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Escarmentar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to correct severely, learn one’s lesson”.
Below are all of the conjugations for escarmentar 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 correct severely, learn one’s lesson |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | escarmentar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está escarmentando) and past continuous (estaba escarmentando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. learning one’s lesson).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he escarmentado and hubiera escarmentado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have learned one’s lesson).
| Gerundio / Gerund | escarmentando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | escarmentado |
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 learn one’s lesson” or “they learn one’s lesson”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | escarmiento |
| Tú | escarmientas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | escarmienta |
| Nosotros / as | escarmentamos |
| Vosotros / as | escarmentáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | escarmientan |
| Vos | escarmentás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I learned one’s lesson” or “she learned one’s lesson” 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 | escarmenté | I learned one’s lesson |
| Tú | escarmentaste | You learned one’s lesson |
| Él / Ella / Usted | escarmentó | He / she / you learned one’s lesson |
| Nosotros / as | escarmentamos | We learned one’s lesson |
| Vosotros / as | escarmentasteis | You learned one’s lesson |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | escarmentaron | They / you learned one’s lesson |
| Vos | escarmentaste | You learned one’s lesson |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was learning one’s lesson” or “she was learning one’s lesson” 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 | escarmentaba | I was learning one’s lesson |
| Tú | escarmentabas | You were learning one’s lesson |
| Él / Ella / Usted | escarmentaba | He was / she was / you were learning one’s lesson |
| Nosotros / as | escarmentábamos | We were learning one’s lesson |
| Vosotros / as | escarmentabais | You were learning one’s lesson |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | escarmentaban | They / you were learning one’s lesson |
| Vos | escarmentabas | You were learning one’s lesson |
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 learned one’s lesson” and “she has learned one’s lesson”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he escarmentado | I have learned one’s lesson |
| Tú | has escarmentado | You have learned one’s lesson |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha escarmentado | He has / she has / you have learned one’s lesson |
| Nosotros / as | hemos escarmentado | We have learned one’s lesson |
| Vosotros / as | habéis escarmentado | You have learned one’s lesson |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han escarmentado | They / you have learned one’s lesson |
| Vos | has escarmentado | You have learned one’s lesson |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would learn one’s lesson” or “she would learn one’s lesson”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | escarmentaría | I would learn one’s lesson |
| Tú | escarmentarías | You would learn one’s lesson |
| Él / Ella / Usted | escarmentaría | He / she / you would learn one’s lesson |
| Nosotros / as | escarmentaríamos | We would learn one’s lesson |
| Vosotros / as | escarmentaríais | You would learn one’s lesson |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | escarmentarían | They / you would learn one’s lesson |
| Vos | escarmentarías | You would learn one’s lesson |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will learn one’s lesson” or “they will learn one’s lesson”.
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 escarmentar” means “They are going to learn one’s lesson”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | escarmentaré | I will learn one’s lesson |
| Tú | escarmentarás | You will learn one’s lesson |
| Él / Ella / Usted | escarmentará | He / she / you will learn one’s lesson |
| Nosotros / as | escarmentaremos | We will learn one’s lesson |
| Vosotros / as | escarmentaréis | You will learn one’s lesson |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | escarmentarán | They / you will learn one’s lesson |
| Vos | escarmentarás | You will learn one’s lesson |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | escarmiente |
| Tú | escarmientes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | escarmiente |
| Nosotros / as | escarmentemos |
| Vosotros / as | escarmentéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | escarmienten |
| Vos | escarmientes |
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 | escarmentara | escarmentase |
| Tú | escarmentaras | escarmentase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | escarmentara | escarmentase |
| Nosotros / as | escarmentáramos | escarmentásemos |
| Vosotros / as | escarmentarais | escarmentaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | escarmentaran | escarmentasen |
| Vos | escarmentaras | escarmentase |
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 | escarmentare |
| Tú | escarmentares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | escarmentare |
| Nosotros / as | escarmentáremos |
| Vosotros / as | escarmentareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | escarmentaren |
| Vos | escarmentares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “learn one’s lesson!” and “don’t learn one’s lesson!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | escarmienta | no escarmientes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | escarmiente | no escarmiente |
| Nosotros / as | escarmentemos | no escarmentemos |
| Vosotros / as | escarmentad | no escarmentéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | escarmienten | no escarmienten |
| Vos | escarmentá | no escarmientes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya escarmentado |
| Tú | hayas escarmentado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya escarmentado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos escarmentado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis escarmentado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan escarmentado |
| Vos | hayas escarmentado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera escarmentado / hubiese escarmentado |
| Tú | hubieras escarmentado / hubieses escarmentado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera escarmentado / hubiese escarmentado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos escarmentado / hubiésemos escarmentado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais escarmentado / hubieseis escarmentado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran escarmentado / hubiesen escarmentado |
| Vos | hubieras escarmentado / hubieses escarmentado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere escarmentado |
| Tú | hubieres escarmentado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere escarmentado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos escarmentado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis escarmentado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren escarmentado |
| Vos | hubieres escarmentado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté escarmentando |
| Tú | estés escarmentando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté escarmentando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos escarmentando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis escarmentando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén escarmentando |
| Vos | estés escarmentando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera escarmentando / estuviese escarmentando |
| Tú | estuvieras escarmentando / estuvieses escarmentando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera escarmentando / estuviese escarmentando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos escarmentando / estuviésamos escarmentando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais escarmentando / estuvieseis escarmentando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera escarmentando / estuviese escarmentando |
| Vos | estuvieras escarmentando / estuvieses escarmentando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere escarmentando |
| Tú | estuvieres escarmentando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere escarmentando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos escarmentando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis escarmentando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere escarmentando |
| Vos | estuvieres escarmentando |
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 escarmentás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos escarmentaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos escarmentabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos escarmentarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos escarmentarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos escarmientes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos escarmentaras / Vos escarmentase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos escarmentá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no escarmientes |