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Escabullirse is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to slip away”.
It’s a reflexive verb, which means the subject performs the action upon themselves – e.g. “I wake myself”.
Reflexive verbs always carry a reflexive pronoun – me, te, se, nos or os – which is often placed before the conjugated verb (e.g. me escabullo) or after the infinitive (e.g. Él tiene que escabullirse).
Below are all of the conjugations for escabullirse 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 slip away |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | escabullirse |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está escabulliéndose) and past continuous (estaba escabulliéndose). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. slipping away).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he escabullido and hubiera escabullido. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have slipped away).
| Gerundio / Gerund | escabulliéndose |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | escabullido |
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 slip away” or “they slip away”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me escabullo |
| Tú | te escabulles |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se escabulle |
| Nosotros / as | nos escabullimos |
| Vosotros / as | os escabullís |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se escabullen |
| Vos | te escabullís |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I slipped away” or “she slipped away” 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 | me escabullí | I slipped away |
| Tú | te escabulliste | You slipped away |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se escabullió | He / she / you slipped away |
| Nosotros / as | nos escabullimos | We slipped away |
| Vosotros / as | os escabullisteis | You slipped away |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se escabullieron | They / you slipped away |
| Vos | te escabulliste | You slipped away |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was slipping away” or “she was slipping away” 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 | me escabullía | I was slipping away |
| Tú | te escabullías | You were slipping away |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se escabullía | He was / she was / you were slipping away |
| Nosotros / as | nos escabullíamos | We were slipping away |
| Vosotros / as | os escabullíais | You were slipping away |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se escabullían | They / you were slipping away |
| Vos | te escabullías | You were slipping away |
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 slipped away” and “she has slipped away”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me he escabullido | I have slipped away |
| Tú | te has escabullido | You have slipped away |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se ha escabullido | He has / she has / you have slipped away |
| Nosotros / as | nos hemos escabullido | We have slipped away |
| Vosotros / as | os habéis escabullido | You have slipped away |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se han escabullido | They / you have slipped away |
| Vos | te has escabullido | You have slipped away |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would slip away” or “she would slip away”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me escabulliría | I would slip away |
| Tú | te escabullirías | You would slip away |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se escabulliría | He / she / you would slip away |
| Nosotros / as | nos escabulliríamos | We would slip away |
| Vosotros / as | os escabulliríais | You would slip away |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se escabullirían | They / you would slip away |
| Vos | te escabullirías | You would slip away |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will slip away” or “they will slip away”.
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 escabullirse” means “They are going to slip away”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me escabulliré | I will slip away |
| Tú | te escabullirás | You will slip away |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se escabullirá | He / she / you will slip away |
| Nosotros / as | nos escabulliremos | We will slip away |
| Vosotros / as | os escabulliréis | You will slip away |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se escabullirán | They / you will slip away |
| Vos | te escabullirás | You will slip away |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me escabulla |
| Tú | te escabullas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se escabulla |
| Nosotros / as | nos escabullamos |
| Vosotros / as | os escabulláis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se escabullan |
| Vos | te escabullas |
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 | me escabulliera | me escabulliese |
| Tú | te escabullieras | me escabulliese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se escabulliera | se escabulliese |
| Nosotros / as | nos escabulliéramos | nos escabulliésemos |
| Vosotros / as | os escabullierais | os escabullieseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se escabullieran | se escabulliesen |
| Vos | te escabullieras | me escabulliese |
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 | me escabulliere |
| Tú | te escabullieres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se escabulliera |
| Nosotros / as | nos escabulliéremos |
| Vosotros / as | os escabulliereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se escabullieren |
| Vos | te escabullieres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “slip away!” and “don’t slip away!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | escabúllete | no te escabullas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | escabúllase | no se escabulla |
| Nosotros / as | escabullámonos | no nos escabullamos |
| Vosotros / as | escabullíos | no os escabulláis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | escabúllanse | no se escabullan |
| Vos | escabullite | no te escabullas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya escabullido |
| Tú | hayas escabullido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya escabullido |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos escabullido |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis escabullido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan escabullido |
| Vos | hayas escabullido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera escabullido / hubiese escabullido |
| Tú | hubieras escabullido / hubieses escabullido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera escabullido / hubiese escabullido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos escabullido / hubiésemos escabullido |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais escabullido / hubieseis escabullido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran escabullido / hubiesen escabullido |
| Vos | hubieras escabullido / hubieses escabullido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere escabullido |
| Tú | hubieres escabullido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere escabullido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos escabullido |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis escabullido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren escabullido |
| Vos | hubieres escabullido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté escabulliéndose |
| Tú | estés escabulliéndose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté escabulliéndose |
| Nosotros / as | estemos escabulliéndose |
| Vosotros / as | estéis escabulliéndose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén escabulliéndose |
| Vos | estés escabulliéndose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera escabulliéndose / estuviese escabulliéndose |
| Tú | estuvieras escabulliéndose / estuvieses escabulliéndose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera escabulliéndose / estuviese escabulliéndose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos escabulliéndose / estuviésamos escabulliéndose |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais escabulliéndose / estuvieseis escabulliéndose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera escabulliéndose / estuviese escabulliéndose |
| Vos | estuvieras escabulliéndose / estuvieses escabulliéndose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere escabulliéndose |
| Tú | estuvieres escabulliéndose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere escabulliéndose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos escabulliéndose |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis escabulliéndose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere escabulliéndose |
| Vos | estuvieres escabulliéndose |
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 te escabullís |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos te escabulliste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos te escabullías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos te escabullirías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos te escabullirás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos te escabullas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos te escabullieras / Vos me escabulliese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos escabullite |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no te escabullas |