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Investigar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to investigate, check”.
Below are all of the conjugations for investigar 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, check |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | investigar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está investigando) and past continuous (estaba investigando). 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 investigado and hubiera investigado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have investigated).
| Gerundio / Gerund | investigando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | investigado |
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 | investigo |
| Tú | investigas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | investiga |
| Nosotros / as | investigamos |
| Vosotros / as | investigáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | investigan |
| Vos | investigás |
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 | investigué | I investigated |
| Tú | investigaste | You investigated |
| Él / Ella / Usted | investigó | He / she / you investigated |
| Nosotros / as | investigamos | We investigated |
| Vosotros / as | investigasteis | You investigated |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | investigaron | They / you investigated |
| Vos | investigaste | 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 | investigaba | I was investigating |
| Tú | investigabas | You were investigating |
| Él / Ella / Usted | investigaba | He was / she was / you were investigating |
| Nosotros / as | investigábamos | We were investigating |
| Vosotros / as | investigabais | You were investigating |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | investigaban | They / you were investigating |
| Vos | investigabas | 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 investigado | I have investigated |
| Tú | has investigado | You have investigated |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha investigado | He has / she has / you have investigated |
| Nosotros / as | hemos investigado | We have investigated |
| Vosotros / as | habéis investigado | You have investigated |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han investigado | They / you have investigated |
| Vos | has investigado | 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 | investigaría | I would investigate |
| Tú | investigarías | You would investigate |
| Él / Ella / Usted | investigaría | He / she / you would investigate |
| Nosotros / as | investigaríamos | We would investigate |
| Vosotros / as | investigaríais | You would investigate |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | investigarían | They / you would investigate |
| Vos | investigarías | 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 investigar” means “They are going to investigate”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | investigaré | I will investigate |
| Tú | investigarás | You will investigate |
| Él / Ella / Usted | investigará | He / she / you will investigate |
| Nosotros / as | investigaremos | We will investigate |
| Vosotros / as | investigaréis | You will investigate |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | investigarán | They / you will investigate |
| Vos | investigarás | You will investigate |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | investigue |
| Tú | investigues |
| Él / Ella / Usted | investigue |
| Nosotros / as | investiguemos |
| Vosotros / as | investiguéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | investiguen |
| Vos | investigues |
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 | investigara | investigase |
| Tú | investigaras | investigase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | investigara | investigase |
| Nosotros / as | investigáramos | investigásemos |
| Vosotros / as | investigarais | investigaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | investigaran | investigasen |
| Vos | investigaras | investigase |
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 | investigare |
| Tú | investigares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | investigare |
| Nosotros / as | investigáremos |
| Vosotros / as | investigareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | investigaren |
| Vos | investigares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “investigate!” and “don’t investigate!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | investiga | no investigues |
| Él / Ella / Usted | investigue | no investigue |
| Nosotros / as | investiguemos | no investiguemos |
| Vosotros / as | investigad | no investiguéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | investiguen | no investiguen |
| Vos | investigá | no investigues |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya investigado |
| Tú | hayas investigado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya investigado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos investigado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis investigado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan investigado |
| Vos | hayas investigado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera investigado / hubiese investigado |
| Tú | hubieras investigado / hubieses investigado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera investigado / hubiese investigado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos investigado / hubiésemos investigado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais investigado / hubieseis investigado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran investigado / hubiesen investigado |
| Vos | hubieras investigado / hubieses investigado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere investigado |
| Tú | hubieres investigado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere investigado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos investigado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis investigado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren investigado |
| Vos | hubieres investigado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté investigando |
| Tú | estés investigando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté investigando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos investigando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis investigando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén investigando |
| Vos | estés investigando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera investigando / estuviese investigando |
| Tú | estuvieras investigando / estuvieses investigando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera investigando / estuviese investigando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos investigando / estuviésamos investigando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais investigando / estuvieseis investigando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera investigando / estuviese investigando |
| Vos | estuvieras investigando / estuvieses investigando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere investigando |
| Tú | estuvieres investigando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere investigando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos investigando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis investigando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere investigando |
| Vos | estuvieres investigando |
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 investigás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos investigaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos investigabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos investigarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos investigarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos investigues |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos investigaras / Vos investigase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos investigá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no investigues |