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Encaminar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to direct, guide”.
Below are all of the conjugations for encaminar 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 direct, guide |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | encaminar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está encaminando) and past continuous (estaba encaminando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. directing).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he encaminado and hubiera encaminado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have directed).
| Gerundio / Gerund | encaminando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | encaminado |
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 direct” or “they direct”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | encamino |
| Tú | encaminas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | encamina |
| Nosotros / as | encaminamos |
| Vosotros / as | encamináis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | encaminan |
| Vos | encaminás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I directed” or “she directed” 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 | encaminé | I directed |
| Tú | encaminaste | You directed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | encaminó | He / she / you directed |
| Nosotros / as | encaminamos | We directed |
| Vosotros / as | encaminasteis | You directed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | encaminaron | They / you directed |
| Vos | encaminaste | You directed |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was directing” or “she was directing” 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 | encaminaba | I was directing |
| Tú | encaminabas | You were directing |
| Él / Ella / Usted | encaminaba | He was / she was / you were directing |
| Nosotros / as | encaminábamos | We were directing |
| Vosotros / as | encaminabais | You were directing |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | encaminaban | They / you were directing |
| Vos | encaminabas | You were directing |
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 directed” and “she has directed”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he encaminado | I have directed |
| Tú | has encaminado | You have directed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha encaminado | He has / she has / you have directed |
| Nosotros / as | hemos encaminado | We have directed |
| Vosotros / as | habéis encaminado | You have directed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han encaminado | They / you have directed |
| Vos | has encaminado | You have directed |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would direct” or “she would direct”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | encaminaría | I would direct |
| Tú | encaminarías | You would direct |
| Él / Ella / Usted | encaminaría | He / she / you would direct |
| Nosotros / as | encaminaríamos | We would direct |
| Vosotros / as | encaminaríais | You would direct |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | encaminarían | They / you would direct |
| Vos | encaminarías | You would direct |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will direct” or “they will direct”.
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 encaminar” means “They are going to direct”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | encaminaré | I will direct |
| Tú | encaminarás | You will direct |
| Él / Ella / Usted | encaminará | He / she / you will direct |
| Nosotros / as | encaminaremos | We will direct |
| Vosotros / as | encaminaréis | You will direct |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | encaminarán | They / you will direct |
| Vos | encaminarás | You will direct |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | encamine |
| Tú | encamines |
| Él / Ella / Usted | encamine |
| Nosotros / as | encaminemos |
| Vosotros / as | encaminéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | encaminen |
| Vos | encamines |
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 | encaminara | encaminase |
| Tú | encaminaras | encaminase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | encaminara | encaminase |
| Nosotros / as | encamináramos | encaminásemos |
| Vosotros / as | encaminarais | encaminaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | encaminaran | encaminasen |
| Vos | encaminaras | encaminase |
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 | encaminare |
| Tú | encaminares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | encaminare |
| Nosotros / as | encamináremos |
| Vosotros / as | encaminareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | encaminaren |
| Vos | encaminares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “direct!” and “don’t direct!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | encamina | no encamines |
| Él / Ella / Usted | encamine | no encamine |
| Nosotros / as | encaminemos | no encaminemos |
| Vosotros / as | encaminad | no encaminéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | encaminen | no encaminen |
| Vos | encaminá | no encamines |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya encaminado |
| Tú | hayas encaminado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya encaminado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos encaminado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis encaminado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan encaminado |
| Vos | hayas encaminado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera encaminado / hubiese encaminado |
| Tú | hubieras encaminado / hubieses encaminado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera encaminado / hubiese encaminado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos encaminado / hubiésemos encaminado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais encaminado / hubieseis encaminado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran encaminado / hubiesen encaminado |
| Vos | hubieras encaminado / hubieses encaminado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere encaminado |
| Tú | hubieres encaminado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere encaminado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos encaminado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis encaminado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren encaminado |
| Vos | hubieres encaminado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté encaminando |
| Tú | estés encaminando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté encaminando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos encaminando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis encaminando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén encaminando |
| Vos | estés encaminando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera encaminando / estuviese encaminando |
| Tú | estuvieras encaminando / estuvieses encaminando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera encaminando / estuviese encaminando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos encaminando / estuviésamos encaminando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais encaminando / estuvieseis encaminando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera encaminando / estuviese encaminando |
| Vos | estuvieras encaminando / estuvieses encaminando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere encaminando |
| Tú | estuvieres encaminando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere encaminando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos encaminando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis encaminando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere encaminando |
| Vos | estuvieres encaminando |
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 encaminás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos encaminaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos encaminabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos encaminarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos encaminarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos encamines |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos encaminaras / Vos encaminase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos encaminá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no encamines |