Everything you need to improve your Spanish
Menu
Everything you need to improve your Spanish
Excusar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to excuse, excuse from, apologize”.
Below are all of the conjugations for excusar 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 excuse, excuse from, apologize |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | excusar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está excusando) and past continuous (estaba excusando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. excusing).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he excusado and hubiera excusado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have excused).
| Gerundio / Gerund | excusando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | excusado |
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 excuse” or “they excuse”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | excuso |
| Tú | excusas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | excusa |
| Nosotros / as | excusamos |
| Vosotros / as | excusáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | excusan |
| Vos | excusás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I excused” or “she excused” 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 | excusé | I excused |
| Tú | excusaste | You excused |
| Él / Ella / Usted | excusó | He / she / you excused |
| Nosotros / as | excusamos | We excused |
| Vosotros / as | excusasteis | You excused |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | excusaron | They / you excused |
| Vos | excusaste | You excused |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was excusing” or “she was excusing” 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 | excusaba | I was excusing |
| Tú | excusabas | You were excusing |
| Él / Ella / Usted | excusaba | He was / she was / you were excusing |
| Nosotros / as | excusábamos | We were excusing |
| Vosotros / as | excusabais | You were excusing |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | excusaban | They / you were excusing |
| Vos | excusabas | You were excusing |
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 excused” and “she has excused”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he excusado | I have excused |
| Tú | has excusado | You have excused |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha excusado | He has / she has / you have excused |
| Nosotros / as | hemos excusado | We have excused |
| Vosotros / as | habéis excusado | You have excused |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han excusado | They / you have excused |
| Vos | has excusado | You have excused |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would excuse” or “she would excuse”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | excusaría | I would excuse |
| Tú | excusarías | You would excuse |
| Él / Ella / Usted | excusaría | He / she / you would excuse |
| Nosotros / as | excusaríamos | We would excuse |
| Vosotros / as | excusaríais | You would excuse |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | excusarían | They / you would excuse |
| Vos | excusarías | You would excuse |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will excuse” or “they will excuse”.
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 excusar” means “They are going to excuse”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | excusaré | I will excuse |
| Tú | excusarás | You will excuse |
| Él / Ella / Usted | excusará | He / she / you will excuse |
| Nosotros / as | excusaremos | We will excuse |
| Vosotros / as | excusaréis | You will excuse |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | excusarán | They / you will excuse |
| Vos | excusarás | You will excuse |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | excuse |
| Tú | excuses |
| Él / Ella / Usted | excuse |
| Nosotros / as | excusemos |
| Vosotros / as | excuséis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | excusen |
| Vos | excuses |
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 | excusara | excusase |
| Tú | excusaras | excusase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | excusara | excusase |
| Nosotros / as | excusáramos | excusásemos |
| Vosotros / as | excusarais | excusaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | excusaran | excusasen |
| Vos | excusaras | excusase |
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 | excusare |
| Tú | excusares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | excusare |
| Nosotros / as | excusáremos |
| Vosotros / as | excusareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | excusaren |
| Vos | excusares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “excuse!” and “don’t excuse!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | excusa | no excuses |
| Él / Ella / Usted | excuse | no excuse |
| Nosotros / as | excusemos | no excusemos |
| Vosotros / as | excusad | no excuséis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | excusen | no excusen |
| Vos | excusá | no excuses |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya excusado |
| Tú | hayas excusado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya excusado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos excusado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis excusado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan excusado |
| Vos | hayas excusado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera excusado / hubiese excusado |
| Tú | hubieras excusado / hubieses excusado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera excusado / hubiese excusado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos excusado / hubiésemos excusado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais excusado / hubieseis excusado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran excusado / hubiesen excusado |
| Vos | hubieras excusado / hubieses excusado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere excusado |
| Tú | hubieres excusado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere excusado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos excusado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis excusado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren excusado |
| Vos | hubieres excusado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté excusando |
| Tú | estés excusando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté excusando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos excusando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis excusando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén excusando |
| Vos | estés excusando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera excusando / estuviese excusando |
| Tú | estuvieras excusando / estuvieses excusando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera excusando / estuviese excusando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos excusando / estuviésamos excusando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais excusando / estuvieseis excusando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera excusando / estuviese excusando |
| Vos | estuvieras excusando / estuvieses excusando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere excusando |
| Tú | estuvieres excusando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere excusando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos excusando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis excusando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere excusando |
| Vos | estuvieres excusando |
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 excusás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos excusaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos excusabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos excusarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos excusarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos excuses |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos excusaras / Vos excusase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos excusá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no excuses |