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Encarcelar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to imprison, incarcerate”.
Below are all of the conjugations for encarcelar 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 imprison, incarcerate |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | encarcelar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está encarcelando) and past continuous (estaba encarcelando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. imprisoning).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he encarcelado and hubiera encarcelado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have imprisoned).
| Gerundio / Gerund | encarcelando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | encarcelado |
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 imprison” or “they imprison”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | encarcelo |
| Tú | encarcelas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | encarcela |
| Nosotros / as | encarcelamos |
| Vosotros / as | encarceláis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | encarcelan |
| Vos | encarcelás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I imprisoned” or “she imprisoned” 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 | encarcelé | I imprisoned |
| Tú | encarcelaste | You imprisoned |
| Él / Ella / Usted | encarceló | He / she / you imprisoned |
| Nosotros / as | encarcelamos | We imprisoned |
| Vosotros / as | encarcelasteis | You imprisoned |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | encarcelaron | They / you imprisoned |
| Vos | encarcelaste | You imprisoned |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was imprisoning” or “she was imprisoning” 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 | encarcelaba | I was imprisoning |
| Tú | encarcelabas | You were imprisoning |
| Él / Ella / Usted | encarcelaba | He was / she was / you were imprisoning |
| Nosotros / as | encarcelábamos | We were imprisoning |
| Vosotros / as | encarcelabais | You were imprisoning |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | encarcelaban | They / you were imprisoning |
| Vos | encarcelabas | You were imprisoning |
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 imprisoned” and “she has imprisoned”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he encarcelado | I have imprisoned |
| Tú | has encarcelado | You have imprisoned |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha encarcelado | He has / she has / you have imprisoned |
| Nosotros / as | hemos encarcelado | We have imprisoned |
| Vosotros / as | habéis encarcelado | You have imprisoned |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han encarcelado | They / you have imprisoned |
| Vos | has encarcelado | You have imprisoned |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would imprison” or “she would imprison”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | encarcelaría | I would imprison |
| Tú | encarcelarías | You would imprison |
| Él / Ella / Usted | encarcelaría | He / she / you would imprison |
| Nosotros / as | encarcelaríamos | We would imprison |
| Vosotros / as | encarcelaríais | You would imprison |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | encarcelarían | They / you would imprison |
| Vos | encarcelarías | You would imprison |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will imprison” or “they will imprison”.
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 encarcelar” means “They are going to imprison”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | encarcelaré | I will imprison |
| Tú | encarcelarás | You will imprison |
| Él / Ella / Usted | encarcelará | He / she / you will imprison |
| Nosotros / as | encarcelaremos | We will imprison |
| Vosotros / as | encarcelaréis | You will imprison |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | encarcelarán | They / you will imprison |
| Vos | encarcelarás | You will imprison |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | encarcele |
| Tú | encarceles |
| Él / Ella / Usted | encarcele |
| Nosotros / as | encarcelemos |
| Vosotros / as | encarceléis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | encarcelen |
| Vos | encarceles |
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 | encarcelara | encarcelase |
| Tú | encarcelaras | encarcelase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | encarcelara | encarcelase |
| Nosotros / as | encarceláramos | encarcelásemos |
| Vosotros / as | encarcelarais | encarcelaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | encarcelaran | encarcelasen |
| Vos | encarcelaras | encarcelase |
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 | encarcelare |
| Tú | encarcelares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | encarcelare |
| Nosotros / as | encarceláremos |
| Vosotros / as | encarcelareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | encarcelaren |
| Vos | encarcelares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “imprison!” and “don’t imprison!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | encarcela | no encarceles |
| Él / Ella / Usted | encarcele | no encarcele |
| Nosotros / as | encarcelemos | no encarcelemos |
| Vosotros / as | encarcelad | no encarceléis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | encarcelen | no encarcelen |
| Vos | encarcelá | no encarceles |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya encarcelado |
| Tú | hayas encarcelado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya encarcelado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos encarcelado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis encarcelado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan encarcelado |
| Vos | hayas encarcelado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera encarcelado / hubiese encarcelado |
| Tú | hubieras encarcelado / hubieses encarcelado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera encarcelado / hubiese encarcelado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos encarcelado / hubiésemos encarcelado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais encarcelado / hubieseis encarcelado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran encarcelado / hubiesen encarcelado |
| Vos | hubieras encarcelado / hubieses encarcelado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere encarcelado |
| Tú | hubieres encarcelado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere encarcelado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos encarcelado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis encarcelado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren encarcelado |
| Vos | hubieres encarcelado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté encarcelando |
| Tú | estés encarcelando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté encarcelando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos encarcelando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis encarcelando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén encarcelando |
| Vos | estés encarcelando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera encarcelando / estuviese encarcelando |
| Tú | estuvieras encarcelando / estuvieses encarcelando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera encarcelando / estuviese encarcelando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos encarcelando / estuviésamos encarcelando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais encarcelando / estuvieseis encarcelando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera encarcelando / estuviese encarcelando |
| Vos | estuvieras encarcelando / estuvieses encarcelando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere encarcelando |
| Tú | estuvieres encarcelando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere encarcelando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos encarcelando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis encarcelando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere encarcelando |
| Vos | estuvieres encarcelando |
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 encarcelás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos encarcelaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos encarcelabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos encarcelarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos encarcelarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos encarceles |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos encarcelaras / Vos encarcelase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos encarcelá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no encarceles |