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Captar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to grasp, catch (the real meaning)”.
Below are all of the conjugations for captar 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 grasp, catch (the real meaning) |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | captar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está captando) and past continuous (estaba captando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. grasping).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he captado and hubiera captado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have grasped).
| Gerundio / Gerund | captando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | captado |
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 grasp” or “they grasp”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | capto |
| Tú | captas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | capta |
| Nosotros / as | captamos |
| Vosotros / as | captáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | captan |
| Vos | captás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I grasped” or “she grasped” 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 | capté | I grasped |
| Tú | captaste | You grasped |
| Él / Ella / Usted | captó | He / she / you grasped |
| Nosotros / as | captamos | We grasped |
| Vosotros / as | captasteis | You grasped |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | captaron | They / you grasped |
| Vos | captaste | You grasped |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was grasping” or “she was grasping” 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 | captaba | I was grasping |
| Tú | captabas | You were grasping |
| Él / Ella / Usted | captaba | He was / she was / you were grasping |
| Nosotros / as | captábamos | We were grasping |
| Vosotros / as | captabais | You were grasping |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | captaban | They / you were grasping |
| Vos | captabas | You were grasping |
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 grasped” and “she has grasped”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he captado | I have grasped |
| Tú | has captado | You have grasped |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha captado | He has / she has / you have grasped |
| Nosotros / as | hemos captado | We have grasped |
| Vosotros / as | habéis captado | You have grasped |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han captado | They / you have grasped |
| Vos | has captado | You have grasped |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would grasp” or “she would grasp”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | captaría | I would grasp |
| Tú | captarías | You would grasp |
| Él / Ella / Usted | captaría | He / she / you would grasp |
| Nosotros / as | captaríamos | We would grasp |
| Vosotros / as | captaríais | You would grasp |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | captarían | They / you would grasp |
| Vos | captarías | You would grasp |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will grasp” or “they will grasp”.
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 captar” means “They are going to grasp”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | captaré | I will grasp |
| Tú | captarás | You will grasp |
| Él / Ella / Usted | captará | He / she / you will grasp |
| Nosotros / as | captaremos | We will grasp |
| Vosotros / as | captaréis | You will grasp |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | captarán | They / you will grasp |
| Vos | captarás | You will grasp |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | capte |
| Tú | captes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | capte |
| Nosotros / as | captemos |
| Vosotros / as | captéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | capten |
| Vos | captes |
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 | captara | captase |
| Tú | captaras | captase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | captara | captase |
| Nosotros / as | captáramos | captásemos |
| Vosotros / as | captarais | captaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | captaran | captasen |
| Vos | captaras | captase |
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 | captare |
| Tú | captares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | captare |
| Nosotros / as | captáremos |
| Vosotros / as | captareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | captaren |
| Vos | captares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “grasp!” and “don’t grasp!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | capta | no captes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | capte | no capte |
| Nosotros / as | captemos | no captemos |
| Vosotros / as | captad | no captéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | capten | no capten |
| Vos | captá | no captes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya captado |
| Tú | hayas captado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya captado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos captado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis captado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan captado |
| Vos | hayas captado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera captado / hubiese captado |
| Tú | hubieras captado / hubieses captado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera captado / hubiese captado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos captado / hubiésemos captado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais captado / hubieseis captado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran captado / hubiesen captado |
| Vos | hubieras captado / hubieses captado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere captado |
| Tú | hubieres captado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere captado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos captado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis captado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren captado |
| Vos | hubieres captado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté captando |
| Tú | estés captando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté captando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos captando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis captando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén captando |
| Vos | estés captando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera captando / estuviese captando |
| Tú | estuvieras captando / estuvieses captando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera captando / estuviese captando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos captando / estuviésamos captando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais captando / estuvieseis captando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera captando / estuviese captando |
| Vos | estuvieras captando / estuvieses captando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere captando |
| Tú | estuvieres captando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere captando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos captando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis captando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere captando |
| Vos | estuvieres captando |
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 captás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos captaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos captabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos captarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos captarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos captes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos captaras / Vos captase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos captá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no captes |