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Caber is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to fit into”.
Below are all of the conjugations for caber 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 fit into |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | caber |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está cabiendo) and past continuous (estaba cabiendo). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. fitting into).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he cabido and hubiera cabido. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have fit into).
| Gerundio / Gerund | cabiendo |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | cabido |
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 fit into” or “they fit into”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | quepo |
| Tú | cabes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cabe |
| Nosotros / as | cabemos |
| Vosotros / as | cabéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | caben |
| Vos | cabés |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I fit into” or “she fit into” 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 | cupe | I fit into |
| Tú | cupiste | You fit into |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cupo | He / she / you fit into |
| Nosotros / as | cupimos | We fit into |
| Vosotros / as | cupisteis | You fit into |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cupieron | They / you fit into |
| Vos | cupiste | You fit into |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was fitting into” or “she was fitting into” 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 | cabía | I was fitting into |
| Tú | cabías | You were fitting into |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cabía | He was / she was / you were fitting into |
| Nosotros / as | cabíamos | We were fitting into |
| Vosotros / as | cabíais | You were fitting into |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cabían | They / you were fitting into |
| Vos | cabías | You were fitting into |
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 fit into” and “she has fit into”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he cabido | I have fit into |
| Tú | has cabido | You have fit into |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha cabido | He has / she has / you have fit into |
| Nosotros / as | hemos cabido | We have fit into |
| Vosotros / as | habéis cabido | You have fit into |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han cabido | They / you have fit into |
| Vos | has cabido | You have fit into |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would fit into” or “she would fit into”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | cabría | I would fit into |
| Tú | cabrías | You would fit into |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cabría | He / she / you would fit into |
| Nosotros / as | cabríamos | We would fit into |
| Vosotros / as | cabríais | You would fit into |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cabrían | They / you would fit into |
| Vos | cabrías | You would fit into |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will fit into” or “they will fit into”.
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 caber” means “They are going to fit into”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | cabré | I will fit into |
| Tú | cabrás | You will fit into |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cabrá | He / she / you will fit into |
| Nosotros / as | cabremos | We will fit into |
| Vosotros / as | cabréis | You will fit into |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cabrán | They / you will fit into |
| Vos | cabrás | You will fit into |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | quepa |
| Tú | quepas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | quepa |
| Nosotros / as | quepamos |
| Vosotros / as | quepáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | quepan |
| Vos | quepas |
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 | cupiera | cupiese |
| Tú | cupieras | cupiese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cupiera | cupiese |
| Nosotros / as | cupiéramos | cupiésemos |
| Vosotros / as | cupierais | cupieseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cupieran | cupiesen |
| Vos | cupieras | cupiese |
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 | cupiere |
| Tú | cupieres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cupiere |
| Nosotros / as | cupiéremos |
| Vosotros / as | cupiereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cupieren |
| Vos | cupieres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “fit into!” and “don’t fit into!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | cabe | no quepas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | quepa | no quepa |
| Nosotros / as | quepamos | no quepamos |
| Vosotros / as | cabed | no quepáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | quepan | no quepan |
| Vos | cabé | no quepas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya cabido |
| Tú | hayas cabido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya cabido |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos cabido |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis cabido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan cabido |
| Vos | hayas cabido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera cabido / hubiese cabido |
| Tú | hubieras cabido / hubieses cabido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera cabido / hubiese cabido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos cabido / hubiésemos cabido |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais cabido / hubieseis cabido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran cabido / hubiesen cabido |
| Vos | hubieras cabido / hubieses cabido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere cabido |
| Tú | hubieres cabido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere cabido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos cabido |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis cabido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren cabido |
| Vos | hubieres cabido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté cabiendo |
| Tú | estés cabiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté cabiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estemos cabiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estéis cabiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén cabiendo |
| Vos | estés cabiendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera cabiendo / estuviese cabiendo |
| Tú | estuvieras cabiendo / estuvieses cabiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera cabiendo / estuviese cabiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos cabiendo / estuviésamos cabiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais cabiendo / estuvieseis cabiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera cabiendo / estuviese cabiendo |
| Vos | estuvieras cabiendo / estuvieses cabiendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere cabiendo |
| Tú | estuvieres cabiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere cabiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos cabiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis cabiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere cabiendo |
| Vos | estuvieres cabiendo |
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 cabés |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos cupiste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos cabías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos cabrías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos cabrás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos quepas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos cupieras / Vos cupiese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos cabé |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no quepas |