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Cargar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to load, burden, carry, charge”.
Below are all of the conjugations for cargar 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 load, burden, carry, charge |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | cargar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está cargando) and past continuous (estaba cargando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. charging).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he cargado and hubiera cargado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have charged).
| Gerundio / Gerund | cargando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | cargado |
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 charge” or “they charge”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | cargo |
| Tú | cargas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | carga |
| Nosotros / as | cargamos |
| Vosotros / as | cargáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cargan |
| Vos | cargás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I charged” or “she charged” 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 | cargué | I charged |
| Tú | cargaste | You charged |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cargó | He / she / you charged |
| Nosotros / as | cargamos | We charged |
| Vosotros / as | cargasteis | You charged |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cargaron | They / you charged |
| Vos | cargaste | You charged |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was charging” or “she was charging” 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 | cargaba | I was charging |
| Tú | cargabas | You were charging |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cargaba | He was / she was / you were charging |
| Nosotros / as | cargábamos | We were charging |
| Vosotros / as | cargabais | You were charging |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cargaban | They / you were charging |
| Vos | cargabas | You were charging |
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 charged” and “she has charged”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he cargado | I have charged |
| Tú | has cargado | You have charged |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha cargado | He has / she has / you have charged |
| Nosotros / as | hemos cargado | We have charged |
| Vosotros / as | habéis cargado | You have charged |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han cargado | They / you have charged |
| Vos | has cargado | You have charged |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would charge” or “she would charge”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | cargaría | I would charge |
| Tú | cargarías | You would charge |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cargaría | He / she / you would charge |
| Nosotros / as | cargaríamos | We would charge |
| Vosotros / as | cargaríais | You would charge |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cargarían | They / you would charge |
| Vos | cargarías | You would charge |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will charge” or “they will charge”.
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 cargar” means “They are going to charge”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | cargaré | I will charge |
| Tú | cargarás | You will charge |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cargará | He / she / you will charge |
| Nosotros / as | cargaremos | We will charge |
| Vosotros / as | cargaréis | You will charge |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cargarán | They / you will charge |
| Vos | cargarás | You will charge |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | cargue |
| Tú | cargues |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cargue |
| Nosotros / as | carguemos |
| Vosotros / as | carguéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | carguen |
| Vos | cargues |
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 | cargara | cargase |
| Tú | cargaras | cargase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cargara | cargase |
| Nosotros / as | cargáramos | cargásemos |
| Vosotros / as | cargarais | cargaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cargaran | cargasen |
| Vos | cargaras | cargase |
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 | cargare |
| Tú | cargares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cargare |
| Nosotros / as | cargáremos |
| Vosotros / as | cargareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cargaren |
| Vos | cargares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “charge!” and “don’t charge!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | carga | no cargues |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cargue | no cargue |
| Nosotros / as | carguemos | no carguemos |
| Vosotros / as | cargad | no carguéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | carguen | no carguen |
| Vos | cargá | no cargues |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya cargado |
| Tú | hayas cargado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya cargado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos cargado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis cargado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan cargado |
| Vos | hayas cargado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera cargado / hubiese cargado |
| Tú | hubieras cargado / hubieses cargado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera cargado / hubiese cargado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos cargado / hubiésemos cargado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais cargado / hubieseis cargado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran cargado / hubiesen cargado |
| Vos | hubieras cargado / hubieses cargado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere cargado |
| Tú | hubieres cargado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere cargado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos cargado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis cargado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren cargado |
| Vos | hubieres cargado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté cargando |
| Tú | estés cargando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté cargando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos cargando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis cargando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén cargando |
| Vos | estés cargando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera cargando / estuviese cargando |
| Tú | estuvieras cargando / estuvieses cargando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera cargando / estuviese cargando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos cargando / estuviésamos cargando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais cargando / estuvieseis cargando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera cargando / estuviese cargando |
| Vos | estuvieras cargando / estuvieses cargando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere cargando |
| Tú | estuvieres cargando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere cargando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos cargando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis cargando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere cargando |
| Vos | estuvieres cargando |
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 cargás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos cargaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos cargabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos cargarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos cargarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos cargues |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos cargaras / Vos cargase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos cargá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no cargues |