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Castigar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to punish, chastise”.
Below are all of the conjugations for castigar 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 punish, chastise |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | castigar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está castigando) and past continuous (estaba castigando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. punishing).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he castigado and hubiera castigado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have punished).
| Gerundio / Gerund | castigando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | castigado |
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 punish” or “they punish”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | castigo |
| Tú | castigas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | castiga |
| Nosotros / as | castigamos |
| Vosotros / as | castigáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | castigan |
| Vos | castigás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I punished” or “she punished” 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 | castigué | I punished |
| Tú | castigaste | You punished |
| Él / Ella / Usted | castigó | He / she / you punished |
| Nosotros / as | castigamos | We punished |
| Vosotros / as | castigasteis | You punished |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | castigaron | They / you punished |
| Vos | castigaste | You punished |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was punishing” or “she was punishing” 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 | castigaba | I was punishing |
| Tú | castigabas | You were punishing |
| Él / Ella / Usted | castigaba | He was / she was / you were punishing |
| Nosotros / as | castigábamos | We were punishing |
| Vosotros / as | castigabais | You were punishing |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | castigaban | They / you were punishing |
| Vos | castigabas | You were punishing |
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 punished” and “she has punished”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he castigado | I have punished |
| Tú | has castigado | You have punished |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha castigado | He has / she has / you have punished |
| Nosotros / as | hemos castigado | We have punished |
| Vosotros / as | habéis castigado | You have punished |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han castigado | They / you have punished |
| Vos | has castigado | You have punished |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would punish” or “she would punish”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | castigaría | I would punish |
| Tú | castigarías | You would punish |
| Él / Ella / Usted | castigaría | He / she / you would punish |
| Nosotros / as | castigaríamos | We would punish |
| Vosotros / as | castigaríais | You would punish |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | castigarían | They / you would punish |
| Vos | castigarías | You would punish |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will punish” or “they will punish”.
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 castigar” means “They are going to punish”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | castigaré | I will punish |
| Tú | castigarás | You will punish |
| Él / Ella / Usted | castigará | He / she / you will punish |
| Nosotros / as | castigaremos | We will punish |
| Vosotros / as | castigaréis | You will punish |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | castigarán | They / you will punish |
| Vos | castigarás | You will punish |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | castigue |
| Tú | castigues |
| Él / Ella / Usted | castigue |
| Nosotros / as | castiguemos |
| Vosotros / as | castiguéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | castiguen |
| Vos | castigues |
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 | castigara | castigase |
| Tú | castigaras | castigase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | castigara | castigase |
| Nosotros / as | castigáramos | castigásemos |
| Vosotros / as | castigarais | castigaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | castigaran | castigasen |
| Vos | castigaras | castigase |
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 | castigare |
| Tú | castigares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | castigare |
| Nosotros / as | castigáremos |
| Vosotros / as | castigareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | castigaren |
| Vos | castigares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “punish!” and “don’t punish!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | castiga | no castigues |
| Él / Ella / Usted | castigue | no castigue |
| Nosotros / as | castiguemos | no castiguemos |
| Vosotros / as | castigad | no castiguéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | castiguen | no castiguen |
| Vos | castigá | no castigues |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya castigado |
| Tú | hayas castigado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya castigado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos castigado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis castigado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan castigado |
| Vos | hayas castigado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera castigado / hubiese castigado |
| Tú | hubieras castigado / hubieses castigado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera castigado / hubiese castigado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos castigado / hubiésemos castigado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais castigado / hubieseis castigado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran castigado / hubiesen castigado |
| Vos | hubieras castigado / hubieses castigado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere castigado |
| Tú | hubieres castigado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere castigado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos castigado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis castigado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren castigado |
| Vos | hubieres castigado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté castigando |
| Tú | estés castigando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté castigando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos castigando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis castigando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén castigando |
| Vos | estés castigando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera castigando / estuviese castigando |
| Tú | estuvieras castigando / estuvieses castigando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera castigando / estuviese castigando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos castigando / estuviésamos castigando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais castigando / estuvieseis castigando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera castigando / estuviese castigando |
| Vos | estuvieras castigando / estuvieses castigando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere castigando |
| Tú | estuvieres castigando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere castigando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos castigando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis castigando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere castigando |
| Vos | estuvieres castigando |
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 castigás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos castigaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos castigabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos castigarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos castigarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos castigues |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos castigaras / Vos castigase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos castigá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no castigues |