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Escarbar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to scratch, scrape”.
Below are all of the conjugations for escarbar 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 scratch, scrape |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | escarbar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está escarbando) and past continuous (estaba escarbando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. scratching).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he escarbado and hubiera escarbado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have scratched).
| Gerundio / Gerund | escarbando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | escarbado |
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 scratch” or “they scratch”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | escarbo |
| Tú | escarbas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | escarba |
| Nosotros / as | escarbamos |
| Vosotros / as | escarbáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | escarban |
| Vos | escarbás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I scratched” or “she scratched” 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 | escarbé | I scratched |
| Tú | escarbaste | You scratched |
| Él / Ella / Usted | escarbó | He / she / you scratched |
| Nosotros / as | escarbamos | We scratched |
| Vosotros / as | escarbasteis | You scratched |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | escarbaron | They / you scratched |
| Vos | escarbaste | You scratched |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was scratching” or “she was scratching” 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 | escarbaba | I was scratching |
| Tú | escarbabas | You were scratching |
| Él / Ella / Usted | escarbaba | He was / she was / you were scratching |
| Nosotros / as | escarbábamos | We were scratching |
| Vosotros / as | escarbabais | You were scratching |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | escarbaban | They / you were scratching |
| Vos | escarbabas | You were scratching |
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 scratched” and “she has scratched”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he escarbado | I have scratched |
| Tú | has escarbado | You have scratched |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha escarbado | He has / she has / you have scratched |
| Nosotros / as | hemos escarbado | We have scratched |
| Vosotros / as | habéis escarbado | You have scratched |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han escarbado | They / you have scratched |
| Vos | has escarbado | You have scratched |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would scratch” or “she would scratch”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | escarbaría | I would scratch |
| Tú | escarbarías | You would scratch |
| Él / Ella / Usted | escarbaría | He / she / you would scratch |
| Nosotros / as | escarbaríamos | We would scratch |
| Vosotros / as | escarbaríais | You would scratch |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | escarbarían | They / you would scratch |
| Vos | escarbarías | You would scratch |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will scratch” or “they will scratch”.
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 escarbar” means “They are going to scratch”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | escarbaré | I will scratch |
| Tú | escarbarás | You will scratch |
| Él / Ella / Usted | escarbará | He / she / you will scratch |
| Nosotros / as | escarbaremos | We will scratch |
| Vosotros / as | escarbaréis | You will scratch |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | escarbarán | They / you will scratch |
| Vos | escarbarás | You will scratch |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | escarbe |
| Tú | escarbes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | escarbe |
| Nosotros / as | escarbemos |
| Vosotros / as | escarbéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | escarben |
| Vos | escarbes |
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 | escarbara | escarbase |
| Tú | escarbaras | escarbase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | escarbara | escarbase |
| Nosotros / as | escarbáramos | escarbásemos |
| Vosotros / as | escarbarais | escarbaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | escarbaran | escarbasen |
| Vos | escarbaras | escarbase |
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 | escarbare |
| Tú | escarbares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | escarbare |
| Nosotros / as | escarbáremos |
| Vosotros / as | escarbareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | escarbaren |
| Vos | escarbares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “scratch!” and “don’t scratch!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | escarba | no escarbes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | escarbe | no escarbe |
| Nosotros / as | escarbemos | no escarbemos |
| Vosotros / as | escarbad | no escarbéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | escarben | no escarben |
| Vos | escarbá | no escarbes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya escarbado |
| Tú | hayas escarbado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya escarbado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos escarbado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis escarbado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan escarbado |
| Vos | hayas escarbado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera escarbado / hubiese escarbado |
| Tú | hubieras escarbado / hubieses escarbado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera escarbado / hubiese escarbado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos escarbado / hubiésemos escarbado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais escarbado / hubieseis escarbado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran escarbado / hubiesen escarbado |
| Vos | hubieras escarbado / hubieses escarbado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere escarbado |
| Tú | hubieres escarbado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere escarbado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos escarbado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis escarbado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren escarbado |
| Vos | hubieres escarbado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté escarbando |
| Tú | estés escarbando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté escarbando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos escarbando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis escarbando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén escarbando |
| Vos | estés escarbando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera escarbando / estuviese escarbando |
| Tú | estuvieras escarbando / estuvieses escarbando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera escarbando / estuviese escarbando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos escarbando / estuviésamos escarbando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais escarbando / estuvieseis escarbando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera escarbando / estuviese escarbando |
| Vos | estuvieras escarbando / estuvieses escarbando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere escarbando |
| Tú | estuvieres escarbando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere escarbando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos escarbando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis escarbando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere escarbando |
| Vos | estuvieres escarbando |
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 escarbás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos escarbaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos escarbabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos escarbarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos escarbarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos escarbes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos escarbaras / Vos escarbase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos escarbá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no escarbes |