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Custodiar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to guard, take care of”.
Below are all of the conjugations for custodiar 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 guard, take care of |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | custodiar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está custodiando) and past continuous (estaba custodiando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. guarding).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he custodiado and hubiera custodiado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have guarded).
| Gerundio / Gerund | custodiando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | custodiado |
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 guard” or “they guard”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | custodio |
| Tú | custodias |
| Él / Ella / Usted | custodia |
| Nosotros / as | custodiamos |
| Vosotros / as | custodiáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | custodian |
| Vos | custodiás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I guarded” or “she guarded” 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 | custodié | I guarded |
| Tú | custodiaste | You guarded |
| Él / Ella / Usted | custodió | He / she / you guarded |
| Nosotros / as | custodiamos | We guarded |
| Vosotros / as | custodiasteis | You guarded |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | custodiaron | They / you guarded |
| Vos | custodiaste | You guarded |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was guarding” or “she was guarding” 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 | custodiaba | I was guarding |
| Tú | custodiabas | You were guarding |
| Él / Ella / Usted | custodiaba | He was / she was / you were guarding |
| Nosotros / as | custodiábamos | We were guarding |
| Vosotros / as | custodiabais | You were guarding |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | custodiaban | They / you were guarding |
| Vos | custodiabas | You were guarding |
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 guarded” and “she has guarded”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he custodiado | I have guarded |
| Tú | has custodiado | You have guarded |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha custodiado | He has / she has / you have guarded |
| Nosotros / as | hemos custodiado | We have guarded |
| Vosotros / as | habéis custodiado | You have guarded |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han custodiado | They / you have guarded |
| Vos | has custodiado | You have guarded |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would guard” or “she would guard”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | custodiaría | I would guard |
| Tú | custodiarías | You would guard |
| Él / Ella / Usted | custodiaría | He / she / you would guard |
| Nosotros / as | custodiaríamos | We would guard |
| Vosotros / as | custodiaríais | You would guard |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | custodiarían | They / you would guard |
| Vos | custodiarías | You would guard |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will guard” or “they will guard”.
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 custodiar” means “They are going to guard”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | custodiaré | I will guard |
| Tú | custodiarás | You will guard |
| Él / Ella / Usted | custodiará | He / she / you will guard |
| Nosotros / as | custodiaremos | We will guard |
| Vosotros / as | custodiaréis | You will guard |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | custodiarán | They / you will guard |
| Vos | custodiarás | You will guard |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | custodie |
| Tú | custodies |
| Él / Ella / Usted | custodie |
| Nosotros / as | custodiemos |
| Vosotros / as | custodiéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | custodien |
| Vos | custodies |
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 | custodiara | custodiase |
| Tú | custodiaras | custodiase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | custodiara | custodiase |
| Nosotros / as | custodiáramos | custodiásemos |
| Vosotros / as | custodiarais | custodiaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | custodiaran | custodiasen |
| Vos | custodiaras | custodiase |
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 | custodiare |
| Tú | custodiares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | custodiare |
| Nosotros / as | custodiáremos |
| Vosotros / as | custodiareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | custodiaren |
| Vos | custodiares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “guard!” and “don’t guard!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | custodia | no custodies |
| Él / Ella / Usted | custodie | no custodie |
| Nosotros / as | custodiemos | no custodiemos |
| Vosotros / as | custodiad | no custodiéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | custodien | no custodien |
| Vos | custodiá | no custodies |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya custodiado |
| Tú | hayas custodiado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya custodiado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos custodiado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis custodiado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan custodiado |
| Vos | hayas custodiado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera custodiado / hubiese custodiado |
| Tú | hubieras custodiado / hubieses custodiado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera custodiado / hubiese custodiado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos custodiado / hubiésemos custodiado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais custodiado / hubieseis custodiado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran custodiado / hubiesen custodiado |
| Vos | hubieras custodiado / hubieses custodiado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere custodiado |
| Tú | hubieres custodiado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere custodiado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos custodiado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis custodiado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren custodiado |
| Vos | hubieres custodiado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté custodiando |
| Tú | estés custodiando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté custodiando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos custodiando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis custodiando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén custodiando |
| Vos | estés custodiando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera custodiando / estuviese custodiando |
| Tú | estuvieras custodiando / estuvieses custodiando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera custodiando / estuviese custodiando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos custodiando / estuviésamos custodiando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais custodiando / estuvieseis custodiando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera custodiando / estuviese custodiando |
| Vos | estuvieras custodiando / estuvieses custodiando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere custodiando |
| Tú | estuvieres custodiando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere custodiando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos custodiando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis custodiando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere custodiando |
| Vos | estuvieres custodiando |
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 custodiás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos custodiaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos custodiabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos custodiarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos custodiarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos custodies |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos custodiaras / Vos custodiase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos custodiá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no custodies |