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Cobijar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to cover, shelter”.
Below are all of the conjugations for cobijar 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 cover, shelter |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | cobijar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está cobijando) and past continuous (estaba cobijando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. covering).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he cobijado and hubiera cobijado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have covered).
| Gerundio / Gerund | cobijando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | cobijado |
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 cover” or “they cover”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | cobijo |
| Tú | cobijas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cobija |
| Nosotros / as | cobijamos |
| Vosotros / as | cobijáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cobijan |
| Vos | cobijás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I covered” or “she covered” 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 | cobijé | I covered |
| Tú | cobijaste | You covered |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cobijó | He / she / you covered |
| Nosotros / as | cobijamos | We covered |
| Vosotros / as | cobijasteis | You covered |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cobijaron | They / you covered |
| Vos | cobijaste | You covered |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was covering” or “she was covering” 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 | cobijaba | I was covering |
| Tú | cobijabas | You were covering |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cobijaba | He was / she was / you were covering |
| Nosotros / as | cobijábamos | We were covering |
| Vosotros / as | cobijabais | You were covering |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cobijaban | They / you were covering |
| Vos | cobijabas | You were covering |
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 covered” and “she has covered”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he cobijado | I have covered |
| Tú | has cobijado | You have covered |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha cobijado | He has / she has / you have covered |
| Nosotros / as | hemos cobijado | We have covered |
| Vosotros / as | habéis cobijado | You have covered |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han cobijado | They / you have covered |
| Vos | has cobijado | You have covered |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would cover” or “she would cover”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | cobijaría | I would cover |
| Tú | cobijarías | You would cover |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cobijaría | He / she / you would cover |
| Nosotros / as | cobijaríamos | We would cover |
| Vosotros / as | cobijaríais | You would cover |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cobijarían | They / you would cover |
| Vos | cobijarías | You would cover |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will cover” or “they will cover”.
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 cobijar” means “They are going to cover”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | cobijaré | I will cover |
| Tú | cobijarás | You will cover |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cobijará | He / she / you will cover |
| Nosotros / as | cobijaremos | We will cover |
| Vosotros / as | cobijaréis | You will cover |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cobijarán | They / you will cover |
| Vos | cobijarás | You will cover |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | cobije |
| Tú | cobijes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cobije |
| Nosotros / as | cobijemos |
| Vosotros / as | cobijéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cobijen |
| Vos | cobijes |
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 | cobijara | cobijase |
| Tú | cobijaras | cobijase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cobijara | cobijase |
| Nosotros / as | cobijáramos | cobijásemos |
| Vosotros / as | cobijarais | cobijaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cobijaran | cobijasen |
| Vos | cobijaras | cobijase |
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 | cobijare |
| Tú | cobijares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cobijare |
| Nosotros / as | cobijáremos |
| Vosotros / as | cobijareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cobijaren |
| Vos | cobijares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “cover!” and “don’t cover!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | cobija | no cobijes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cobije | no cobije |
| Nosotros / as | cobijemos | no cobijemos |
| Vosotros / as | cobijad | no cobijéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cobijen | no cobijen |
| Vos | cobijá | no cobijes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya cobijado |
| Tú | hayas cobijado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya cobijado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos cobijado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis cobijado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan cobijado |
| Vos | hayas cobijado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera cobijado / hubiese cobijado |
| Tú | hubieras cobijado / hubieses cobijado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera cobijado / hubiese cobijado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos cobijado / hubiésemos cobijado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais cobijado / hubieseis cobijado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran cobijado / hubiesen cobijado |
| Vos | hubieras cobijado / hubieses cobijado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere cobijado |
| Tú | hubieres cobijado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere cobijado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos cobijado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis cobijado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren cobijado |
| Vos | hubieres cobijado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté cobijando |
| Tú | estés cobijando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté cobijando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos cobijando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis cobijando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén cobijando |
| Vos | estés cobijando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera cobijando / estuviese cobijando |
| Tú | estuvieras cobijando / estuvieses cobijando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera cobijando / estuviese cobijando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos cobijando / estuviésamos cobijando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais cobijando / estuvieseis cobijando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera cobijando / estuviese cobijando |
| Vos | estuvieras cobijando / estuvieses cobijando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere cobijando |
| Tú | estuvieres cobijando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere cobijando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos cobijando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis cobijando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere cobijando |
| Vos | estuvieres cobijando |
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 cobijás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos cobijaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos cobijabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos cobijarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos cobijarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos cobijes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos cobijaras / Vos cobijase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos cobijá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no cobijes |