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Esquivar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to avoid, evade”.
Below are all of the conjugations for esquivar 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 avoid, evade |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | esquivar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está esquivando) and past continuous (estaba esquivando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. avoiding).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he esquivado and hubiera esquivado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have avoided).
| Gerundio / Gerund | esquivando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | esquivado |
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 avoid” or “they avoid”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esquivo |
| Tú | esquivas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esquiva |
| Nosotros / as | esquivamos |
| Vosotros / as | esquiváis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | esquivan |
| Vos | esquivás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I avoided” or “she avoided” 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 | esquivé | I avoided |
| Tú | esquivaste | You avoided |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esquivó | He / she / you avoided |
| Nosotros / as | esquivamos | We avoided |
| Vosotros / as | esquivasteis | You avoided |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | esquivaron | They / you avoided |
| Vos | esquivaste | You avoided |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was avoiding” or “she was avoiding” 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 | esquivaba | I was avoiding |
| Tú | esquivabas | You were avoiding |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esquivaba | He was / she was / you were avoiding |
| Nosotros / as | esquivábamos | We were avoiding |
| Vosotros / as | esquivabais | You were avoiding |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | esquivaban | They / you were avoiding |
| Vos | esquivabas | You were avoiding |
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 avoided” and “she has avoided”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he esquivado | I have avoided |
| Tú | has esquivado | You have avoided |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha esquivado | He has / she has / you have avoided |
| Nosotros / as | hemos esquivado | We have avoided |
| Vosotros / as | habéis esquivado | You have avoided |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han esquivado | They / you have avoided |
| Vos | has esquivado | You have avoided |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would avoid” or “she would avoid”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | esquivaría | I would avoid |
| Tú | esquivarías | You would avoid |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esquivaría | He / she / you would avoid |
| Nosotros / as | esquivaríamos | We would avoid |
| Vosotros / as | esquivaríais | You would avoid |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | esquivarían | They / you would avoid |
| Vos | esquivarías | You would avoid |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will avoid” or “they will avoid”.
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 esquivar” means “They are going to avoid”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | esquivaré | I will avoid |
| Tú | esquivarás | You will avoid |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esquivará | He / she / you will avoid |
| Nosotros / as | esquivaremos | We will avoid |
| Vosotros / as | esquivaréis | You will avoid |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | esquivarán | They / you will avoid |
| Vos | esquivarás | You will avoid |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esquive |
| Tú | esquives |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esquive |
| Nosotros / as | esquivemos |
| Vosotros / as | esquivéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | esquiven |
| Vos | esquives |
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 | esquivara | esquivase |
| Tú | esquivaras | esquivase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esquivara | esquivase |
| Nosotros / as | esquiváramos | esquivásemos |
| Vosotros / as | esquivarais | esquivaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | esquivaran | esquivasen |
| Vos | esquivaras | esquivase |
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 | esquivare |
| Tú | esquivares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esquivare |
| Nosotros / as | esquiváremos |
| Vosotros / as | esquivareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | esquivaren |
| Vos | esquivares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “avoid!” and “don’t avoid!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | esquiva | no esquives |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esquive | no esquive |
| Nosotros / as | esquivemos | no esquivemos |
| Vosotros / as | esquivad | no esquivéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | esquiven | no esquiven |
| Vos | esquivá | no esquives |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya esquivado |
| Tú | hayas esquivado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya esquivado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos esquivado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis esquivado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan esquivado |
| Vos | hayas esquivado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera esquivado / hubiese esquivado |
| Tú | hubieras esquivado / hubieses esquivado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera esquivado / hubiese esquivado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos esquivado / hubiésemos esquivado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais esquivado / hubieseis esquivado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran esquivado / hubiesen esquivado |
| Vos | hubieras esquivado / hubieses esquivado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere esquivado |
| Tú | hubieres esquivado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere esquivado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos esquivado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis esquivado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren esquivado |
| Vos | hubieres esquivado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté esquivando |
| Tú | estés esquivando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté esquivando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos esquivando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis esquivando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén esquivando |
| Vos | estés esquivando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera esquivando / estuviese esquivando |
| Tú | estuvieras esquivando / estuvieses esquivando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera esquivando / estuviese esquivando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos esquivando / estuviésamos esquivando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais esquivando / estuvieseis esquivando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera esquivando / estuviese esquivando |
| Vos | estuvieras esquivando / estuvieses esquivando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere esquivando |
| Tú | estuvieres esquivando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere esquivando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos esquivando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis esquivando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere esquivando |
| Vos | estuvieres esquivando |
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 esquivás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos esquivaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos esquivabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos esquivarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos esquivarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos esquives |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos esquivaras / Vos esquivase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos esquivá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no esquives |