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Escalar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to climb, ascend, rise”.
Below are all of the conjugations for escalar 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 climb, ascend, rise |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | escalar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está escalando) and past continuous (estaba escalando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. climbing).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he escalado and hubiera escalado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have climbed).
| Gerundio / Gerund | escalando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | escalado |
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 climb” or “they climb”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | escalo |
| Tú | escalas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | escala |
| Nosotros / as | escalamos |
| Vosotros / as | escaláis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | escalan |
| Vos | escalás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I climbed” or “she climbed” 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 | escalé | I climbed |
| Tú | escalaste | You climbed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | escaló | He / she / you climbed |
| Nosotros / as | escalamos | We climbed |
| Vosotros / as | escalasteis | You climbed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | escalaron | They / you climbed |
| Vos | escalaste | You climbed |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was climbing” or “she was climbing” 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 | escalaba | I was climbing |
| Tú | escalabas | You were climbing |
| Él / Ella / Usted | escalaba | He was / she was / you were climbing |
| Nosotros / as | escalábamos | We were climbing |
| Vosotros / as | escalabais | You were climbing |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | escalaban | They / you were climbing |
| Vos | escalabas | You were climbing |
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 climbed” and “she has climbed”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he escalado | I have climbed |
| Tú | has escalado | You have climbed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha escalado | He has / she has / you have climbed |
| Nosotros / as | hemos escalado | We have climbed |
| Vosotros / as | habéis escalado | You have climbed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han escalado | They / you have climbed |
| Vos | has escalado | You have climbed |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would climb” or “she would climb”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | escalaría | I would climb |
| Tú | escalarías | You would climb |
| Él / Ella / Usted | escalaría | He / she / you would climb |
| Nosotros / as | escalaríamos | We would climb |
| Vosotros / as | escalaríais | You would climb |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | escalarían | They / you would climb |
| Vos | escalarías | You would climb |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will climb” or “they will climb”.
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 escalar” means “They are going to climb”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | escalaré | I will climb |
| Tú | escalarás | You will climb |
| Él / Ella / Usted | escalará | He / she / you will climb |
| Nosotros / as | escalaremos | We will climb |
| Vosotros / as | escalaréis | You will climb |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | escalarán | They / you will climb |
| Vos | escalarás | You will climb |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | escale |
| Tú | escales |
| Él / Ella / Usted | escale |
| Nosotros / as | escalemos |
| Vosotros / as | escaléis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | escalen |
| Vos | escales |
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 | escalara | escalase |
| Tú | escalaras | escalase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | escalara | escalase |
| Nosotros / as | escaláramos | escalásemos |
| Vosotros / as | escalarais | escalaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | escalaran | escalasen |
| Vos | escalaras | escalase |
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 | escalare |
| Tú | escalares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | escalare |
| Nosotros / as | escaláremos |
| Vosotros / as | escalareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | escalaren |
| Vos | escalares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “climb!” and “don’t climb!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | escala | no escales |
| Él / Ella / Usted | escale | no escale |
| Nosotros / as | escalemos | no escalemos |
| Vosotros / as | escalad | no escaléis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | escalen | no escalen |
| Vos | escalá | no escales |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya escalado |
| Tú | hayas escalado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya escalado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos escalado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis escalado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan escalado |
| Vos | hayas escalado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera escalado / hubiese escalado |
| Tú | hubieras escalado / hubieses escalado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera escalado / hubiese escalado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos escalado / hubiésemos escalado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais escalado / hubieseis escalado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran escalado / hubiesen escalado |
| Vos | hubieras escalado / hubieses escalado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere escalado |
| Tú | hubieres escalado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere escalado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos escalado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis escalado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren escalado |
| Vos | hubieres escalado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté escalando |
| Tú | estés escalando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté escalando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos escalando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis escalando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén escalando |
| Vos | estés escalando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera escalando / estuviese escalando |
| Tú | estuvieras escalando / estuvieses escalando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera escalando / estuviese escalando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos escalando / estuviésamos escalando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais escalando / estuvieseis escalando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera escalando / estuviese escalando |
| Vos | estuvieras escalando / estuvieses escalando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere escalando |
| Tú | estuvieres escalando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere escalando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos escalando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis escalando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere escalando |
| Vos | estuvieres escalando |
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 escalás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos escalaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos escalabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos escalarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos escalarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos escales |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos escalaras / Vos escalase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos escalá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no escales |