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Indagar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to investigate, examine”.
Below are all of the conjugations for indagar 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 investigate, examine |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | indagar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está indagando) and past continuous (estaba indagando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. investigating).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he indagado and hubiera indagado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have investigated).
| Gerundio / Gerund | indagando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | indagado |
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 investigate” or “they investigate”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | indago |
| Tú | indagas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | indaga |
| Nosotros / as | indagamos |
| Vosotros / as | indagáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | indagan |
| Vos | indagás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I investigated” or “she investigated” 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 | indagué | I investigated |
| Tú | indagaste | You investigated |
| Él / Ella / Usted | indagó | He / she / you investigated |
| Nosotros / as | indagamos | We investigated |
| Vosotros / as | indagasteis | You investigated |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | indagaron | They / you investigated |
| Vos | indagaste | You investigated |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was investigating” or “she was investigating” 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 | indagaba | I was investigating |
| Tú | indagabas | You were investigating |
| Él / Ella / Usted | indagaba | He was / she was / you were investigating |
| Nosotros / as | indagábamos | We were investigating |
| Vosotros / as | indagabais | You were investigating |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | indagaban | They / you were investigating |
| Vos | indagabas | You were investigating |
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 investigated” and “she has investigated”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he indagado | I have investigated |
| Tú | has indagado | You have investigated |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha indagado | He has / she has / you have investigated |
| Nosotros / as | hemos indagado | We have investigated |
| Vosotros / as | habéis indagado | You have investigated |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han indagado | They / you have investigated |
| Vos | has indagado | You have investigated |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would investigate” or “she would investigate”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | indagaría | I would investigate |
| Tú | indagarías | You would investigate |
| Él / Ella / Usted | indagaría | He / she / you would investigate |
| Nosotros / as | indagaríamos | We would investigate |
| Vosotros / as | indagaríais | You would investigate |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | indagarían | They / you would investigate |
| Vos | indagarías | You would investigate |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will investigate” or “they will investigate”.
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 indagar” means “They are going to investigate”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | indagaré | I will investigate |
| Tú | indagarás | You will investigate |
| Él / Ella / Usted | indagará | He / she / you will investigate |
| Nosotros / as | indagaremos | We will investigate |
| Vosotros / as | indagaréis | You will investigate |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | indagarán | They / you will investigate |
| Vos | indagarás | You will investigate |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | indague |
| Tú | indagues |
| Él / Ella / Usted | indague |
| Nosotros / as | indaguemos |
| Vosotros / as | indaguéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | indaguen |
| Vos | indagues |
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 | indagara | indagase |
| Tú | indagaras | indagase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | indagara | indagase |
| Nosotros / as | indagáramos | indagásemos |
| Vosotros / as | indagarais | indagaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | indagaran | indagasen |
| Vos | indagaras | indagase |
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 | indagare |
| Tú | indagares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | indagare |
| Nosotros / as | indagáremos |
| Vosotros / as | indagareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | indagaren |
| Vos | indagares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “investigate!” and “don’t investigate!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | indaga | no indagues |
| Él / Ella / Usted | indague | no indague |
| Nosotros / as | indaguemos | no indaguemos |
| Vosotros / as | indagad | no indaguéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | indaguen | no indaguen |
| Vos | indagá | no indagues |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya indagado |
| Tú | hayas indagado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya indagado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos indagado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis indagado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan indagado |
| Vos | hayas indagado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera indagado / hubiese indagado |
| Tú | hubieras indagado / hubieses indagado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera indagado / hubiese indagado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos indagado / hubiésemos indagado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais indagado / hubieseis indagado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran indagado / hubiesen indagado |
| Vos | hubieras indagado / hubieses indagado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere indagado |
| Tú | hubieres indagado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere indagado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos indagado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis indagado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren indagado |
| Vos | hubieres indagado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté indagando |
| Tú | estés indagando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté indagando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos indagando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis indagando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén indagando |
| Vos | estés indagando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera indagando / estuviese indagando |
| Tú | estuvieras indagando / estuvieses indagando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera indagando / estuviese indagando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos indagando / estuviésamos indagando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais indagando / estuvieseis indagando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera indagando / estuviese indagando |
| Vos | estuvieras indagando / estuvieses indagando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere indagando |
| Tú | estuvieres indagando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere indagando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos indagando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis indagando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere indagando |
| Vos | estuvieres indagando |
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 indagás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos indagaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos indagabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos indagarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos indagarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos indagues |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos indagaras / Vos indagase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos indagá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no indagues |