / estuvieseis atrapando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera atrapando / estuviese atrapando |
| Vos | estuvieras atrapando / estuvieses atrapando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere atrapando |
| Tú | estuvieres atrapando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere atrapando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos atrapando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis atrapando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere atrapando |
| Vos | estuvieres atrapando |
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 atrapás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos atrapaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos atrapabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos atraparías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos atraparás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos atrapes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos atraparas / Vos atrapase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos atrapá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no atrapes |