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Estafar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to swindle, cheat, defraud”.
Below are all of the conjugations for estafar 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 swindle, cheat, defraud |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | estafar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está estafando) and past continuous (estaba estafando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. swindling).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he estafado and hubiera estafado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have swindled).
| Gerundio / Gerund | estafando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | estafado |
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 swindle” or “they swindle”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estafo |
| Tú | estafas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estafa |
| Nosotros / as | estafamos |
| Vosotros / as | estafáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estafan |
| Vos | estafás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I swindled” or “she swindled” 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 | estafé | I swindled |
| Tú | estafaste | You swindled |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estafó | He / she / you swindled |
| Nosotros / as | estafamos | We swindled |
| Vosotros / as | estafasteis | You swindled |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estafaron | They / you swindled |
| Vos | estafaste | You swindled |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was swindling” or “she was swindling” 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 | estafaba | I was swindling |
| Tú | estafabas | You were swindling |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estafaba | He was / she was / you were swindling |
| Nosotros / as | estafábamos | We were swindling |
| Vosotros / as | estafabais | You were swindling |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estafaban | They / you were swindling |
| Vos | estafabas | You were swindling |
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 swindled” and “she has swindled”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he estafado | I have swindled |
| Tú | has estafado | You have swindled |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha estafado | He has / she has / you have swindled |
| Nosotros / as | hemos estafado | We have swindled |
| Vosotros / as | habéis estafado | You have swindled |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han estafado | They / you have swindled |
| Vos | has estafado | You have swindled |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would swindle” or “she would swindle”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | estafaría | I would swindle |
| Tú | estafarías | You would swindle |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estafaría | He / she / you would swindle |
| Nosotros / as | estafaríamos | We would swindle |
| Vosotros / as | estafaríais | You would swindle |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estafarían | They / you would swindle |
| Vos | estafarías | You would swindle |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will swindle” or “they will swindle”.
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 estafar” means “They are going to swindle”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | estafaré | I will swindle |
| Tú | estafarás | You will swindle |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estafará | He / she / you will swindle |
| Nosotros / as | estafaremos | We will swindle |
| Vosotros / as | estafaréis | You will swindle |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estafarán | They / you will swindle |
| Vos | estafarás | You will swindle |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estafe |
| Tú | estafes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estafe |
| Nosotros / as | estafemos |
| Vosotros / as | estaféis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estafen |
| Vos | estafes |
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 | estafara | estafase |
| Tú | estafaras | estafase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estafara | estafase |
| Nosotros / as | estafáramos | estafásemos |
| Vosotros / as | estafarais | estafaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estafaran | estafasen |
| Vos | estafaras | estafase |
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 | estafare |
| Tú | estafares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estafare |
| Nosotros / as | estafáremos |
| Vosotros / as | estafareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estafaren |
| Vos | estafares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “swindle!” and “don’t swindle!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | estafa | no estafes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estafe | no estafe |
| Nosotros / as | estafemos | no estafemos |
| Vosotros / as | estafad | no estaféis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estafen | no estafen |
| Vos | estafá | no estafes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya estafado |
| Tú | hayas estafado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya estafado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos estafado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis estafado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan estafado |
| Vos | hayas estafado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera estafado / hubiese estafado |
| Tú | hubieras estafado / hubieses estafado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera estafado / hubiese estafado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos estafado / hubiésemos estafado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais estafado / hubieseis estafado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran estafado / hubiesen estafado |
| Vos | hubieras estafado / hubieses estafado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere estafado |
| Tú | hubieres estafado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere estafado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos estafado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis estafado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren estafado |
| Vos | hubieres estafado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté estafando |
| Tú | estés estafando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté estafando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos estafando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis estafando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén estafando |
| Vos | estés estafando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera estafando / estuviese estafando |
| Tú | estuvieras estafando / estuvieses estafando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera estafando / estuviese estafando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos estafando / estuviésamos estafando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais estafando / estuvieseis estafando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera estafando / estuviese estafando |
| Vos | estuvieras estafando / estuvieses estafando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere estafando |
| Tú | estuvieres estafando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere estafando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos estafando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis estafando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere estafando |
| Vos | estuvieres estafando |
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 estafás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos estafaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos estafabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos estafarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos estafarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos estafes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos estafaras / Vos estafase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos estafá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no estafes |