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Buscar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to search”.
Below are all of the conjugations for buscar 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 search |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | buscar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está buscando) and past continuous (estaba buscando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. searching).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he buscado and hubiera buscado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have searched).
| Gerundio / Gerund | buscando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | buscado |
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 search” or “they search”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | busco |
| Tú | buscas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | busca |
| Nosotros / as | buscamos |
| Vosotros / as | buscáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | buscan |
| Vos | buscás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I searched” or “she searched” 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 | busqué | I searched |
| Tú | buscaste | You searched |
| Él / Ella / Usted | buscó | He / she / you searched |
| Nosotros / as | buscamos | We searched |
| Vosotros / as | buscasteis | You searched |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | buscaron | They / you searched |
| Vos | buscaste | You searched |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was searching” or “she was searching” 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 | buscaba | I was searching |
| Tú | buscabas | You were searching |
| Él / Ella / Usted | buscaba | He was / she was / you were searching |
| Nosotros / as | buscábamos | We were searching |
| Vosotros / as | buscabais | You were searching |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | buscaban | They / you were searching |
| Vos | buscabas | You were searching |
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 searched” and “she has searched”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he buscado | I have searched |
| Tú | has buscado | You have searched |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha buscado | He has / she has / you have searched |
| Nosotros / as | hemos buscado | We have searched |
| Vosotros / as | habéis buscado | You have searched |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han buscado | They / you have searched |
| Vos | has buscado | You have searched |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would search” or “she would search”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | buscaría | I would search |
| Tú | buscarías | You would search |
| Él / Ella / Usted | buscaría | He / she / you would search |
| Nosotros / as | buscaríamos | We would search |
| Vosotros / as | buscaríais | You would search |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | buscarían | They / you would search |
| Vos | buscarías | You would search |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will search” or “they will search”.
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 buscar” means “They are going to search”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | buscaré | I will search |
| Tú | buscarás | You will search |
| Él / Ella / Usted | buscará | He / she / you will search |
| Nosotros / as | buscaremos | We will search |
| Vosotros / as | buscaréis | You will search |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | buscarán | They / you will search |
| Vos | buscarás | You will search |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | busque |
| Tú | busques |
| Él / Ella / Usted | busque |
| Nosotros / as | busquemos |
| Vosotros / as | busquéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | busquen |
| Vos | busques |
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 | buscara | buscase |
| Tú | buscaras | buscase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | buscara | buscase |
| Nosotros / as | buscáramos | buscásemos |
| Vosotros / as | buscarais | buscaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | buscaran | buscasen |
| Vos | buscaras | buscase |
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 | buscare |
| Tú | buscares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | buscare |
| Nosotros / as | buscáremos |
| Vosotros / as | buscareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | buscaren |
| Vos | buscares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “search!” and “don’t search!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | busca | no busques |
| Él / Ella / Usted | busque | no busque |
| Nosotros / as | busquemos | no busquemos |
| Vosotros / as | buscad | no busquéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | busquen | no busquen |
| Vos | buscá | no busques |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya buscado |
| Tú | hayas buscado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya buscado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos buscado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis buscado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan buscado |
| Vos | hayas buscado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera buscado / hubiese buscado |
| Tú | hubieras buscado / hubieses buscado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera buscado / hubiese buscado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos buscado / hubiésemos buscado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais buscado / hubieseis buscado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran buscado / hubiesen buscado |
| Vos | hubieras buscado / hubieses buscado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere buscado |
| Tú | hubieres buscado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere buscado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos buscado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis buscado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren buscado |
| Vos | hubieres buscado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté buscando |
| Tú | estés buscando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté buscando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos buscando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis buscando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén buscando |
| Vos | estés buscando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera buscando / estuviese buscando |
| Tú | estuvieras buscando / estuvieses buscando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera buscando / estuviese buscando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos buscando / estuviésamos buscando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais buscando / estuvieseis buscando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera buscando / estuviese buscando |
| Vos | estuvieras buscando / estuvieses buscando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere buscando |
| Tú | estuvieres buscando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere buscando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos buscando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis buscando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere buscando |
| Vos | estuvieres buscando |
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 buscás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos buscaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos buscabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos buscarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos buscarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos busques |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos buscaras / Vos buscase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos buscá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no busques |
