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Encadenar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to chain, put in chains, link”.
Below are all of the conjugations for encadenar 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 chain, put in chains, link |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | encadenar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está encadenando) and past continuous (estaba encadenando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. chaining).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he encadenado and hubiera encadenado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have chained).
| Gerundio / Gerund | encadenando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | encadenado |
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 chain” or “they chain”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | encadeno |
| Tú | encadenas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | encadena |
| Nosotros / as | encadenamos |
| Vosotros / as | encadenáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | encadenan |
| Vos | encadenás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I chained” or “she chained” 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 | encadené | I chained |
| Tú | encadenaste | You chained |
| Él / Ella / Usted | encadenó | He / she / you chained |
| Nosotros / as | encadenamos | We chained |
| Vosotros / as | encadenasteis | You chained |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | encadenaron | They / you chained |
| Vos | encadenaste | You chained |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was chaining” or “she was chaining” 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 | encadenaba | I was chaining |
| Tú | encadenabas | You were chaining |
| Él / Ella / Usted | encadenaba | He was / she was / you were chaining |
| Nosotros / as | encadenábamos | We were chaining |
| Vosotros / as | encadenabais | You were chaining |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | encadenaban | They / you were chaining |
| Vos | encadenabas | You were chaining |
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 chained” and “she has chained”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he encadenado | I have chained |
| Tú | has encadenado | You have chained |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha encadenado | He has / she has / you have chained |
| Nosotros / as | hemos encadenado | We have chained |
| Vosotros / as | habéis encadenado | You have chained |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han encadenado | They / you have chained |
| Vos | has encadenado | You have chained |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would chain” or “she would chain”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | encadenaría | I would chain |
| Tú | encadenarías | You would chain |
| Él / Ella / Usted | encadenaría | He / she / you would chain |
| Nosotros / as | encadenaríamos | We would chain |
| Vosotros / as | encadenaríais | You would chain |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | encadenarían | They / you would chain |
| Vos | encadenarías | You would chain |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will chain” or “they will chain”.
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 encadenar” means “They are going to chain”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | encadenaré | I will chain |
| Tú | encadenarás | You will chain |
| Él / Ella / Usted | encadenará | He / she / you will chain |
| Nosotros / as | encadenaremos | We will chain |
| Vosotros / as | encadenaréis | You will chain |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | encadenarán | They / you will chain |
| Vos | encadenarás | You will chain |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | encadene |
| Tú | encadenes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | encadene |
| Nosotros / as | encadenemos |
| Vosotros / as | encadenéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | encadenen |
| Vos | encadenes |
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 | encadenara | encadenase |
| Tú | encadenaras | encadenase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | encadenara | encadenase |
| Nosotros / as | encadenáramos | encadenásemos |
| Vosotros / as | encadenarais | encadenaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | encadenaran | encadenasen |
| Vos | encadenaras | encadenase |
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 | encadenare |
| Tú | encadenares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | encadenare |
| Nosotros / as | encadenáremos |
| Vosotros / as | encadenareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | encadenaren |
| Vos | encadenares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “chain!” and “don’t chain!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | encadena | no encadenes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | encadene | no encadene |
| Nosotros / as | encadenemos | no encadenemos |
| Vosotros / as | encadenad | no encadenéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | encadenen | no encadenen |
| Vos | encadená | no encadenes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya encadenado |
| Tú | hayas encadenado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya encadenado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos encadenado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis encadenado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan encadenado |
| Vos | hayas encadenado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera encadenado / hubiese encadenado |
| Tú | hubieras encadenado / hubieses encadenado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera encadenado / hubiese encadenado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos encadenado / hubiésemos encadenado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais encadenado / hubieseis encadenado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran encadenado / hubiesen encadenado |
| Vos | hubieras encadenado / hubieses encadenado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere encadenado |
| Tú | hubieres encadenado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere encadenado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos encadenado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis encadenado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren encadenado |
| Vos | hubieres encadenado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté encadenando |
| Tú | estés encadenando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté encadenando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos encadenando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis encadenando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén encadenando |
| Vos | estés encadenando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera encadenando / estuviese encadenando |
| Tú | estuvieras encadenando / estuvieses encadenando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera encadenando / estuviese encadenando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos encadenando / estuviésamos encadenando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais encadenando / estuvieseis encadenando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera encadenando / estuviese encadenando |
| Vos | estuvieras encadenando / estuvieses encadenando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere encadenando |
| Tú | estuvieres encadenando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere encadenando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos encadenando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis encadenando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere encadenando |
| Vos | estuvieres encadenando |
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 encadenás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos encadenaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos encadenabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos encadenarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos encadenarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos encadenes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos encadenaras / Vos encadenase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos encadená |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no encadenes |