Everything you need to improve your Spanish
Menu
Everything you need to improve your Spanish
Cabalgar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to ride (a horse)”.
Below are all of the conjugations for cabalgar 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 ride (a horse) |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | cabalgar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está cabalgando) and past continuous (estaba cabalgando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. riding a horse).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he cabalgado and hubiera cabalgado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have ridden a horse).
| Gerundio / Gerund | cabalgando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | cabalgado |
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 ride a horse” or “they ride a horse”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | cabalgo |
| Tú | cabalgas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cabalga |
| Nosotros / as | cabalgamos |
| Vosotros / as | cabalgáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cabalgan |
| Vos | cabalgás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I rode a horse” or “she rode a horse” 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 | cabalgué | I rode a horse |
| Tú | cabalgaste | You rode a horse |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cabalgó | He / she / you rode a horse |
| Nosotros / as | cabalgamos | We rode a horse |
| Vosotros / as | cabalgasteis | You rode a horse |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cabalgaron | They / you rode a horse |
| Vos | cabalgaste | You rode a horse |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was riding a horse” or “she was riding a horse” 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 | cabalgaba | I was riding a horse |
| Tú | cabalgabas | You were riding a horse |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cabalgaba | He was / she was / you were riding a horse |
| Nosotros / as | cabalgábamos | We were riding a horse |
| Vosotros / as | cabalgabais | You were riding a horse |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cabalgaban | They / you were riding a horse |
| Vos | cabalgabas | You were riding a horse |
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 ridden a horse” and “she has ridden a horse”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he cabalgado | I have ridden a horse |
| Tú | has cabalgado | You have ridden a horse |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha cabalgado | He has / she has / you have ridden a horse |
| Nosotros / as | hemos cabalgado | We have ridden a horse |
| Vosotros / as | habéis cabalgado | You have ridden a horse |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han cabalgado | They / you have ridden a horse |
| Vos | has cabalgado | You have ridden a horse |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would ride a horse” or “she would ride a horse”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | cabalgaría | I would ride a horse |
| Tú | cabalgarías | You would ride a horse |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cabalgaría | He / she / you would ride a horse |
| Nosotros / as | cabalgaríamos | We would ride a horse |
| Vosotros / as | cabalgaríais | You would ride a horse |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cabalgarían | They / you would ride a horse |
| Vos | cabalgarías | You would ride a horse |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will ride a horse” or “they will ride a horse”.
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 cabalgar” means “They are going to ride a horse”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | cabalgaré | I will ride a horse |
| Tú | cabalgarás | You will ride a horse |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cabalgará | He / she / you will ride a horse |
| Nosotros / as | cabalgaremos | We will ride a horse |
| Vosotros / as | cabalgaréis | You will ride a horse |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cabalgarán | They / you will ride a horse |
| Vos | cabalgarás | You will ride a horse |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | cabalgue |
| Tú | cabalgues |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cabalgue |
| Nosotros / as | cabalguemos |
| Vosotros / as | cabalguéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cabalguen |
| Vos | cabalgues |
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 | cabalgara | cabalgase |
| Tú | cabalgaras | cabalgase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cabalgara | cabalgase |
| Nosotros / as | cabalgáramos | cabalgásemos |
| Vosotros / as | cabalgarais | cabalgaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cabalgaran | cabalgasen |
| Vos | cabalgaras | cabalgase |
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 | cabalgare |
| Tú | cabalgares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cabalgare |
| Nosotros / as | cabalgáremos |
| Vosotros / as | cabalgareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cabalgaren |
| Vos | cabalgares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “ride a horse!” and “don’t ride a horse!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | cabalga | no cabalgues |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cabalgue | no cabalgue |
| Nosotros / as | cabalguemos | no cabalguemos |
| Vosotros / as | cabalgad | no cabalguéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cabalguen | no cabalguen |
| Vos | cabalgá | no cabalgues |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya cabalgado |
| Tú | hayas cabalgado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya cabalgado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos cabalgado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis cabalgado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan cabalgado |
| Vos | hayas cabalgado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera cabalgado / hubiese cabalgado |
| Tú | hubieras cabalgado / hubieses cabalgado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera cabalgado / hubiese cabalgado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos cabalgado / hubiésemos cabalgado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais cabalgado / hubieseis cabalgado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran cabalgado / hubiesen cabalgado |
| Vos | hubieras cabalgado / hubieses cabalgado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere cabalgado |
| Tú | hubieres cabalgado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere cabalgado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos cabalgado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis cabalgado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren cabalgado |
| Vos | hubieres cabalgado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté cabalgando |
| Tú | estés cabalgando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté cabalgando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos cabalgando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis cabalgando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén cabalgando |
| Vos | estés cabalgando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera cabalgando / estuviese cabalgando |
| Tú | estuvieras cabalgando / estuvieses cabalgando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera cabalgando / estuviese cabalgando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos cabalgando / estuviésamos cabalgando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais cabalgando / estuvieseis cabalgando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera cabalgando / estuviese cabalgando |
| Vos | estuvieras cabalgando / estuvieses cabalgando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere cabalgando |
| Tú | estuvieres cabalgando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere cabalgando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos cabalgando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis cabalgando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere cabalgando |
| Vos | estuvieres cabalgando |
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 cabalgás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos cabalgaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos cabalgabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos cabalgarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos cabalgarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos cabalgues |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos cabalgaras / Vos cabalgase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos cabalgá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no cabalgues |