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Encoger is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to shrink, shrivel, shrug”.
Below are all of the conjugations for encoger 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 shrink, shrivel, shrug |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | encoger |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está encogiendo) and past continuous (estaba encogiendo). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. shrinking).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he encogido and hubiera encogido. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have shrunk).
| Gerundio / Gerund | encogiendo |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | encogido |
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 shrink” or “they shrink”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | encojo |
| Tú | encoges |
| Él / Ella / Usted | encoge |
| Nosotros / as | encogemos |
| Vosotros / as | encogéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | encogen |
| Vos | encogés |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I shrank” or “she shrank” 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 | encogí | I shrank |
| Tú | encogiste | You shrank |
| Él / Ella / Usted | encogió | He / she / you shrank |
| Nosotros / as | encogimos | We shrank |
| Vosotros / as | encogisteis | You shrank |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | encogieron | They / you shrank |
| Vos | encogiste | You shrank |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was shrinking” or “she was shrinking” 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 | encogía | I was shrinking |
| Tú | encogías | You were shrinking |
| Él / Ella / Usted | encogía | He was / she was / you were shrinking |
| Nosotros / as | encogíamos | We were shrinking |
| Vosotros / as | encogíais | You were shrinking |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | encogían | They / you were shrinking |
| Vos | encogías | You were shrinking |
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 shrunk” and “she has shrunk”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he encogido | I have shrunk |
| Tú | has encogido | You have shrunk |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha encogido | He has / she has / you have shrunk |
| Nosotros / as | hemos encogido | We have shrunk |
| Vosotros / as | habéis encogido | You have shrunk |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han encogido | They / you have shrunk |
| Vos | has encogido | You have shrunk |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would shrink” or “she would shrink”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | encogería | I would shrink |
| Tú | encogerías | You would shrink |
| Él / Ella / Usted | encogería | He / she / you would shrink |
| Nosotros / as | encogeríamos | We would shrink |
| Vosotros / as | encogeríais | You would shrink |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | encogerían | They / you would shrink |
| Vos | encogerías | You would shrink |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will shrink” or “they will shrink”.
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 encoger” means “They are going to shrink”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | encogeré | I will shrink |
| Tú | encogerás | You will shrink |
| Él / Ella / Usted | encogerá | He / she / you will shrink |
| Nosotros / as | encogeremos | We will shrink |
| Vosotros / as | encogeréis | You will shrink |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | encogerán | They / you will shrink |
| Vos | encogerás | You will shrink |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | encoja |
| Tú | encojas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | encoja |
| Nosotros / as | encojamos |
| Vosotros / as | encojáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | encojan |
| Vos | encojas |
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 | encogiera | encogiese |
| Tú | encogieras | encogiese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | encogiera | encogiese |
| Nosotros / as | encogiéramos | encogiésemos |
| Vosotros / as | encogierais | encogieseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | encogieran | encogiesen |
| Vos | encogieras | encogiese |
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 | encogiere |
| Tú | encogieres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | encogiere |
| Nosotros / as | encogiéremos |
| Vosotros / as | encogiereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | encogieren |
| Vos | encogieres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “shrink!” and “don’t shrink!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | encoge | no encojas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | encoja | no encoja |
| Nosotros / as | encojamos | no encojamos |
| Vosotros / as | encoged | no encojáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | encojan | no encojan |
| Vos | encogé | no encojas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya encogido |
| Tú | hayas encogido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya encogido |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos encogido |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis encogido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan encogido |
| Vos | hayas encogido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera encogido / hubiese encogido |
| Tú | hubieras encogido / hubieses encogido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera encogido / hubiese encogido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos encogido / hubiésemos encogido |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais encogido / hubieseis encogido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran encogido / hubiesen encogido |
| Vos | hubieras encogido / hubieses encogido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere encogido |
| Tú | hubieres encogido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere encogido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos encogido |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis encogido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren encogido |
| Vos | hubieres encogido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté encogiendo |
| Tú | estés encogiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté encogiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estemos encogiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estéis encogiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén encogiendo |
| Vos | estés encogiendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera encogiendo / estuviese encogiendo |
| Tú | estuvieras encogiendo / estuvieses encogiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera encogiendo / estuviese encogiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos encogiendo / estuviésamos encogiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais encogiendo / estuvieseis encogiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera encogiendo / estuviese encogiendo |
| Vos | estuvieras encogiendo / estuvieses encogiendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere encogiendo |
| Tú | estuvieres encogiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere encogiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos encogiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis encogiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere encogiendo |
| Vos | estuvieres encogiendo |
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 encogés |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos encogiste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos encogías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos encogerías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos encogerás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos encojas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos encogieras / Vos encogiese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos encogé |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no encojas |