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Escuchar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to listen”.
Below are all of the conjugations for escuchar 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 listen |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | escuchar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está escuchando) and past continuous (estaba escuchando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. listening).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he escuchado and hubiera escuchado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have listened).
| Gerundio / Gerund | escuchando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | escuchado |
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 listen” or “they listen”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | escucho |
| Tú | escuchas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | escucha |
| Nosotros / as | escuchamos |
| Vosotros / as | escucháis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | escuchan |
| Vos | escuchás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I listened” or “she listened” 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 | escuché | I listened |
| Tú | escuchaste | You listened |
| Él / Ella / Usted | escuchó | He / she / you listened |
| Nosotros / as | escuchamos | We listened |
| Vosotros / as | escuchasteis | You listened |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | escucharon | They / you listened |
| Vos | escuchaste | You listened |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was listening” or “she was listening” 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 | escuchaba | I was listening |
| Tú | escuchabas | You were listening |
| Él / Ella / Usted | escuchaba | He was / she was / you were listening |
| Nosotros / as | escuchábamos | We were listening |
| Vosotros / as | escuchabais | You were listening |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | escuchaban | They / you were listening |
| Vos | escuchabas | You were listening |
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 listened” and “she has listened”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he escuchado | I have listened |
| Tú | has escuchado | You have listened |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha escuchado | He has / she has / you have listened |
| Nosotros / as | hemos escuchado | We have listened |
| Vosotros / as | habéis escuchado | You have listened |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han escuchado | They / you have listened |
| Vos | has escuchado | You have listened |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would listen” or “she would listen”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | escucharía | I would listen |
| Tú | escucharías | You would listen |
| Él / Ella / Usted | escucharía | He / she / you would listen |
| Nosotros / as | escucharíamos | We would listen |
| Vosotros / as | escucharíais | You would listen |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | escucharían | They / you would listen |
| Vos | escucharías | You would listen |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will listen” or “they will listen”.
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 escuchar” means “They are going to listen”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | escucharé | I will listen |
| Tú | escucharás | You will listen |
| Él / Ella / Usted | escuchará | He / she / you will listen |
| Nosotros / as | escucharemos | We will listen |
| Vosotros / as | escucharéis | You will listen |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | escucharán | They / you will listen |
| Vos | escucharás | You will listen |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | escuche |
| Tú | escuches |
| Él / Ella / Usted | escuche |
| Nosotros / as | escuchemos |
| Vosotros / as | escuchéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | escuchen |
| Vos | escuches |
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 | escuchara | escuchase |
| Tú | escucharas | escuchase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | escuchara | escuchase |
| Nosotros / as | escucháramos | escuchásemos |
| Vosotros / as | escucharais | escuchaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | escucharan | escuchasen |
| Vos | escucharas | escuchase |
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 | escuchare |
| Tú | escuchares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | escuchare |
| Nosotros / as | escucháremos |
| Vosotros / as | escuchareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | escucharen |
| Vos | escuchares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “listen!” and “don’t listen!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | escucha | no escuches |
| Él / Ella / Usted | escuche | no escuche |
| Nosotros / as | escuchemos | no escuchemos |
| Vosotros / as | escuchad | no escuchéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | escuchen | no escuchen |
| Vos | escuchá | no escuches |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya escuchado |
| Tú | hayas escuchado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya escuchado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos escuchado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis escuchado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan escuchado |
| Vos | hayas escuchado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera escuchado / hubiese escuchado |
| Tú | hubieras escuchado / hubieses escuchado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera escuchado / hubiese escuchado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos escuchado / hubiésemos escuchado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais escuchado / hubieseis escuchado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran escuchado / hubiesen escuchado |
| Vos | hubieras escuchado / hubieses escuchado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere escuchado |
| Tú | hubieres escuchado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere escuchado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos escuchado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis escuchado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren escuchado |
| Vos | hubieres escuchado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté escuchando |
| Tú | estés escuchando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté escuchando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos escuchando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis escuchando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén escuchando |
| Vos | estés escuchando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera escuchando / estuviese escuchando |
| Tú | estuvieras escuchando / estuvieses escuchando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera escuchando / estuviese escuchando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos escuchando / estuviésamos escuchando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais escuchando / estuvieseis escuchando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera escuchando / estuviese escuchando |
| Vos | estuvieras escuchando / estuvieses escuchando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere escuchando |
| Tú | estuvieres escuchando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere escuchando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos escuchando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis escuchando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere escuchando |
| Vos | estuvieres escuchando |
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 escuchás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos escuchaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos escuchabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos escucharías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos escucharás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos escuches |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos escucharas / Vos escuchase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos escuchá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no escuches |
