Everything you need to improve your Spanish
Menu
Everything you need to improve your Spanish
Escapar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to escape, flee”.
Below are all of the conjugations for escapar 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 escape, flee |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | escapar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está escapando) and past continuous (estaba escapando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. escaping).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he escapado and hubiera escapado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have escaped).
| Gerundio / Gerund | escapando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | escapado |
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 escape” or “they escape”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | escapo |
| Tú | escapas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | escapa |
| Nosotros / as | escapamos |
| Vosotros / as | escapáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | escapan |
| Vos | escapás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I escaped” or “she escaped” 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 | escapé | I escaped |
| Tú | escapaste | You escaped |
| Él / Ella / Usted | escapó | He / she / you escaped |
| Nosotros / as | escapamos | We escaped |
| Vosotros / as | escapasteis | You escaped |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | escaparon | They / you escaped |
| Vos | escapaste | You escaped |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was escaping” or “she was escaping” 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 | escapaba | I was escaping |
| Tú | escapabas | You were escaping |
| Él / Ella / Usted | escapaba | He was / she was / you were escaping |
| Nosotros / as | escapábamos | We were escaping |
| Vosotros / as | escapabais | You were escaping |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | escapaban | They / you were escaping |
| Vos | escapabas | You were escaping |
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 escaped” and “she has escaped”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he escapado | I have escaped |
| Tú | has escapado | You have escaped |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha escapado | He has / she has / you have escaped |
| Nosotros / as | hemos escapado | We have escaped |
| Vosotros / as | habéis escapado | You have escaped |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han escapado | They / you have escaped |
| Vos | has escapado | You have escaped |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would escape” or “she would escape”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | escaparía | I would escape |
| Tú | escaparías | You would escape |
| Él / Ella / Usted | escaparía | He / she / you would escape |
| Nosotros / as | escaparíamos | We would escape |
| Vosotros / as | escaparíais | You would escape |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | escaparían | They / you would escape |
| Vos | escaparías | You would escape |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will escape” or “they will escape”.
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 escapar” means “They are going to escape”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | escaparé | I will escape |
| Tú | escaparás | You will escape |
| Él / Ella / Usted | escapará | He / she / you will escape |
| Nosotros / as | escaparemos | We will escape |
| Vosotros / as | escaparéis | You will escape |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | escaparán | They / you will escape |
| Vos | escaparás | You will escape |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | escape |
| Tú | escapes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | escape |
| Nosotros / as | escapemos |
| Vosotros / as | escapéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | escapen |
| Vos | escapes |
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 | escapara | escapase |
| Tú | escaparas | escapase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | escapara | escapase |
| Nosotros / as | escapáramos | escapásemos |
| Vosotros / as | escaparais | escapaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | escaparan | escapasen |
| Vos | escaparas | escapase |
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 | escapare |
| Tú | escapares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | escapare |
| Nosotros / as | escapáremos |
| Vosotros / as | escapareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | escaparen |
| Vos | escapares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “escape!” and “don’t escape!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | escapa | no escapes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | escape | no escape |
| Nosotros / as | escapemos | no escapemos |
| Vosotros / as | escapad | no escapéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | escapen | no escapen |
| Vos | escapá | no escapes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya escapado |
| Tú | hayas escapado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya escapado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos escapado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis escapado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan escapado |
| Vos | hayas escapado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera escapado / hubiese escapado |
| Tú | hubieras escapado / hubieses escapado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera escapado / hubiese escapado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos escapado / hubiésemos escapado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais escapado / hubieseis escapado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran escapado / hubiesen escapado |
| Vos | hubieras escapado / hubieses escapado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere escapado |
| Tú | hubieres escapado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere escapado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos escapado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis escapado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren escapado |
| Vos | hubieres escapado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté escapando |
| Tú | estés escapando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté escapando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos escapando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis escapando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén escapando |
| Vos | estés escapando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera escapando / estuviese escapando |
| Tú | estuvieras escapando / estuvieses escapando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera escapando / estuviese escapando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos escapando / estuviésamos escapando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais escapando / estuvieseis escapando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera escapando / estuviese escapando |
| Vos | estuvieras escapando / estuvieses escapando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere escapando |
| Tú | estuvieres escapando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere escapando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos escapando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis escapando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere escapando |
| Vos | estuvieres escapando |
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 escapás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos escapaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos escapabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos escaparías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos escaparás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos escapes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos escaparas / Vos escapase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos escapá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no escapes |