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Calcar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to trace (drawing), imitate, mimic”.
Below are all of the conjugations for calcar 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 trace (drawing), imitate, mimic |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | calcar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está calcando) and past continuous (estaba calcando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. tracing).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he calcado and hubiera calcado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have traced).
| Gerundio / Gerund | calcando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | calcado |
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 trace” or “they trace”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | calco |
| Tú | calcas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | calca |
| Nosotros / as | calcamos |
| Vosotros / as | calcáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | calcan |
| Vos | calcás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I traced” or “she traced” 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 | calqué | I traced |
| Tú | calcaste | You traced |
| Él / Ella / Usted | calcó | He / she / you traced |
| Nosotros / as | calcamos | We traced |
| Vosotros / as | calcasteis | You traced |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | calcaron | They / you traced |
| Vos | calcaste | You traced |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was tracing” or “she was tracing” 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 | calcaba | I was tracing |
| Tú | calcabas | You were tracing |
| Él / Ella / Usted | calcaba | He was / she was / you were tracing |
| Nosotros / as | calcábamos | We were tracing |
| Vosotros / as | calcabais | You were tracing |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | calcaban | They / you were tracing |
| Vos | calcabas | You were tracing |
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 traced” and “she has traced”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he calcado | I have traced |
| Tú | has calcado | You have traced |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha calcado | He has / she has / you have traced |
| Nosotros / as | hemos calcado | We have traced |
| Vosotros / as | habéis calcado | You have traced |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han calcado | They / you have traced |
| Vos | has calcado | You have traced |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would trace” or “she would trace”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | calcaría | I would trace |
| Tú | calcarías | You would trace |
| Él / Ella / Usted | calcaría | He / she / you would trace |
| Nosotros / as | calcaríamos | We would trace |
| Vosotros / as | calcaríais | You would trace |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | calcarían | They / you would trace |
| Vos | calcarías | You would trace |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will trace” or “they will trace”.
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 calcar” means “They are going to trace”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | calcaré | I will trace |
| Tú | calcarás | You will trace |
| Él / Ella / Usted | calcará | He / she / you will trace |
| Nosotros / as | calcaremos | We will trace |
| Vosotros / as | calcaréis | You will trace |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | calcarán | They / you will trace |
| Vos | calcarás | You will trace |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | calque |
| Tú | calques |
| Él / Ella / Usted | calque |
| Nosotros / as | calquemos |
| Vosotros / as | calquéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | calquen |
| Vos | calques |
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 | calcara | calcase |
| Tú | calcaras | calcase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | calcara | calcase |
| Nosotros / as | calcáramos | calcásemos |
| Vosotros / as | calcarais | calcaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | calcaran | calcasen |
| Vos | calcaras | calcase |
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 | calcare |
| Tú | calcares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | calcare |
| Nosotros / as | calcáremos |
| Vosotros / as | calcareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | calcaren |
| Vos | calcares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “trace!” and “don’t trace!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | calca | no calques |
| Él / Ella / Usted | calque | no calque |
| Nosotros / as | calquemos | no calquemos |
| Vosotros / as | calcad | no calquéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | calquen | no calquen |
| Vos | calcá | no calques |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya calcado |
| Tú | hayas calcado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya calcado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos calcado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis calcado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan calcado |
| Vos | hayas calcado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera calcado / hubiese calcado |
| Tú | hubieras calcado / hubieses calcado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera calcado / hubiese calcado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos calcado / hubiésemos calcado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais calcado / hubieseis calcado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran calcado / hubiesen calcado |
| Vos | hubieras calcado / hubieses calcado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere calcado |
| Tú | hubieres calcado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere calcado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos calcado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis calcado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren calcado |
| Vos | hubieres calcado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté calcando |
| Tú | estés calcando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté calcando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos calcando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis calcando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén calcando |
| Vos | estés calcando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera calcando / estuviese calcando |
| Tú | estuvieras calcando / estuvieses calcando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera calcando / estuviese calcando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos calcando / estuviésamos calcando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais calcando / estuvieseis calcando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera calcando / estuviese calcando |
| Vos | estuvieras calcando / estuvieses calcando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere calcando |
| Tú | estuvieres calcando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere calcando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos calcando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis calcando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere calcando |
| Vos | estuvieres calcando |
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 calcás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos calcaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos calcabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos calcarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos calcarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos calques |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos calcaras / Vos calcase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos calcá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no calques |