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Cuidar conjugation

Cuidar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to take care of, to look after”.

Spanish AR Verbs

Below are all of the conjugations for cuidar 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.

Cuidar Infinitive

English Infinitive	to take care of, to look after
Spanish Infinitive	cuidar

Cuidar Gerund and Past Participle

The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está cuidando) and past continuous (estaba cuidando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. taking care of).

The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he cuidado and hubiera cuidado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have taken care of).

Gerundio / Gerund	cuidando
Participio / Past Participle	cuidado

Cuidar Indicative Conjugations

The basic form of speech, el indicativo is used for making statements, talking about facts, events and things that are certain and objective.

Cuidar Presente / Present

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 take care of” or “they take care of”.

Pronoun	Spanish
Yo	cuido
Tú	cuidas
Él / Ella / Usted	cuida
Nosotros / as	cuidamos
Vosotros / as	cuidáis
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes	cuidan
Vos	cuidás

Cuidar Preterite / Pretérito Indefinido

Your simple past tense, e.g. “I took care of” or “she took care of” 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	cuidé	I took care of
Tú	cuidaste	You took care of
Él / Ella / Usted	cuidó	He / she / you took care of
Nosotros / as	cuidamos	We took care of
Vosotros / as	cuidasteis	You took care of
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes	cuidaron	They / you took care of
Vos	cuidaste	You took care of

Cuidar Imperfect / Pretérito Imperfecto

The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was taking care of” or “she was taking care of” 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	cuidaba	I was taking care of
Tú	cuidabas	You were taking care of
Él / Ella / Usted	cuidaba	He was / she was / you were taking care of
Nosotros / as	cuidábamos	We were taking care of
Vosotros / as	cuidabais	You were taking care of
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes	cuidaban	They / you were taking care of
Vos	cuidabas	You were taking care of

Cuidar Perfect / Perfecto

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 taken care of” and “she has taken care of”.

Pronoun	Spanish	English
Yo	he cuidado	I have taken care of
Tú	has cuidado	You have taken care of
Él / Ella / Usted	ha cuidado	He has / she has / you have taken care of
Nosotros / as	hemos cuidado	We have taken care of
Vosotros / as	habéis cuidado	You have taken care of
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes	han cuidado	They / you have taken care of
Vos	has cuidado	You have taken care of

Cuidar Conditional / Condicional

The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would take care of” or “she would take care of”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.

Pronoun	Spanish	Englush
Yo	cuidaría	I would take care of
Tú	cuidarías	You would take care of
Él / Ella / Usted	cuidaría	He / she / you would take care of
Nosotros / as	cuidaríamos	We would take care of
Vosotros / as	cuidaríais	You would take care of
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes	cuidarían	They / you would take care of
Vos	cuidarías	You would take care of

Cuidar Future / Futuro

The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will take care of” or “they will take care of”.

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 cuidar” means “They are going to take care of”.

Pronoun	Spanish	English
Yo	cuidaré	I will take care of
Tú	cuidarás	You will take care of
Él / Ella / Usted	cuidará	He / she / you will take care of
Nosotros / as	cuidaremos	We will take care of
Vosotros / as	cuidaréis	You will take care of
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes	cuidarán	They / you will take care of
Vos	cuidarás	You will take care of

Cuidar Subjunctive Conjugations

Cuidar Present Subjunctive / Presente de Subjuntivo

Pronoun	Spanish
Yo	cuide
Tú	cuides
Él / Ella / Usted	cuide
Nosotros / as	cuidemos
Vosotros / as	cuidéis
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes	cuiden
Vos	cuides

Cuidar Past Subjunctive / Imperfecto de Subjuntivo

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	cuidara	cuidase
Tú	cuidaras	cuidase
Él / Ella / Usted	cuidara	cuidase
Nosotros / as	cuidáramos	cuidásemos
Vosotros / as	cuidarais	cuidaseis
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes	cuidaran	cuidasen
Vos	cuidaras	cuidase

Cuidar Future Subjunctive / Futuro de Subjuntivo

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	cuidare
Tú	cuidares
Él / Ella / Usted	cuidare
Nosotros / as	cuidáremos
Vosotros / as	cuidareis
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes	cuidaren
Vos	cuidares

Cuidar Imperative Conjugations

Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “take care of!” and “don’t take care of!”.

Pronoun	Spanish Affirmative	Spanish Negative
Tú	cuida	no cuides
Él / Ella / Usted	cuide	no cuide
Nosotros / as	cuidemos	no cuidemos
Vosotros / as	cuidad	no cuidéis
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes	cuiden	no cuiden
Vos	cuidá	no cuides

Cuidar Compound Subjunctive Tenses

Cuidar Subjunctive Perfect

Pronoun	Spanish
Yo	haya cuidado
Tú	hayas cuidado
Él / Ella / Usted	haya cuidado
Nosotros / as	hayamos cuidado
Vosotros / as	hayáis cuidado
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes	hayan cuidado
Vos	hayas cuidado

Cuidar Subjunctive Past Perfect

Pronoun	Spanish
Yo	hubiera cuidado / hubiese cuidado
Tú	hubieras cuidado / hubieses cuidado
Él / Ella / Usted	hubiera cuidado / hubiese cuidado
Nosotros / as	hubiéramos cuidado / hubiésemos cuidado
Vosotros / as	hubierais cuidado / hubieseis cuidado
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes	hubieran cuidado / hubiesen cuidado
Vos	hubieras cuidado / hubieses cuidado

Cuidar Subjunctive Future Perfect

Pronoun	Spanish
Yo	hubiere cuidado
Tú	hubieres cuidado
Él / Ella / Usted	hubiere cuidado
Nosotros / as	hubiéremos cuidado
Vosotros / as	hubiereis cuidado
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes	hubieren cuidado
Vos	hubieres cuidado

Cuidar Subjective Progressive Perfect

Pronoun	Spanish
Yo	esté cuidando
Tú	estés cuidando
Él / Ella / Usted	esté cuidando
Nosotros / as	estemos cuidando
Vosotros / as	estéis cuidando
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes	estén cuidando
Vos	estés cuidando

Cuidar Subjunctive Past Progressive

Pronoun	Spanish
Yo	estuviera cuidando / estuviese cuidando
Tú	estuvieras cuidando / estuvieses cuidando
Él / Ella / Usted	estuviera cuidando / estuviese cuidando
Nosotros / as	estuviéramos cuidando / estuviésamos cuidando
Vosotros / as	estuvierais cuidando / estuvieseis cuidando
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes	estuviera cuidando / estuviese cuidando
Vos	estuvieras cuidando / estuvieses cuidando

Cuidar Subjunctive Future Progressive

Pronoun	Spanish
Yo	estuviere cuidando
Tú	estuvieres cuidando
Él / Ella / Usted	estuviere cuidando
Nosotros / as	estuviéremos cuidando
Vosotros / as	estuviereis cuidando
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes	estuviere cuidando
Vos	estuvieres cuidando

Cuidar Vos Conjugation

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 cuidás
Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo	Vos cuidaste
Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo	Vos cuidabas
Conditional Condicional	Vos cuidarías
Future Futuro de Indicativo	Vos cuidarás
Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo	Vos cuides
Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo	Vos cuidaras / Vos cuidase
Affirmative Imperative Imperativo	Vos cuidá
Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo	Vos no cuides